Catalogue Connection: 25112

This disc, titled Absolutely!, may be seen/heard as a counterpart to the Dragon CD (reviewed elsewhere) by the Alloy Sax Quartet, but I enjoyed it much, much more. In the notes, Steinmetz indi­cates his merging of “jazz and classical traditions ” (emphasis mine) but never says how much of this music is improvised. Whether or not it is improvised on the spot, or improvised ahead of time and then written down, the end result sounds at times – particularly in the Absolutely! suite – very much like the jazz-classical hybrids of the 1950s and 60s, e.g., Charles Mingus’s Gregarian Chant or the “jazzical” compositions of Alonzo Levister.

The recorded sound – roomy and with a lot of ambience despite clear, crisp playing – has much to do with this similarity. I haven’t heard sonics like these since the 1950s, except perhaps on Ornette Coleman’s two Sound Museum CDs, which also had a retro feel.

The music is often bitonal or lacking a clear tonality. Echoes of Bartók, Stravinsky, and Herbie Nichols permeate Absolutey!, and Steinmetz’s soprano sax flutters its way through the proceedings in a way that adds a voice to the string quartet in addition to soloing over it. Violinist Tolling, by nature of his instrument, often sounds as if he is emerging from the ensemble. The central movement here, “Honesty,” has a very strong Nichols quality in the rhythm and overall construction. “Unselfishness” begins as a dialogue between sax, solo violin, and viola, after which the quartet’s cellist (Heather Tuach) plucks her instrument like a jazz bass while the other three strings lay down a cushion with a gentle, repeated figure for the soloists, then later involve themselves in the devel­opment section. Some of this music put me in mind of Eastern modes, which I was happy to find confirmed by the liner notes, which refer to the composer’s experiences in South India. On this track, Steinmetz switches to orkon flute. Tolling’s playing here reminded me of the Turtle Island String Quartet – and again, the notes bore this out, as he played with that groundbreaking ensemble for sev­eral years. What amazed me more was how the Fitzwilliam String Quartet also manages to assimi­late this style at times. The last movement, “Love,” is an extraordinary polyphonic piece whose tex­ture becomes increasingly complex as it develops.

Steinmetz’s Chaconne for Steve Lacy may be incomprehensible to listeners unfamiliar with this avant-garde jazz soprano saxist, as so many little elements of Lacy’s style can be discerned in it. I was intrigued by its designation to be played by “soprano saxophone with solo instrument or voice.” as I found it difficult to imagine a wordless vocal in place of the violin here. The music becomes more abstract towards the end of the piece.

Steinmetz’s arrangements of the Purcell Fantasias are fascinating for the clever way he has woven the soprano sax, playing variations on the themes, into them without disturbing either the flow or the musical content of the works. His own Fantasia, titled “Epiphany,” returns to his multi-tonal style, pitting open fourths played by the higher strings against both his sax and the plucked/bowed cello.

The disc concludes with an arrangement of the Bach Chaconne from the Violin Partita No. 2 by Steinmetz and Lucy Russell, first violinist of the Fitzwilliam Quartet, that does indeed include “an improvised counterpoint” to the lead line. Steinmetz’s pure, cool tone reminds one of the way Johnny Hodges played the soprano sax than the styles of most later players of the instrument such as Coltrane, Dolphy, and Lacy, but elegance of style and purity of tone do not preclude emotional commitment. I must also lavish praise on Russell for her outstanding playing on this track.

This is a remarkable CD; highly recommended!

Saxophonist and composer Uwe Steinmetz (b.1975) was born in Bremervörde, Germany. He started to play flute in a local brass band at the age of seven, and soon after began composing German folk tunes and theatre music for his school. He later changed to the saxophone, participating in numerous master classes and workshops, and composing for school ensembles. He was a member of the regional and national youth jazz orchestras and toured throughout Europe and the United States.

