Kunsthaus NEXUS, Otto Gruber-Halle, CONGRESS Saalfelden
The 45th edition of the Saalfelden Jazz Festival transformed this town of 16,000 inhabitants in the picturesque mountain landscape south of Salzburg into a vibrant center of contemporary jazz and experimental music for four days. The highly diverse festival program was scheduled at seven locations throughout the town, ranging from funky and blues City Tracks in the town park to experimental Shortcuts at the Kunsthaus NEXUS to energetic concerts at the Otto-Gruber-Halle and main concerts in the large hall of CONGRESS Saalfelden. In addition, Mountain Tracks, musical performances in the mountains, were also very promising.
During our first visit, we managed to see almost half of the more than fifty festival events on the three main stages. And we couldn’t help but wonder how avant-garde jazz and improvised music in such high density and length could captivate such a large number of enthusiastic audiences for four whole days, most likely educated by many previous years. The main hall at CONGRESS Saalfelden, with a capacity of 1,000 spectators, was completely sold out every evening.
During the first and second days of the festival, we had the pleasure of experiencing these often surprising performances:
Max Andrezejewski & Ensemble Resonanz „SUMMEN“, Kunsthaus NEXUS
Max Andrezejewski & Ensemble Resonanz “SUMMEN” consists of Max Andrzejewski – percussion, vibraphone, composition, Barbara Bultmann – violin, Swantje Tessmann – violin, Neasa Ní Bhriain – viola, Lea Tessmann – cello. They performed a very avant-garde introduction, and it took a good 20 minutes before they started playing together. But those moments were worth the wait, as the rhythm suddenly became clear and the strings performed a successful ensemble piece. However, another expected break in the gradation followed, leading to a breakdown and culminating in a vocal reverberation and calm. In the end, there was too much “squeaking” and abstraction in the hour-long performance, and I would have liked a little more music.
Chez Fría, Otto Gruber-Halle
The young Austrian band Chez Fría presented their album Die Kunst dem Fuge, featuring Lorenz Widauer on trumpet and synthesizer, Felix Gutschi on recorder, Ferdinand Rauchmann on synthesizer, Maximilian Rehrl on bass guitar and synthesizer, and Paul Widauer on drums. Electronically saturated, modern-sounding jazz with earthier rhythms, which at times slipped into some pretty heavy passages. But yeah, I quite enjoyed this, especially the more energetic, harder passages.
Eyes to the Sun, Kunsthaus NEXUS
Eyes to the Sun is a bomb that exploded with full force in Saalfelden! The lineup of Leo Genovese on piano and soprano saxophone, Camila Nebbia on saxophone, and Alfred Vogel on drums suggested that it would be a wild ride, as the evening’s host also hinted, and it was! Camila fired away at us like crazy, Leo ably backed her up, and Alfred kept everything going with ease. After the initial pressure, they also showed a solid calming and relaxation, but the nervous, frantic beating began to surface again, until the hustle and bustle and frenzied freedom of improvisation prevailed once more. Alex told us his story of how he recovered from leukemia and is happy to be able to play again. This touching moment somehow beautifully balanced the crazy music that all three of them performed on stage. Leo even pulled out a soprano saxophone, and listening to two saxophones with drums was also great. This rough mess was completely to my taste late in the evening. Yum!
Pedro Melo Alves – HIIT, Kunsthaus NEXUS
Friday’s program kicked off with the Italian-Portuguese trio HIIT, featuring Simone Quatrana on piano, Andrea Grossi on double bass, and Pedro Melo Alves on drums. Andrea got me excited with his Black Sabbath T-shirt, but as it turned out later, it was in vain. The lyrical, very lengthy introduction gave way to a vibrant drum solo and a slightly more sensible ride began, but overall it was very scattered and elusive. Andrea made extensive use of his bow, but I got a little lost in the lyricism and flood of extended techniques. When these avant-garde elements receded into the background in favor of the musicians‘ ensemble playing, they also managed to create some successful, intense moments.
Kasho Chualan / Lukas König, Kunsthaus NEXUS
Kasho Chualan – prepared piano, electronics, Lukas König – drums, amplified cymbals enticed us with an original beginning, throwing balls onto a metal sheet, but that was probably where the interesting part of this performance ended for me. Electronics and prepared piano in a very gradual introduction created a soundscape that was trampled by percussive madness after 15 minutes. Poor piano, the tuner probably had a field day afterwards. There was also noise on the drums, boxes in the piano, and even Kashy’s scream, but as I mentioned in the introduction, this crazy concept simply did not appeal to me, and it was like waiting for Godot, a rather long 50 minutes.
