Hütte & Guests Play the Music of Robert Wyatt by Max Andrzejewski's Hütte

With his clear, emotionally charged voice and personal soundscapes, Robert Wyatt is one of the leading figures in alternative music. He rejoiced at Hütte’s confrontation with his work: „This project is great for my sense of still being alive, knowing that these brilliant young musicians looked my way for a moment … They have my profound gratitude.” A remarkable, accordant approach to the music of an original iconoclast.

Now, for the first time, Max Andrzejewski devotes himself to another artist: the iconoclastic Robert Wyatt, drummer and founding member of the legendary groups Soft Machine and Matching Mole. A leading exponent of the so-called Canterbury scene in the 60s and 70s, this drummer, singer/songwriter moved on to a solo career after his accidental fall out of a window in 1973 left him paraplegic. There now was an added poignancy in his voice and a desire to test musical boundaries as his music became more collaborative, politicized and unconventional. Yet, despite a music that contains brittle vocals, quirky arrangements, and a mix of instruments that projected a bit of bewilderment, along with a merciless analysis of society, Wyatt has never left humor and irony out of the mix. "When I heard it for the first time," remembers Max Andrzejewski "that touched me a lot." Then came the invitation to the 42nd Leipzig Jazztage; a British tribute program just at the right moment. Andrzejewski opted for Robert Wyatt, probably because he heard parallels to his own Hütte albums and saw Wyatt as a true spiritual brother. Andrzejewski translated Wyatt’s quick breaks and severe style changes into his own musical language. The sextet that Adrzejewsky organized for the occasion remained together beyond their festival appearance. The nine songs on this album span a wide breadth of ideas, creating a sound that has parallels with such works as Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill, yet stands fully on its own ground. Andrzejewsky’s renditions are full of color and rich in detail; you recognize Wyatt’s originals, yet hear them from a completely new perspective.
Turkish singer Cansu Tanrıkulu’s extraordinary voice teeters on the edge of purity, roughs up and tosses around these "revolutionary lullabies" until they reappear convoluted, grittily transformed. An earthy saxophone a rapturous flute, an indomitable bass, keyboard cascades, precisely punctuated drum and guitar lines that cross through and over the borders of rock, jazz and the avantegarde. A polychromatic homage that captures the unfathomable.

Reviews

His latest, a take on the Robert Wyatt songbook, is arguably his most thoroughly conceived project to date. It’s also one of the very best things to come out this year.

Für die Klassiker des Briten hat Andrzejewski neue Arrangements geschneidert und eigene kompositorische Ideen hinzugefügt.

Ja, es ist irre, es ist krass - und es ist genau richtig.

Pretty delightful all-around.

When one drummer pays tribute to the other it means a lot already. If there are decades between their carriers it becomes even more meaning. But when the understanding of  each other, sharing sarcastic approach and unusual sense of humour turns out to be a spine of the project, then time just twists and makes a hyperbole, especially when both the paying tribute and receiving one, are both quite a characters. [...] A poly-chromatic homage that captures the unfathomable.

Und wer jetzt hier erwartet das man die Songs von Robert Wyatt quasi als Cover hört, den muss ich enttäuschen. Positiv enttäuschen.

Andrzejewski‘s Hütte focuses on the humorous and ironic aspects of Wyatt’s love songs and his quirky, unconventional musical ideas [...]. Uneven, but a loving, emotional homage to the great Robert Wyatt.

A seriously good tribute to every facet of the Wyatt sound, with some surprising choices (not all the most obvious jazz-friendly ones neither) Max Andrzejewski’s Hütte and guests fill every nook and twist with something worth listening to. Learning from one of the best, they inhabit but also revive the, unfortunately retired, maverick’s back catalogue with élan and dexterity.

La voix occupe une belle place cette fois encore mais les instrumentistes ne se laissent pas endormir. Ça joue avec vigueur et bonheur !

Herausgekommen ist ein faszinierend intensives, naturgegeben schräg-kauziges, gleichsam aber zugängliches, immer also im allerallerbesten Sinne verschrobenes, höchstindividuelles Jazzalbum voller wunderbarer eruptiver wie lyrischer Momente, das sich (zu Recht) ganz tief vor dem Schaffen Wyatts verneigt. [...] – ganz großes Kino und ein ausdrücklicher Tipp!

Jetzt ist es eine Sound-Achterbahnfahrt, wie sie dem Querdenker-Ästheten Max Andrzejewski entspricht.

This project is great for my sense of still being alive, knowing that these brilliant young musicians look my way for a moment. Please thank them from me. They have my profound gratitude.

Audio/Photos/Videos

---

Also available