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  | BENJAMIN WEIDEKAMP ~ SERIELL, NICHT SERIOS
WHYPLAYJAZZ 011 (Barcode: 4050486096789) ~ GERMANY ~ Jazz
Recorded: 2013 Released: 2014
This is the debut album by the German clarinetists / saxophonist / composer Benjamin WeidekampFind albums by this artist and his quartet, which also includes clarinetists / saxophonist Uli KempendorffFind albums by this artist, guitarist Ronny GraupeFind albums by this artist and drummer Christian MarienFind albums by this artist. The album presents six original compositions, all by Weidekamp and was recorded by the legendary Walter QuintusFind albums by this artist, with the sound quality of this recording being excellent, as expected.
Active on the Berlin Jazz scene since the turn of the Millennium, Weidekamp was as the leader of several different ensembles (Odd ShotFind albums by this artist, Olaf TonFind albums by this artist, Stereo LisaFind albums by this artist) and participated in other Improvised Music ventures. He founded this quartet in 2010 but the debut recording followed only a few years later.
The music presented on this album is very Avant-Garde, near the extreme edge of Improvised Music, which of course means that it is completely uncommunicative to the vast majority of the people, who listen to music, even the most open-minded among them. It is constructed of shredded melody pieces, often repeated continuously in a manner similar to minimalist / serial music, which seemingly have no beginning or end and stay on the same emotional level for extensive periods of time. Balinese and other Far East folkloristic motifs also come to mind as do many other Avant-Garde explorations, many of which were tried out already decades ago.
As much as I support individuality and originality, this kind of extremism serves in my view only the musicians, who play this music, contributing very little to the actual aesthetics of music as such. Although some listeners might find this music interesting or even fascinating, it rests largely within the artistic self-indulgence zone.
Of course it is also possible that I have no idea what I am talking about and this music simply is beyond my limited comprehension. Whichever way, I´ll probably not return to this album in the foreseeable future.
| | Updated: 12/04/2019Posted: | CD 1 Mini-Sleeve Recommend To A Friend |
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