Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XI: The Last Call

Philip Catherine - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XI: The Last CallCD / Vinyl / digital Larry Coryell guitar Philip Catherine guitar Jan Lundgren piano Lars Danielsson bass Paolo Fresu trumpet The two guitar icons Larry Coryell and Philipp Catherine share a long history and, despite their different musical backgrounds on both sides of the Atlantic, a close musical kinship. Recorded on January 27, 2017, as part of the "Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic" series, "The Last Call" is the final recording of Larry Coryell, who passed away four weeks later on February 19, 2017. It serves as an echo of a very special relationship between two highly accomplished guitarists, filled with creative compatibility, enthusiasm, and deep mutual understanding.Credits:In memory of Larry Coryell (1943-2017), his last concert Recorded live in concert by Klaus Scheuermann at the Philharmonie Berlin (KMS), January 24, 2017 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Cover art based and inspired by a work of Alain Biltereyst (Original: ACT Art Collection)

Philip Catherine - The String ProjectCD / digital Philip Catherine guitar Nicola Andrioli piano Nicolas Fiszman acoustic guitar & electric bass Philippe Aerts double bass Hans Van Oosterhout drums Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie (ORCW) conducted by Frank Braley Philip Catherine could so easily never have been born. His maternal grandfather, Mr. Brennan, a member of the first violin section of the London Symphony Orchestra, was supposed to travel to New York on the fateful maiden voyage of the Titanic in April 1912. He had booked his ticket, but by the time he got to Southampton, the ship had already sailed without him. Not long thereafter, Philip Catherine's mother came into this world, and Catherine himself was born on the 27th of October 1942. This story, which gained the status of myth in his family, helped his mother to instil a love of music in him. Now, at the age of nearly 73. Philip Catherine has been able to fulfil a long-held wish to have his music performed with a large orchestra, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, conducted by Frank Braley. Nine arrangers made orchestral versions of his tunes, the guitarist/bassist Nicolas Fiszman was tireless in helping with the preparations, which enabled the new work to receive its premiere after just six hours of rehearsals, in the Brussels Jazz Festival on January 13th 2015. “I was so entranced by the sound, by the beautiful new cloak which my tunes had been given to wear, I missed my entrance in “Transparence,” says Catherine. “I just sat there for four bars, listening instead of playing- that's something which has never happened to me before.” Catherine re-captured those four bars in a session afterwards, and that was the only tune which needed to be patched in the studio. Everything else is exactly as it was played and heard in concert on January 13th. “We had never imagined that we would make a CD of this concert – mainly because we had had so little time to prepare it. But the Flemish TV station VRT-Canvas had made a complete recording, and when we heard it played back, we all thought: Hey, this has to be a CD. “ Ever since the 1970's, Philip Catherine has had a decisive influence on the sound of the guitar in jazz. This period – four decades – has also been the time during which the guitarist has worked together with Siggi Loch, which made his the appearance of first CD on ACT feel like such a natural step. That album “New Folks,” a duo album with the bassist Martin Wind, is now followed by “The String Project - Live in Brussels.” Philip Catherine is one of the finest exponents of the melodic way of playing the guitar. Having been schooled in the music of Django Reinhardt, Catherine took his playing to another level in his duo with guitarist Larry Corryell, and several albums which he made with Chet Baker constitute a major recorded legacy. “With this string project, I didn't feel that I wanted to prove anything to anyone, so I consciously avoided playing anything showy. The sound of the arrangements, plus what the orchestra and the conductor were creating from them, was all so fascinating, that my only ambition was to put myself at the service of the project, to use my instrument and my abilities to complement and to enrich the overall sound.” That said, Catherine's highly individual sound is instantly recognizable, whether he is in a 'pas de deux' with the violins (in “Philip a Paris”) or with the cellos (in “Toscane”). “I spoke about complementing, but that doesn't mean that I blend in to the point of being unrecognizable. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was important to me that the orchestra should be able to maintain its own identity - and that my band should too.” Catherine's quartet was integrated into the project, and assures that there is variety and contrast. In “Transparence” the band temporarily takes on the leading role. There are fascinating duo sounds alternating with the full orchestra, for example in “December 26th”. Catherine's co-organizer Nicolas Fiszman takes the bass part in “Virtuous Woman” and plays the second guitar in “Isabelle.” The alternation of sounds is always subservient to the idea of hearing the full orchestra. “The String Project - Live in Brussels” brings classical music and jazz together – you would never know they had spent time apart.Credits: Music composed by Philip Catherine except 01 by Jean-Claude Petit Produced by Philip Catherine Musical supervisors: Nicolas Fiszman & Michel Herr Live in concert at Flagey, Brussels on 13.01.2015 Concert producer: VRT (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep) Recorded at Flagey Studio 4 by Walter De Niel and Johan Favoreel Mixed and mastered by Walter De Niel at VRT studios Sound engineer (FOH) at Flagey: Bart Aga Cover art by Manfred Bockelmann © VG Bild-Kunst