Steinmetz continued his musical education in Berlin and Bern with Gebhard Ullman and Frank Sikora, followed by studies at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he worked with Ben Schwendener, George Russell and Jerry Bergonzi. He holds degrees in jazz composition, and saxophone performance as well as a certificate from George Russell for advanced studies in his Lydian Chromatic Concept, authorizing him to teach all aspects of Russell’s unique music theory, which shaped modern jazz in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Steinmetz lives and works as a freelance musician in Berlin and has performed his own music on four continents and in more than thirty countries as well as recording around a dozen CDs. His Kantata„ God is Now für Jazz nonett, Choir and 3000 singers in 4 Groups took place at the closing ceremony of the International Choir Festival in Greifswald, GER on August 26th 2012.

Steinmetz has been a recipient of numerous grants and prizes, including the 2000 Theodor Fontane Award from the Stifterverbandder Deutschen Wissenschaft, first prize at the 2001 European Jazz Competition in Getxo, Spain, the ‘Jazz In’ prize awarded by Lower Saxony in 2005/2006, and grants for his compositions and other artistic work from the ministries of culture in Hanover and Berlin.

In addition to his teaching, Steinmetz has given saxophone master classes and music theory workshops in high schools and conservatories in both Germany and the US. He has served as a juror for youth jazz competitions in Germany and has served as an assistant music teacher at the Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu, South India, where he also studied fundamentals of South Indian (carnatic) music. He has been on the faculty at the Conservatory of Music in Rostock, Germany, since 2008.

Steinmetz’s compositions include works for choir, string quartet and jazz ensemble, organ, guitar, saxophone and jazz orchestra. Since 2002 he has worked with the London based Fitzwilliam String Quartet who appear with him on a new release of his works from Divine Art Recordings also featuring violinist Mads Tolling.

The title of this new CD Absolutely! is from the first work on the disc Absolutely! – Suite for String Quartet, Saxophone and Violin Solo (2008) a musical meditation on purity, unselfishness, honesty and love. Written in five movements it opens with Prelude where the quartet and solo violin are soon joined by the saxophone in a strikingly unusual sound. The music has the feel of being at least partly improvised, particularly in the saxophone flourishes, yet there is a firm structure here. There is a passage where the solo violin really swings in a terrific, jazz inspired section accompanied by the quartet complete with pizzicato cello acting in the form of a jazz double bass. The saxophone re-joins before a spiky rhythm ensues allowing some terrific playing from saxophone and violin.

Purity opens with some unusual dissonances from the whole ensemble before falling to a more thoughtful mode taken up by the solo violin and quartet. There is some fine playing here, as well as strange cries from the solo violin. The saxophone weaves above the other players in some spectacularly difficult displays of virtuosity before calming a little as the sax and violin form a kind of duet playing above the quartet. The movement ends a long note that fades.

The saxophone opens with jazz flourishes above the string quartet, who set a rhythmic pace in Honesty . The sax and violin eventually join in a short duet, the violin taking over with quartet accompaniment. This particularly bluesy movement has great freedom and breath giving all the musicians the opportunity to really take off.

Unselfishness brings some unusual sounds provided by the orkon-flute. Soon the quartet presents a slow, plodding theme before the orkon-flute and solo violin join in. This soon develops into the drone of a Raga on which it is based. Eventually a jazzy duet between flute and solo violin arrives before the quartet re-joins with rich, chordal playing. The violin then plays a jazzy theme around the quartet before the drone like sounds return.

A slightly syncopated slow theme for strings opens Love , around which the solo violin weaves a bluesy line. When the saxophone enters, the music rises up to a pitch before slackening as the solo violin joins. The syncopated theme reappears and, as the sax reappears, duetting with the violin over the syncopated quartet, it leads to the coda.

There is some superb playing from Uwe Steinmetz (saxophone), Mads Tolling (violin) and the Fitzwilliam String Quartet.

Steinmetz’s Chaconne for Steve Lacy for soprano saxophone and solo instrument or voice (2011) opens with a modern take on the traditional chaconne. The saxophone joins to add the jazz element alongside the violin. This is an incredible success, combining jazz and a classical chaconne all brilliantly played by both Steinmetz and Tolling, especially as they reach a falling motif together, reminiscent of a baroque concerto.

Steinmetz’s arrangement of Purcell’s Fantasia No.7 for four viols, Z.738 (1680) opens fairly conventionally on the strings (this work adapts easily for a string quartet) before the singular sound of the saxophone joins – yet it sounds quite in keeping, as though time has been compressed and Purcell has used the instrument and jazz style quite naturally. This is a triumph from these fine musicians.

