Hadouk Trio // BassDrumBone // Hazmat Modine

Hadouk Trio

All three musicians of the Hadouk Trio look back on a wealth of experience; Saxophonist Didier Malherbe, a former member of the famous 1960s prog-rock band Gong, has now discovered a predilection for the duduk – a kind of Armenian oboe; multi-instrumentalist Loy Ehrlich has performed with the likes of Youssou N’Dour and Peter Gabriel, and percussionist Steve Shehan shared the stage at JazzFest Berlin 2006 with Jon Hassell. Together they create a music beyond the boundaries of traditional conception; it is unfathomable but not eccentric, complex but not complicated.

The undisputed star of the trio, however, its abundant arsenal of both exotic and common instruments whose magical and variegated sounds turn the music into a surprisingly cheerful idiom of the here and now – a colourful and optimistic extract of globalisation!

BassDrumBone

BassDrumBone could well serve as an illustration of the ‘trio-sophy’ within the realm of jazz and is one of those precious items a jazz jeweller would never remove from his shop window at night. At different points in time, all three members have played with Anthony Braxton. Ray Anderson, a kind of primus inter pares, had his first European gig in Braxton’s entourage on the Philharmonic stage at Jazztage Berlin, and has since seen many happy returns at the festival.

The trio knows how to communicate the whole range of musical vocabulary between tradition and avant-garde, structural strictness and entertainment, personal statement and collective fusion. BassDrumBone is a kind of summit for contemporary jazz idioms, and even in its 30th year the band has not lost any of its pronounced distinctness and dynamics.

Hazmat Modine

Those exquisite moments when something completely new reveals itself are few and far between, and rarer still if this something new is based on things traditional. A performance of Hazmat Modine always represents such a moment. The colourful blues band from Brooklyn garnishes its hearty menu with side dishes from the Balkan States, North Africa, the Far East and the Caribbean; the result is surprisingly urban, futuristic and experimental.

Wade Schuman, who also teaches painting at the New York Academy of the Arts, is the mastermind of the band. Together with Randy Weinstein he forms the core of this highly inventive band, with two harmonicas in the lead and framed by three ‘good old acquaintances’ – namely Joe Daley’s tuba (Howard Johnson’s Gravity, Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra), Steve Elson’s baritone sax (Slickaphonics) and Pam Fleming’s trumpet from DIVA’s brass section. Hazmat is a highly flammable mixture; musically hazardous material with addictive qualities.