Various Artists - Duo Art: Creating MagicCD / digitalDuo Art – it is the most reduced form of making music together, while no less rewarding. When it succeeds it is the smallest big-band in the world. Two people all alone, in harmony and competition. Complementing each other, scrutinising, and telling each other their opinion – a fascinating ear-to-ear dialogue. Spontaneous and intense, call and response – jazz in its purest form. A musical tight-rope act without a safety net. Ideally, wonderful art results. The duet can be found all through the history of jazz. The oeuvre of every great jazz musician simply cannot be without its duet recording. The duet has also always been a source of fascination for ACT: "How will two musicians react to one another? Will they find a common ground and will it lead them to new heights?" To this day, ACT continues to seek new answers to these questions, and it dares to experiment with the most diverse of musician constellations. "Creating Magic" is a presentation of more than 20 years of ACT Duo Art and the musical trailer for the new ACT Duo Art series that documents magical dialogues. As early as in the initial ACT program in 1992, Jasper van‘t Hof, Bob Malach and Wayne Krantz joined forces in various duos. The Swedish pianist Jan Johansson is considered a pioneer of Scandinavian jazz. With "Jazz på svenska" (Jazz in Swedish) he paved jazz a road into folk music, significantly in a duet with Georg Riedel on the bass. Siggi Loch experienced the two musicians in 1964 in Hamburg at the NDR Jazzworkshop, and 30 years later he wrote further pages in the story of "Swedish Folk - Modern" together with Nils Landgren and Esbjörn Svensson. Together with the Polish piano high-flyer Leszek Możdżer, Swedish master bassist Lars Danielsson also achieves a harmonious symbiosis on "Pasodoble" that is rare to behold. Together they attain an unheard-of level of interaction and esprit. Iiro Rantala and Michael Wollny created an ethereal musical moment in their dialogue on two grand pianos on "Jazz at the Berlin Philharmonic" in December 2012: "Tears For Esbjörn" is a poignant homage to the piano visionary Esbjörn Svensson, who died in 2008. Wollny can also be heard in duet on "Creating Magic": the unreleased "Polygon", recorded at Schloss Elmau, with the Norwegian saxophone shooting star Marius Neset, is the first ever meeting of these two, perhaps most important young European jazz musicians of our time, and it shows in no uncertain terms that the future is bright. The sampler ends with a track that has, in its own tragic way, gained a place in jazz history: "You Stole My Heart" is the last recording that Eddie Harris made, briefly before his passing. After the concert recordings with the WDR Big Band, which can also be heard on "The Last Concert", he asked pianist Gil Goldstein to stay for an extra night session. One last time he exposed his soul in the song he dedicated to his wife. Back in Los Angeles he was hospitalised and died on 5 November 1996.Credits: Compilation produced by Siggi Loch and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann The Art in Music: Cover art (Detail) by Philip Taaffe / ACT Art Collection

Philip Catherine - Duo Art: New FolksCD / digital Philip Catherine guitar Martin Wind bass The Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine is a European jazz legend. The now 71-year-old Catherine started playing professionally when he was only 17 and toured with artists such as Lou Bennett, Dexter Gordon, Jean-Luc Ponty, Chet Baker (with whom he recorded 6 albums), Tom Harrell and many others. In 1978 he received the “Artist of the year” award by the German Phono-Academy, and Charles Mingus gave him the nickname “Young Django”. This is also a result of his impeccable time feel, which allows him to sound relaxed and loose even while playing the most breathtaking up-tempo passages. But it is not mainly his technique and dexterity that sets him apart; furthermore what made him so unique is his acoustic guitar sound, as well as an improvisational style, which is based not on other guitarists, but on some of the great horn players in jazz. When Martin Wind was studying bass in his hometown of Flensburg/Germany in the 80s one day his teacher gave him a copy of Philip Catherine’s duo recording “The Viking” (1983) with the Danish bass legend Niels-Henning Oersted Pedersen. “That was the first jazz recording that I listened to over and over again and as a result of that had a big influence me,” remembers Wind. He ended up pursuing a professional career in music following Catherine’s example, who at that time was already considered one of the most important European jazz musicians, and about who the South German Newspaper in Munich just recently wrote that he “plays things that cannot be heard by any other guitarist in the world today”. Martin Wind also made his way: he studied classical bass at the Conservatory in Cologne, Germany, was a founding member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and ended up with a scholarship to study at New York University. In 1996 he moved to New York City, but unlike many others he was meant to stay and has since then become an integral part of the scene working with the trios of Bill Mays, Don Friedman, Dena DeRose, Jim McNeely, Matt Wilson’s “Arts and Crafts”, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and many others. While touring in Germany about two years ago ACT label boss Siggi Loch heard Wind perform in Berlin. Siggi had Wind on his radar for some time already, was impressed by his tasteful bass playing again and offered to do a duo recording together with – you guessed it: Philip Catherine! It took a while before the slightly surprised 71-year-old Belgian was able to make himself available for this project. However, in the spring of 2013 Catherine and Wind finally met for a short tour through German Clubs to get musically and personally acquainted for their first ACT – album “New Folks”. Martin Wind apparently came prepared for the musical encounter with his longtime hero, which seemed to inspire the veteran Catherine. You can pick any given song on the album from “Blues in the Closet” with its almost rock-like, electric facets and archaic Blues phrases, over the 1932 Irving-Berlin-Standard “How deep is the ocean”, from a homage to George Shearing “Hello George” to the melancholic finger style adaptation of Paul McCartney’s later work “Jenny Wren” – at all times these two complement each other perfectly: Catherine’s playing that is technically unique and never seems to stop discovering new lyrical guitar sounds, and Martin Wind’s bass, that is always strong, yet at the same time elegant and lush. Both are esthetes that love melodic jazz with Swing roots. Probably the best example of how Wind and Catherine tap into the tradition is the old standard “Old Folks”: without any haste or superficial virtuosity, but instead with complete mutual trust they find the ideal tone, the right timbre for each note, lining up sound and space perfectly. This is the key to the encounter of Martin Wind and Philip Catherine: in the spirit of the Old Folks from Swanee River the New Folks create jazz in the club and in the studio – a meeting of generations marked by harmony and respect.Credits: Produced by Siggi Loch Recorded at Realistic Sound Studio by Florian Oestreicher, April 3-4, 2013 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann The Art in Music: Cover art (Detail) by Philip Taaffe / ACT Art Collection