Michal Sýkora:
The festive, Sunday jazz party started at 10:30 am on the meadow under the bright sun with an extremely successful performance of the Austrian big band Christian Mühlbacher & Friends. Performing a full almost hour-long piece Wege zur Vierten, they literally grounded us. The bandleader Christian Mühlbacher composed it on the basis of the famous Fourth Symphony by the Austrian composer Joseph Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), who this year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. After a short introduction full of strange discordant sounds, the famously precise, high-energy suite of Journey to the Fourth was launched. Spectacular rhythms and unusual choruses of breaths alternated with thrilling solos. The precise sound of the extravagant orchestra underscored everything. Clearly the most impressive concert of the entire INNtöne 2024 festival!
The extraordinary orchestra consisted of these skilled musicians:
Aneel Soomary, Martin Ohrwalder, Markus Pechmann, Máté Borbíró – trumpets, flugelhorns,
Walter Voglmayr, Hansi Reiter, Robert Bachner, Gerald Pöttinger – trombones,
Gerald Preinfalk, Fabian Rucker – saxofony, Franz Winkler, Christoph Gigler – tubas,
Gerald Schuller – organ, Peter Rom – guitar, Tibor Kövesdi – bass guitar,
Christian Mühlbacher – drums, compositions, Laurinho Bandeira – percussions.
And the final chorus by organist Gerald Schuller moved me to tears, see video clip from 04:13.
Michal Kratochvíl:
I never expected such a big band in my dreams. What they presented was like from another world and it made me think of Trondheim Jazz orchestra’s performance at Jazz Goes to Town in Hradec Králové or Gard Nielsen’s Supersonic big band in Poznan. But Christian and his friends seemed to have outdone them by a bit. I guess it was also because I had no expectations from the concert at all, the wow effect was amplified! Those great moments when they played over each other and created a sonic mess were ungraspable and yet awesome. And what about when they pushed us hard and crushed us with the incredible energy of a massive ensemble. Once again, the first performance was the best of the day, in this case even of the whole festival!
Michal Sýkora:
The break before the second Sunday concert on the Open Air stage was filled with mainstream standards by the Monday Night Orchestra Passau in the barn. Then it was Marta Sánchez‚s turn. Pianist and composer Marta Sánchez, originally from Madrid, has long established herself in New York thanks to her innovative and distinctive music. The experienced stage manager had his work cut out for him in arranging and fixing the notes that the wind repeatedly toyed with. However, her solo performance in a highly original piano style did not impress me in any significant way, probably due to the spectacular orchestral experience that preceded it. Only the final free improvisation brought an interesting change.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Marta Sánchez performed her etudes for prepared piano, but during her performance I was rather worried about how to escape the relentless sun. Since I had other favorites that day, I needed to spread my energy and didn’t have a chance to immerse myself in her performance.
Michal Sýkora:
The subsequent haunting guitar of Marc Ribot, as expected, enriched by the intense hammond licks of Greg Lewis and the precise rhythms of the above-average drummer Joe Dyson, lived up to the expectations of the great American star. Perhaps they can only be faulted for sometimes unnecessarily long elaboration of individual themes. The festival organizers promised in the program that „Marc Ribot Jazz Bins are not exactly going back to the past, but back to the future, to tap into a scene that never really existed and a vibe that never really ceased.“ The atmosphere the gentlemen created at the end of their concert was excellent. A very successful program number.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Marc Ribot again brought a decent blast, this time I found him a bit more concentrated than a year ago in Prague, which could be of course due to the shorter festival set. Again, in the interest of survival, I had to retreat from my fighting position in the sun in front of the stage and seek the shade. It didn’t change the fact that the band was pedalling like crazy, but towards the end I couldn’t get rid of a certain repetitiveness.
Michal Sýkora:
Another highly anticipated concert brought to the main Open Air stage the latest wonderful project Words Unspoken by legendary British saxophonist John Surman, who celebrates his 80th birthday this year. He has long been known for the refined lyricism and richly textured sound of his music, as well as his intense full-blooded improvisation, which was fully confirmed at INNtöne. Surman’s interplay with up-and-coming British guitarist Rob Luft, American vibraphonist Rob Waring and the brilliant Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen, with input from sound designer Stuart Mørch Kerrison, was dazzling. Their Unspoken Words lived up to our expectations of elegant chamber jazz further enhanced by impeccable sound.
