24/05/2024
Sup Lovers?
I recently made a trip up to Berlin after receiving a guest list ticket from the wonderful Christopher Otto from the JACK Quartet! (Chris, I know you’re reading this – I wish we could have hung out longer. I hope you enjoy your Zorn zine!!)
So with a long weekend ahead of me, I began looking for some more shows to fill up my Berlin trip. The legend himself, Bill Frisell was scheduled to play a show with his trio at Lausitzerplatz church as part of the XJAZZ Festival, but the show was sold out. Thankfully, on the proviso that I would write a review of the concert for the Free Jazz Collective, I was able to score a press pass for the event. You can read all about it here! I can highly recommend the comment section which contains this gem:
"She hated it - and she hates the people who attended the show. What‘s wrong with getting old? What about the music? Worst review in a long time … "
For the record, I didn't hate it. :)
Here’s a small sample of the review in question:
"Bill seems totally elated and humbled by all the attention. During his only stage banter for the night, he can’t help but comment on the warm adoration and vast sea of fans, of which he is right in the middle: ”It’s like the Beatles or something!”
There is no doubting Frisell’s ability to write a tune, and indeed to play, still. You just have to be willing to come along on his journey, which is conducted at his pace. For some, that pace might be a little slow, but for the guy next to me, this was probably the best night of 2024. Maybe even his whole life. Not a song went by without an audible gasp, or an exclamation of joyous disbelief, both in German and English."
The review is accompanied by a series of stills from the brilliant filmographer Beat Halberschmidt. I am so honoured that he has allowed me to use his shots as my iPhone pics didn’t really do the event such justice.
READ THE REVIEW HERE:
https://www.freejazzblog.org/2024/05/bill-frisell-at-xjazz-festival.html
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For the duration of my time in Berlin, I had been enjoying the single life. My ADHD kicked in and with nobody to stop me, I decided to eat the same meal every single day. Noodles: My absolute favourite meal of all time. I present to you a new series I would like to call “Jazz Noodlin’” – the idea is that I go and listen to jazz, and then get noodles, and do a report on both. Maybe in the future, Jazz Noodlin’ can also combine interviews with the musicians, over a bowl of noodles. Let this one sit with me for a bit while it… cooks? ;-)
Anyway, here’s a gallery with all four days worth of solo jazz noodlin’.
Day 1: Vegetarian Miso Ramen Noodles, Mori Mori Ramen (Luisenstadt)
Day 2: Biang Biang Home-Pulled Noodles with Tofu, The Noodle Town (Spandauer Vorstadt)
Day 3: Noodle Soup with Vegetarian Beef + fried egg, Meet Noodles (Friedrichshain)
Day 4: Vegetarian Wonton Noodle Soup, Nampan Restaurant (Spandauer Vorstadt)
Now, every single one of these vegetarian noodle soups was delightfully tasty, but never have I ever had such a life-changing experience as I did on day two with the Biang Biang Home-Pulled Noodles from The Noodle Town. HOLY CRAP. This was probably the single greatest noodle experience of my entire life. The spicy sauce was exploding with a mix of schezwan pepper and spices, the prepared tofu filled with sauce, carrying the soup into my mouth like sopping pillows. But the real standout here was the home-pulled noodles. Flat, thick, and so delicious I damn near shed a tear. All accompanied by a simple steamed bok choy and a topping of fresh corriander. Portion size was amazing, and served with a Fritz Cola. I told the server to keep the change, saying: “I did not expect to come to Berlin and have my mind fu***ng blown by a bowl of noodles… but here we are. LIFE CHANGING NOODLES.”
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Never in a million years could I have imagined getting a seat, not only in the front row of the Pierre Boulez Saal, but …on the floor?! If I was any closer I should have been holding a string instrument to blend in. Naturally, I was beside myself with excitement. I look at the pictures now and I still can’t fu***ng believe it.
The guy next to me was a friend of the quartet also. Within seconds of introducing ourselves, I somehow felt it necessary to share with him that I had just had an enormous bowl of Wonton Noodle Soup, and that I was so pumped for the gig that I might burst. He suggested that if so, I should do it in the direction of the doorway at least so I don’t hit the band.
As one would imagine, the show was fire. No Zorn compositions today, but instead pieces from JACK’s own violinist, Austin Wulliman, Gabriella Smith, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Morton Feldman, and Juri Seo. The works were wonderfully complimentary to each other and masterfully curated by the group, despite playing them in a slightly different order as listed in the program ;-) . Each piece showcased the quartet’s virtuosic brilliance & telepathic synchronisation, but also each demonstrated an individual atmosphere, which worked excellently in harmony as a whole set. At one point while Jay Campbell, the cellist, was talking a little about a piece in between, a lady with a thick german accent yelled from above: “SPEEK SLOWLY! VEE DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU!” Jay politely slowed it down and continued.
For me, the most exciting and unexpected moment came in the form of the final piece: Sonare (2014) from Cenk Ergün. The 10 minute piece was so exhilirating – so many notes, and such a pace! It was also quite repetitive, so it was truly an endurance for the musicians. From where I was sitting, I could capture their facial expressions: confident, but very focussed indeed. I think I even saw a few glistening drops of sweat. One wrong move and the piece would be cactus… but this is the JACK Quartet we’re talking about here. After 10 minutes of holding my breath, they had made it to the end. Thunderous applause filled the Saal, and a number of bows followed, plus an encore. Before the encore Jay announced the piece and began to say a few words about it. A second lady yelled out: “CAN YOU SAY ZE NAME OF ZE COMPOZER AGAIN?” Jay chuckled: “… I am getting heckled like crazy tonight!” I don’t remember the composers name, unfortunately, but I do remember that Chris Otto had written this particular interpretation for quartet. I really enjoyed that fact!
