The Lark von Søren Gemmer

THE LARK vereint persönliche Erfahrung mit einer kollektiven Erkundung des Modern Jazz zu einer Reihe von Porträts, die in melodischen Linien zum Leben erwachen.

THE LARK präsentiert fünf verschiedene Stimmen in einem einfühlsamen Zusammenspiel. Inspirierte Alleingänge gefolgt von weitläufigen wie auch engmaschigen Strukturen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen acht Kompositionen, Stücke, die zwar unverkennbar nach Gemmer klingen, dabei aber nicht auf etablierte Formeln zurückgreifen. Gemmer erklärt: Für dieses Album musste ich Melodien erschaffen, die so integral sind, dass sie für sich alleine stehen können. Der Betonungswandel steht für meine Porträts, Personen, die in den letzten Jahren Teil meiner sozialen Realität waren. Die Stücke sind in gerade, winklige, lyrischen oder in kruden Linien konstruiert. Trompeter und Flügelhornist Mads La Cour ist in vier Kompositionen und zwei Duo-Improvisationen zu hören und ziert das Album mit seiner charakteristischen Mischung aus Lyrik und erratischer Extraversion.

Reviews

Usually when so-called classical music is mentioned in an improvised music context, it’s to comment on the technique of a player – who is invariably a pianist. But with The Lark, Copenhagen-based keyboardist Søren Gemmer is after more complexity than mixing formalist technique with an inspired groove.

The music is an open form modern European Jazz, based on melodic themes but incorporating rhythmic irregularities, odd meters and group improvisation, which together create a wonderfully weird tonal experience. The decision to use condensed, relatively short pieces turns this album into an emotional rollercoaster, with themes, rhythms and splintered interplays somehow making a perfect musical sense. A few intimate piano solo and piano / trumpet duets are also present.

Slowly the overlapping ideas and motifs accumulate to a profound work of a mature and opinionated composer with a unique voice. Gemmer affinity with La Cour is quite impressive and both sounding as expanding each other idea, playing in almost telepathic interplay.

What 'The Lark' shows is a most distinctive composer and player who has the strength of vision to take all the other players along with him. Sometimes stern but always compelling.

ganz filigrane Musik, feines Interplay und eine intensive Melodik

Gemmer’s personality as a writer is stamped all over this set of arresting pieces that demand attention without ever shouting. The playing is effortless, always in service of the mood. An excellent set.

The Lark is a wonderful track that builds gradually, Gemmer's piano solo in particular setting things up admirably, allowing La Cour to release the tension just before the three minute mark. It is no exaggeration to say that the piece and the solo stand comparison with the likes of the late Kenny Wheeler, and the only complaint is I'd have liked it to go on longer.
This is a well-balanced album that makes for a satisfying listen. The mood can be brooding and intense, yet still open enough to shift and to allow some romance into the mix. [...] Gemmer has assembled a band that is both technically excellent and where the musicians also appear to enjoy playing together. This, alongside the high quality of the recording, contributes to the sense of space and dynamics in the music and makes for a highly enjoyable piece of modern jazz. Highly recommended.

An attention to the flow of melody prevails. The musicians are unfolding Gemmers intelligent contemporary jazz compositions. It’s the kind of jazz that’s ripe with detail. Gemmer puts forth a range of ideas and succeeds in tying them together. [...] Søren Gemmers The Lark is a very strong and recommendable album. An album, that builds upon the debut, yet appears as something new and different.

Die Besetzung ist offensichtlich bestens aufeinander eingespielt. Zwischen intensiv und entspannt, schräg und harmonisch ein gelungener Balanceakt. Kaufen.

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