Umlaut presents the second record by the Simon Rummel Ensemble. The previous record could be best described as nonsensical joyfulness, this one though – and this is completely different – is more of a joyful nonsense. When Simon assembled us for this new repertoire, he apologized for having lacked the time to write it down. Therefore, as he put it, he had whistled and then transcribed a 45 minutes long melody. So, there was sixteen pages of monody, eleven musicians and three days to make music. Very well.
After an initial thorough – hence arduous – reading, we were emboldened. Picture the scene : the violinist is trying to figure out wether he should play even notes rather than odd ones, while the synthesizer has chosen to spend a couple of minutes on that lab that’s laying around. The tuba – everyone’s behind him – skips a line , the alto sax goes clarinet without even bothering to make the necessary transposition, and the trumpet is making sure that, no, Dixies’ Dilemma’s theme is not appropriate in this affair.
Three days of disobedient, chaotic– in a good way – work, three days spent checking the relevance of impertinence, which lead us to this music, orchestrated, arranged and played live. One should listen to it as one would watch a reality show : after three days of living together, what group is forming, who’s dissociating from the others, who’s speaking louder , who didn’t take out the trash, and why are they still here whistling ?
credits
released June 30, 2017
Lucia Mense : recorders built by Klaus Grunwald
Joris Rühl : clarinets
Georg Wissel : alto saxophone, clarinet
Udo Moll : trumpet
Matthias Muche : trombone
Carl Ludwig Hübsch : tuba
Radek Stawarz : violin
Oxana Omelchuk : harmonium
Ketonge : voice, effects
Michael Griener : drumset
Simon Rummel : melodica, glasses, composition of the melody
Recording : live at OPETKA-Ateliers, Cologne . December 20th 2015
Engineering : Andreas Becker
Photos : Ensemble by Jane Dunker, flutes by Andreas Becker
Ensemble and Simon with chairs by Jane Dunker, flutes by Andreas Becker
Cover designed and set in Futura by Simon Rummel, printed on a Heidelberg Windmill on Fabriano Disegno 4 by Manfred Stammen.
Umlaut is a music collective born in 2004 in Stockholm, which then opened two branches in Berlin and
Paris.
« Transformation of sound » is the motto around which they gathered to produce records, organize concerts, discover new artists and play music together.
The collective works to spread a music that is too rarely shared and discovered....more
Drummer, composer, and producer Janek van Laak creates free and flowing jazz that highlights bold vocals and instrumentation. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 19, 2024
Imbued with spirit, openness, and curiosity, The Sea Ensemble played improvisational music as if they were trying to capture the sound of something greater. Bandcamp Album of the Day Dec 2, 2022