After the show I had the opportunity to meet each musician in the lobby and give them a glow-in-the-dark kandi bracelet and a copy of “Days of Zorn II”. I thought about making the bracelets a lil cheeky this time, so aside from their names, as a joke, I put JERK 4TET with lots of pink hearts. I am happy to report that all the band members enjoyed the gag. I was totally flattered and thrilled that Jay requested a photo with me and my book! “No hovering hands!” he commanded as we posed for the shot. As you can see, the sheer intensity of our extremely deliberate ‘non-hovering hands’ hug is the reason why I am laughing and blushing like an idiot. C’mon. Tell me you wouldn’t have reacted the same way.
I performed the kandi ritual on John Pickford-Richards while apologising profusely about its statement: JERK4TET JOHN. “Aww!” He said, his eyes sparkling with joy. I couldn’t tell if it was mascara or if it was natural, but from up close I could see that his lashes were really beautiful. “I AM a jerk!” He grinned, in the sweetest, most non-jerky way. Apparently he wore this bracelet out clubbing in Berlin that night. I am so proud to say that this is how one of my bracelets made it in to the world’s most exclusive club: on the wrist of a fabulous, New-York-based viola player!
Unfortunately, I only got to spend a brief moment with the one member who took care of my free ticket, Chris Otto. Hopefully next time we will get a better chance to chill, but this time he and the other quartet members were whisked away after the show on business and couldn’t join the hang. However, Austin and one of his oldest schoolfriends Jay, (a second Jay, not the cellist!), were totally down for a post-show meal and chill. Along with my two buddies, saxophonist Asger Nissen and bassist/multi-instrumentalist Thorbjørn Stefansson, the five of us took off to the Hofbräuhaus for a traditional German meal, and some beers.
Having all just witnessed their most beautiful performance, the JACK Quartet itself was a hot topic of conversation for us: “Eight years, and we’ve only had like two fights!” Austin proudly declared.
When pressed to elaborate on what makes this constellation work, Austin attributed the success of the quartet as a business to its delegation of work, and generally well-defined roles, and that each member was responsible for specific administrative tasks. A sharing of the workload among band members, in accordance with their unique strengths and skillsets.
He also teased that he would be performing some solo work in the not too distant future – an exciting revelation, only moments before having seen one his own compositions opening the showcase that very night. Whatever he plans on presenting ahead, I have no doubt that it will be immensely enjoyable on both an intellectual and musical level, but also enjoyable on a level of physicality. JACK Quartet really are the ultimate boy band in that regard – and you can quote me on this – as each of its four members are even more knock-out gorgeous in reality than they appear in photos. JACK wives/partners, you guys scored. HOT ALERT
I recalled the story of a certain friend being moved to tears at the opening moments of a JACK Quartet performance:
“You guys play music that brings people to tears. What’s the name of that really sad Zorn one again?”
“Kol Nidre.”
“That’s the one. He said it was the first chord that broke him because he knew what was coming.”
It was at this point that Austin asked a question which sparked my thinking:
“Can you ever really have an emotional reaction to a piece of music that you’re not familiar with?”
My answer came immediately:
“Of course you can. I know this because it happened to me. Today, just before. That last piece you played was so intense, and it completely caught me off guard. It’s like falling in love – you don’t ask for it, and you don’t go looking for it, but when it hits you it’s so overwhelming, it’s a choking feeling. It makes you want to cry. It’s so rare and special. You keep thinking that music will never be able to make you feel that way again, and then it does... it’s magical.”
The audience had gone silent for my monologue. Suddenly I felt quite intoxicated and embarrassed. The blood rushed to my face, illuminating my cheeks like a traffic light. At this point the only appropriate action appeared to be to pull my polyester bomber jacket over my head and declare “THE END!” – hiding from their reactions of the musicians, to my blatant gushing. I had opened up my heart too much in public, again. Whoops! From memory they all said “aww” and thought it was sweet, but I stayed hidden inside my bomber until I felt the coast had cleared.
Thankfully the conversation turned to the far more interesting fact that we were just a short walking distance from the hotel where Michael Jackson once famously dangled his baby out the window. This certainly piqued the interest of me and my scandinavian friends, so after the we paid the bill and said “tchuss” to Jay and Austin, it was a unanimous decision that the three of us remaining make a pilgimage to the infamous hotel. It took us around 15 minutes of hardcore sleuthing to deduce just which window it was, but when Thorbjørn played a news video of Michael Jackson throwing a towel out the window, reducing the playback speed to -50%, we were able to count the windows that the towel fell past. Four levels. The pattern on the balcony railing was only on the rooms on the right hand side of the building, and with this information we had cracked the code: Fourth floor from the ground, second window from the right, closest to the Brandenburg Gate. Boom.
After four days of musical and culinary delights it was time to head home, back to reality, and one last plate of jazz noodles…Not exactly the Ritz, but I guess the humble store-bought fusilli and stir-through arrabiata sauce outta the jar has its place. Especially now i’m broke again. (Damn you, fancy Berlin noodle scene…)
That’s it for today friends. Stay tuned to Fladik news for more tidbits from the Zorn orbit, and don’t forget, there’s still a good amount of copies of Days of Zorn II available over at www.fladik.net – the perfect gift for your buddy who is into Zorn but hates social media! :D
Lotsa Love,
FLAKE
CEO Fladik
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