Tammen/Harth/Dahlgren/Rosen¿Expedition-avant-garde jazz

Tammen/Harth/Dahlgren/Rosen ¿

Expedition

new cd

Drawing from their extensive experience of playing with virtually every household name in the experimental and avant-garde jazz areas, this quartet featuring Hans Tammen, Alfred 23 Harth, Chris Dahlgren and Jay Rosen delivers a real thrill ride with their new release Expedition. Its members have played with John Zorn, Sonny Sharrock, Jaco Pastorius, Peter Brötzmann, David Murray, Fred Frith, Peter Kowald, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Keith Rowe, Günter Müller, Paul Lytton, William Parker, Herb Robertson and many others.
With masterful command of even the most extreme ranges of their instruments, the four musicians demonstrate perceptive and unflagging attention, bountiful energy, responsive imagination, and the ability to track rapidly shifting shapes of amassed sound and tack personal intent to the group's direction.

"This is a big fat disc of free improvisation from a 2001 live show, but don't be fooled¿there is method behind the madness. Fortunately, there is also madness behind the method Hans Tammen plays an instrument he calls ¿endangered guitar,¿ which apparently means ¿a guitar that can be played in many different ways according to whim,¿ and Chris Dahlgren just seems to be hanging on for dear life by playing random bass lines. By the time this thing ends, you know you've been somewhere. You might not recognize it, or understand it, or even like some of it. But it's brave, it's hot, it's freaky, and it is significant."

"When I hear the phrase ¿jazz guitar¿ I normally reach for my pillow. The harsh, rocked out, crazed sounds of what Hans Tammen calls ¿endangered guitar¿ hit a chord with me (as well as the often vocal live audience for these tracks). Take ¿A Place That Has Emotional Significance¿ for instance, this Hendrixian, bluesy experimentation climbs heights and descends into hellish depths of police siren like wailing (honestly, that is what sirens sound like in England).

But it is only when the sax comes in that it becomes clear that the shock of Tammen¿s sheets of sound derives not from their abstraction, but because so few guitarists have absorbed the work of the later Coltrane.

This is not however, an unending thrash. Tammen Harth Dahlgren Rosen leave space between ideas and explore different sounds and combinations in such a way that the listener can move through the music rather than just suffer its relentless assault. Highly recommended for those who are a little out there or headed in that direction."

 Tammen*, Harth*, Dahlgren*, Rosen* – Expedition. Live At The Knitting Factory
Label:    ESP Disk – ESP 4031
Format:    
CD, Album
Country:    US
Released:    2006
Genre:    Jazz
Style:    Free Jazz
Tracklist
1        Setting Out With Aggressive Intent    6:33
2        Taken At A Leisurely Pace    4:49
3        Many Have Passed Rigorous Courses    4:51
4        A Considerable Amount Of Time And Distance    3:43
5        Retained Notions Of Speed And Purpose    6:46
6        A Brief Pleasure Trip    7:55
7        From One Place To Another    5:43
8        A Long Trip By Water    4:16
9        A Place That Has Emotional Significance    5:23
10        Returning To The Place Where It Began    9:03
Companies, etc.

    Recorded At – The Knitting Factory
    Mastered At – Harvestworks

Credits

    Bass, Electronics – Chris Dahlgren
    Design [Backcover], Layout [Backcover] – Paul Costuros
    Drums – Jay Rosen (2)
    Guitar [Endangered] – Hans Tammen
    Mastered By – Jody Elff
    Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – Alfred 23 Harth*

Notes
Recorded 2001 live at the Knitting Factory. Mastered in 2006 at Harvestworks.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode: 825481040310