The Behemoth (Edition Records)
Phronesis
Released March 31, 2017
Jazzwise Top 10 Releases of 2017
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mvsxa8oZ4DMd6WrdPhC76P4WlZtdca7PA
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/66zeKAzLjs48gY56eRQwr8?si=s2ggHRnPRRS4T_StroM9MA
About:
Phronesis have built a formidable reputation over the last decade as one of the most powerful and energetic small ensembles on the European jazz scene. Known for their virtuosity, roller-coaster live performances and telepathic group interplay, the trio have commanded impressive media attention and established a substantial fanbase on a global level. Following six critically acclaimed trio albums, the band have now completed their most ambitious recording to date with the release of The Behemoth.
Julian Argüelles plays a pivotal role throughout this album, as arranger and conductor, and also appears as a soloist on Eger’s ‘Urban Control’. The founder member of ‘Loose Tubes’, and a critically acclaimed bandleader in his own right, he was also a longtime member of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, and The Behemoth confirms his deep understanding of the band, writing for individual players he knows well, in addition to his masterful ability as an ensemble arranger and conductor. All three members of the trio have been long time admirers of Argüelles’s playing, writing and arranging and when an opportunity arose for them to collaborate, they all jumped at the chance. The Frankfurt Radio Big Band have an impressive story, having been one of the key radio big bands in Europe for many years, collaborating with a plethora of international jazz artists. Tackling the music of Phronesis is no easy task for any large ensemble, but with Argüelles at the helm, they met the challenge with a creative energy.
The big band forces provide a vast colour palette for Argüelles and he has fully utilised all the sumptuous sonic resources and added his own aesthetic, breathing re-imagined life into the trio’s own-choice of material from their back catalogue. “We are constantly discovering new routes through our music when we play as a trio, so a re-interpretation of our compositions in a big band setting seemed like a natural and particularly scenic follow-on to this” Neame explains. Over six albums, Phronesis have developed a bold, mesmerising and instantaneously recognisable sound. They have performed widely across Europe and taken their engaging grooves, irresistible rhythmic energy and breathtaking group interplay to concert stages and festivals across the world from Morocco to Brazil and Australia to North America. The brilliantly expanded sound world of The Behemoth sheds a fascinating new light on the trio’s timeless music, and demonstrates the extraordinary ability of three superlative musicians who continue to surprise, excite and inspire audiences worldwide.
Track Listing:
1. Ok Chorale (Ivo Neame) 3:49
2. Untitled#1 (Jasper Høiby) 6:58
3. Stillness (Jasper Høiby) 9:08
4. Herne Hill (Anton Eger) 4:54
5. Charm Defensive (Ivo Neame) 6:36
6. Zieding (Anton Eger) 9:45
7. Phraternal (Ivo Neame) 6:53
8. Intro to Urban Control (Anton Eger) 2:48
9. Urban Control (Julian Argüelles / Anton Eger) 7:45
10. Happy Notes (Jasper Høiby) 6:06
Personnel:
Jasper Høiby: bass
Ivo Neame: piano
Anton Eger: drums
Frankfurt Radio Big Band
Julian Argüelles: arranger, conductor (tenor saxophone solo on #9) Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute, piccolo
Oliver Leicht: alto saxophone, clarinet (clarinet solo on #3)
Tony Lakatos: tenor saxophone, alto flute (tenor solo on #1)
Steffen Weber: tenor saxophone (tenor solo on #3)
Rainer Heute: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Frank Wellert: trumpet, flugelhorn
Thomas Vogel: trumpet, flugelhorn
Martin Auer: trumpet, flugelhorn (trumpet solo on #8)
Axel Schlosser: trumpet, flugelhorn (trumpet solo on #6)
Günter Bollmann: trombone
Peter Feil: trombone (trombone solo on #4)
Christian Jaksjø: trombone, bass trumpet (bass trumpet solo on #5)
Manfred Honetschläger: bass trumpet
Martin Scales: guitar (guitar solos on #2 and #10)
Recorded September 2016, at Hörfunkstudio II, Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main, by Axel Gutzler
Recording engineer: Michael Wayszack
Mixed by August Wanngren at Virkeligheden in Copenhagen
Mastered by Peter Beckmann
Producer: Phronesis & Hessischer Rundfunk
Producer Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Olaf Stötzler
Executive Producer: Dave Stapleton
Review:
After a decade faithful to their beloved and classic trio format, Phronesis find themselves borne aloft upon the giant sound of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Given wings by the arrangements of Julian Argüelles, who knows the FRBB and Phronesis with some intimacy, the band’s back catalogue comes alive with a revisioning that yet remains true to the originals. It would have been ‘easy’ for Argüelles to reimagine the songs in his own image, reshaping them through the lens of his own experience of Loose Tubes and the European big band scene. There’s an element of that in the fresh chordings of ‘Untitled #1’. But in general Argüelles remains true to the band’s own arrangements, adding instead colourations, dynamic build and tectonic structures for the likes of Stefan Weber’s tenor to erupt on the urgent propulsion of ‘Stillness’ or for Christian Jaksjø’s unlikely bass trumpet to sing on ‘Charm Defensive’. By not attempting to get a big band to replicate the details and intricacies of the trio’s fleet-footed interplay, Argüelles has liberated both Phronesis and the orchestra to do what they each do best. You’ll gaze amazed as this dragon dances.
Andy Robson (Jazzwise)