Steinmetz’s own Fantasia No.1 ‘Epiphany’ for string quartet and soprano saxophone (2009) follows, a work of some accomplishment that sits naturally within the arrangements of Purcell’s Fantasias. It is more conventionally jazz based, the quartet, nevertheless, providing a modern take on the Fantasia with the saxophone of Steinmetz combining brilliantly with the Fitzwilliam Quartet.

Purcell returns in another of Steinmetz arrangements, this time of his Fantasia No.11 for four viols, Z.742 (1680) and what an arrangement it is with the quartet providing the line over which the saxophone has an almost baroque feel, as though replacing a piccolo trumpet. This is another fabulous performance with Steinmetz providing some terrific jazz improvisations over the Purcellian sounds of the Fitzwilliam Quartet.

Finally we come to Bach as filtered through the imaginations of Fitzwilliam violinist, Lucy Russell and Uwe Steinmetz. Bach’s Chaconne from his Violin Partita No.2, BWV 1004 (1720) opens with some fine playing from the Fitzwilliam Quartet before Steinmetz enters, at first only adding occasionally light touches, before developing a more elaborate improvised counterpoint to the Fitzwilliam’s occasionally swirling strings. There is more superb string playing and inventive sax improvisations from Steinmetz with both blending wonderfully.

What would Bach have thought of this arrangement? We have no way of knowing but I have a sneaking suspicion he would have loved it.

Well recorded with excellent notes from Uwe Steinmetz, Fitzwilliam violist, Alan George and Divine Art’s own Stephen Sutton, this is a disc that all open minded classical and jazz lovers should investigate.

How to protect freedom threatened by a demonic autocracy while also protecting human life may well be an insoluble koan. But there is no doubt that an important contribution can be made by building trust across the world’s divides. This is the principal objective of the global Initiatives of Change organisation, and the celebrated Fitzwilliam String Quartet – who, coincidentally, are leading interpreters of Britten’s music – have just released a new CD informed by that laudable objective. The Kickstarter funded Absolutely! – Music for Jazz Soloists + String Quartet is a collaboration between saxophone and flute virtuoso Uwe Steinmetz, jazz violinist Mads Tolling and the Fitzwilliams. Uwe Steinmetz, who studied in Berlin, Bern, Madras and Boston and is a longtime collaborator with the Fitzwilliam Quartet, unfashionably combines his Christian faith and music making to “help people discover a deeper, healing and reconciling truth in an increasingly fragmented society”.

Britten connections continue on the new CD with two arrangements by Steinmetz of Purcell Fantasias , while the Initiatives of Change connection is cemented by a dedication in the raga influenced title work to the organisation’s Asia Plateau project in Panchgani; this Indian campus was founded by Mahatma Ghandi’s grandson Rajmohan and Uwe Steinmetz lived there in 1999. Absolutely! was recorded for the independent Divine Art label in St Martin’s Church, East Woodhay by Andrew Halifax and the natural – as opposed to digital – provenance of the reverberation is evident within seconds of auditioning. In my view the final track, an arrangement of Bach’s Chaconne from the Violin Partita No. 2 in which Uwe Steinmetz’s saxophone provides an improvised counterpoint to the violin line, is worth the purchase price of the CD alone.

With its booklet quotations from mystic Gurdjieff and evangelist Frank Buchman this brave new CD is an easy target for the social media cynics. In fact such cynicism has some foundation as Buchman was founder of Moral Rearmament, the organisation that in 2001 transformed itself into Initiatives of Change, a transformation which is treated sketchily in the organisation’s official and revisionist history. Buchman, whose whole doctrine was based on what he termed “absolute moral standards”, made a famously unwise reference to Hitler, while the Christian culture of Moral Rearmament movement at times had unfortunate pre-echoes of today’s religious right. But it is best to accept that koans are never easy to solve and be glad that Initiatives of Change with its impressive multi-cultural credentials and the energizing music of Absolutely! with its rich meta content add a welcome spoonful of idealism to today’s relentless diet of self-interested commercialism.