Discovering the small in the big and always keeping an eye on the big without getting lost in the small - that is an art that not many people have mastered. All the less so when, when listening, the small dissolves completely into the large and vice versa. When form as form recedes into the background and perception establishes its own rules, music becomes nature and integrates itself into reality as utopia. The Cologne-based bass trombonist and tuba player Jan Schreiner oscillates between variable sounds and forms and colors, which merge into one another and yet always reveal the original creative will upon reflection. “Songs And Moods” is the title of the second album by his Large Ensemble and at the same time an exact description of what you can expect from this recording.
The first two songs set the tone for the seven tracks of this suite. “Roomba Song” is a serious to darkly melancholic, slowly building pastoral that need not shy away from comparisons with great composers of classical music. Schreiner knows how to provide a precise compositional framework for the ensemble and let go at the same moment to allow the piece to develop its very own dramaturgy. The following “Baby No Roof But Garlic” marks the greatest possible contrast to the opener, a lively jazz cracker whose drive seems to roll over at almost every moment. The following four songs explore the most diverse states and emotions between these two statements. Each one encompasses its own emotional world, and in their entirety they very realistically reflect all the personal states that one can go through in the course of a day. The bouncer “Double L Blues” is the grand finale, a genuine marching band number that resembles an exuberant street party after a long, fulfilling day and almost seems like a harmonious encore to the previous program.
Lineup:
Malte Dürrschnabel (saxophone, clarinet)
Denis Gäbel (saxophone, clarinet)
Oliver Leicht (saxophone, clarinet)
Felix Meyer (trumpet)
Heidi Bayer (trumpet)
Jan Schreiner (bass trombone)
Lukas Wyss (trombone)
Linus Bernoulli (french horn)
Jürgen Friedrich (piano)
Reza Askari (bass)
Silvio Morger (drums)