Michal Kratochvíl:
John Surman also unfortunately paid for the unrelenting heat that prevailed on Sunday. This music definitely deserved to be presented in the dark, perhaps ideally at the end of the festival, because this lovely trip with ECM sound directly encouraged to close your eyes and dream. However, the performances built up appropriately at the end and the guitarist in particular deserves a shout out. I enjoyed this highlight number as much as I could and would love to enjoy it again in the comfortable confines of a jazz club.
Michal Sýkora:
The second representative of the British jazz scene at INNtöne was Byron Wallen & The Four Corners. The distinctive London trumpeter Byron Wallen, with roots in Benin, was again accompanied by the excellent guitarist Rob Luft in his Revelation in Small Steps project, as well as bassist Paul Michael and drummer Zoe Lima Pascoal, as in John Surman’s last concert. In their full-blooded straight-ahead jazz, African rhythms became more and more prominent, until finally there were various sounds of large shells, see video excerpt from 09:50.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Byron Wallen & The Four Corners was one of the pleasant surprises of the festival, and surprisingly, John Surman’s guitarist was on stage again, so we got to enjoy his skills for an extra hour and a bit. The music flowed along so nicely, Byron played both trumpet and keyboards and it was clear that he has been inspired and influenced by many cultures on his musical journey. At the end of the show he admitted to being inspired by gnaoua music as well, and I was gushing with bliss at how beautifully it was all connected, having just returned from the Gnaoua Festival in Morocco two weeks ago. A very successful performance.
Michal Sýkora:
Before the Manu Delago Ensemble, the other expected local highlight of the evening, set up on the main stage, we had a chance to check out the Luis Vicente Trio in the barn, Portuguese free jazz along the lines of Don Chery, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. Explosive trumpeter and composer Luís Vicente, along with bassist Gonçalo Almeida and drummer Pedro Melo Alves, launched into the full fire of the title track Come Down Here from their latest album. The powerful avant-garde jazz experience continued in style until the end. A great performance.
Michal Sýkora:
Before the penultimate ensemble on the main stage took the floor, there was a general thank you to all of Paul Zauner‘s more than 100 collaborators for their exemplary hard work throughout the preparations and the three-day festival.
We are also pleased to add our warm thanks for an unforgettable three-day musical experience!
Tyrolean-born, experienced drummer Manu Delago, living mostly in London after his studies at the Guildhall School of Music, made his name as a player of the melodic percussion instrument hangpan. His quintet Manu Delago Ensemble, consisting of Manu Delago – handpans and drums, Isa Kurz Geige – piano, houdle, vocals, Christoph Pepe Auer – clarinets, Clemens Rofner – bass and Chris Norz – percussion, was enriched at INNtöne by the trio of singers Anna Widauer, Mimi Schmid and Valerie Costa. Manu started the show with a long solo on differently tuned hangpans to get the audience in the mood. Other very varied pieces alternated between the line-ups of musicians and singers as well as the tempos and intensity of the original music. Another great addition to Sunday’s festival program.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Manu Delago presented himself with a pretty good lineup. First, he started solo on a beautiful sounding hang, so that he could be joined by three female singers and in the third presented song the whole ensemble presented above. The line-up was constantly changing and the musicians switched to other instruments, Manu changed hangs and the dreamy music built up to techno beats at the end of the show. In the encore, the singers introduced the band in a completely original way by singing the name of the member who was currently playing. It’s a shame that this particular part wasn’t captured on video, I really enjoyed it. Good concert!
Michal Sýkora:
The last, almost midnight concert on the Open Air stage belonged to the proven funky band of American saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who was accompanied by experienced Jason Lindner on keyboards, Tim Lefebvre on bass guitar and drummer Zach Danziger. Very intense waves of energy not only from Donny’s saxophone hit the enthusiastic audience, who filled the whole space under the stage with their spontaneous dancing. A fitting end to the whole festival.
Michal Kratochvíl:
Donny and his rock band gave a great performance and closed the festival perfectly. The setlist was very similar to the concert in Prague, which I heard last year in JazzDock, only the bass player changed. I didn’t have any musical orgasms this time, but I enjoyed the concert very much again and I thoroughly enjoyed the wave of energy!
