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| line-up: |
Leo Bachmann – Tuba |
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| credits: |
Produced by Leo Bachmann and Swiss Radio DRS (Christoph Keller)
Recorded at Radio-Studio 1 in Zürich (original reverb, no effects added)
Recording date 10.11.7.2000
Sound engineer: Peter Pfister
Edited and mastered by Peter Pfister in his studio in Berikon/Switzerland 28.7.2000 |
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| liner notes: |
Talking Tuba Solo
Leo Bachmann, a crossover artist between classical and jazz music, was educated at the Luzern Konservatorium and even by the jazz tuba player Bob Stewart in New York. For his "Palette of Sounds" he has picked out a blend of composition, concept and improvisation. Every "picture" is composed from an idea which is fixed partly in words, partly in notes, but is realised through improvisation. The idea acts as a "spark" which provokes spontaneous musical expression. An imaginary picture book comes into being, growing out of the score into something different with each exposure. Flicking through this picture book, you find that the tuba is sometimes brooding, sometimes agitated or even in conversation with itself. For example in "Red Disc" the nervous sounding instrument seems to be soothing itself with a calming ostinato. In "Merger" three jazz riffs are integrated, getting so worked up in the course of their "conversation" that they become tangled in an intricate coil. There are also soundscapes such as "Glitter" with its extended trills of changing colours, or the haunting mood of "Dirty" with its gurgling sounds. In this one, sounds are sung through the tuba which, in conjunction with the drone of the instrument, mysteriously produce a melody, while the percussive circular breathing imparts an irregular pulse to it too. Similarly, the introduction of the players vocals is required for tonal colouration in "Colored Shadow" – a stuttering walking bass line – and also for the multiphonics in "Mixed Colors". This one closes the "book" ceremoniously like a hymn. Let us also not forget the scenes which touch upon the ludicrous such as the alpine idyll without an echo ("Missing Echo") or the rich sounds of "Second Hand Paint" – a melancholy elephant’s song at the full moon. What can be heard on this CD "Palette of Sounds" is nothing less than a compilation of the tuba’s potential expression – tuba as an alphorn, as an imitator of animals voices, as an agitator, as melancholy, solemn or grotesque. All of this shows us one thing: the cliché of the dour and sluggish tuba should be swept right back under the carpet.
© 2000 Elisabeth Schwind (Freiburg/D) Translation: Jon Wright (Essex/GB) |
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