Teis Semey „Raw fish“ , Otto Gruber-Halle
Teis Semey – guitar, Amalie Dahl – alto saxophone, José Soares – alto saxophone, Adam O’Farrill – trumpet with electronics, Giovanni Iacovella – drums, electronics, Jim Black – drums. I needed to see this mainly because of Jim Black, who captivated me live a few years ago, so I was hoping for another such encounter. Teis remarked at the beginning that we had made the right choice in coming to this concert, and the opening screeching and croaking began, gradually turning into rhythmic chaos as the two drummers went against each other. Then the wind instruments joined in unison, and a solid rhythmic foundation appeared underneath them, and suddenly everyone was playing together, and Amalie even pulled off a melodic solo! Teis also got fired up on the wild rhythmic foundation, with considerable support from Jim, and suddenly the performance had incredible energy, until it fell apart again into complete chaos. The musicians presented several songs, not all of which I liked, but even so, it was a really raw experience.
Skorupa 5 „Sonic Feast“, CONGRESS Saalfelden
Finally, we moved to the main festival stage, where the first to perform was a quintet consisting of Leonhard Skorupa – wind instruments, Silke Eberhard – wind instruments, Kirke Karja – piano, keyboards, Robert Landfermann – double bass, and Leif Berger – percussion. The two bass clarinets in the introduction delighted me and were a treat for my ears. At first, it seemed as if they were only playing excerpts from compositions, but after about 10 minutes, the whole band finally got going and I began to enjoy how they intertwined with each other. They managed to get into their stride even in a trio without wind instruments, and the piano also got a good workout. Then they went back to frantic chirping and searching, but when they went full throttle, it worked and I enjoyed myself. Towards the end of the concert, I enjoyed it more and more, as the broken passages became fewer and fewer and the musicians mainly played together.
Weird of Mouth, CONGRESS Saalfelden
And then it was time for my first secret tip for the highlight of the festival. Mette Rasmussen – saxophone, preparations, bells, Craig Taborn – piano, preparations, Ches Smith – drums, percussion. After a recent fantastic solo concert in Prague, I was looking forward to another encounter with Craig, this time in a really intense interaction with other musicians. They did a wonderful job of filling the space, and the congenial connection from the stage was palpable. They didn’t need to resort to any overly incomprehensible lyrical abstraction or avant-garde, because they always had something to say. We listened to three masters who managed to play at full throttle throughout the performance. Even now, it’s still buzzing in my head. As my colleague Michal says, it was food, pure fat! When Craig jumped on his stool and banged on the piano with his palms, Mette screamed for her life and Ches pounded on it through a towel. And then came Mette’s solo performance on the soprano saxophone, when she almost tore our ears off with the intensity and high notes she showered us with. After a while, Ches joined her, and just like that, as a duo, they beautifully wore us out, as you can see in the video clip. Craig also performed a solo, and after his prelude, they showed that they could also play a ballad, so that they could finish with full force again. I was ecstatic, the absolute highlight of the festival so far!
Patricia Brennan „Breaking Stretch“, CONGRESS Saalfelden
The next performance was a welcome shift from free jazz frenzy to somewhere in Africa and Latin rhythms, but it was no cheap dance party. This refined ensemble of Jon Irabagon on alto and soprano saxophone, Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, Adam O’Farrill on trumpet with electronics, Kim Cass on double bass, Dan Weiss on drums, Keisel Jimenez on percussion, and Patricia Brennan on vibraphone would not have agreed to that. Patricia confided that this was only her band’s second performance in Europe and she was extremely grateful to the Saalfelden festival for the invitation. The more avant-garde vibe was created mainly by the wind instruments, which often played over each other, while the rhythm section sometimes seemed quite smooth in contrast, which created an interesting tension. For me, it was a very pleasant change in the busy experimental program and a welcome break from the intense free improvisations. The band sounded truly magnificent, and Patricia even invited the audience to dance. A very successful performance and another festival discovery.
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr, CONGRESS Saalfelden
Unfortunately, our energy and ability to concentrate were slowly running out, but at midnight we still had this lineup waiting for us: Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – double bass, Amalie Dahl – saxophone, Karl Hjalmar Nyberg – saxophone, Marta Warelis – piano, Jonathan F. Home – guitar, Olaf Olsen – drums, which of course was irresistible and we had to stay. Thanks to Jazz Goes to Town, I already knew what kind of blast I could expect, and they arrived in Saalfelden with their new album Drops, which was released on the day of the concert. There was some rustling and clattering at the beginning of the performance, until they found their groove and launched into a rocking number with plenty of energy. This Nordic wildness was a wonderful bedtime story, and Mette Rasmussen joined them for the last song.
