17th SEATTLE IMPROVISED MUSIC FESTIVAL
Gebhard Ullmann Clarinet Trio
Gebhard Ullmann · Juergen Kupke · Theo Nabicht
Thursday, June 27 · On The Boards Studio Theater · 100 W Roy · 8 PM · $10
Gebhard Ullman's trio for two bass clarinets and one clarinet, in which he is joined by two collaborators from his Ta Lam Zehn tentet, Juergen Kupke and Theo Nabicht, is a highly assured, playful, and convincing outfit that draws from the broad palette of western musical history gospel and Broadway, Morricone and Weill, serialism and jazz, arhythmic abstraction and melodic propulsion. Ullmann has said, "I always had a large musical interest in the trio format since it is an open concept, for example, without bassist which for a bass clarnetist can be very interesting. On the other hand, harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic components are still presentable at the same time." The trio, he says, makes use of the varied musical backgrounds of its members: He composes and performs in "the large field of what I think 'jazz' is." Juergen Kupke performs in everything from contemporary to New Orleans settings. Theo Nabicht specializes in new composition and improvisation, and also writes for theatre. The trio's albums are Clarinet Trio and Translucent Tones (Leo Records, 1998 & 2001).
"Fun music with serious intentions ... moves between formal German classical song form, European "free" music values, blues and gospel, new composition, and a little Tin Pan" — Steve Day, avant
The most resourceful and talented of players, sought after by the most imaginative leaders, European and American, can nonetheless be largely overlooked by the mainstream jazz media. Such is the case with Gebhard Ullmann. Paul Bley, echoed by many other leading modernists, calls the saxophonist/bass clarinetist "one of the finest improvising artists in the world today." Born in 1957, Ullmann has recorded more than 20 CDs for many, varied groups, on Leo, Soul Note, and Songlines. The winner of the Julius Hemphill Composition award in 1999, and several others in Germany dating back to 1983, he has toured constantly throughout Europe and North America, but also to Africa, Australasia, and Southeast Asia. Commuting between New York and Berlin, he has too many working bands to enumerate here; they include the structured-improv quartet Basement Research (Tony Malaby, Drew Gress, Phil Haynes); the Berlin woodwind/accordion tentet Tá Lam Zehn; Conference Call (Michael Jefry Stevens, Joe Fonda, Matt Wilson); and a series of European, American, and trans-Atlantic trios including the Clarinet Trio and a recent one that includes the Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier. Ullmann is also a member of the multigenerational band Springtime, led by Guenter Lenz. But that only begins to suggest the scope and variety of his projects and collaborations. A tireless seeker of innovative compositional and improvisational methods, he revels in the varied approaches that he and his American and European collaborators draw from traditions Western and non-Western, from the classical to the popular to the non-idiomatic.
"Ullmann's records are fascinating essays on various aspects of tradition and the avant-garde and how they intertwine" — Penguin Guide to Jazz
17th Seattle Improvised Music Festival