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The Eva Klesse Quartet keeps a biennial release rhythm with its fourth album, creatures & states. It is the follow-up to Miniatures – Ten Songs For Chamber Jazz Quartet, released at the end of October 2018 to critical acclaim.
The next chapter of the group’s artistic success story is creatures & states. Once again, the contemplative quartet, which was awarded the renown German Jazz-Echo in 2015, makes its focus clear: the telling of stories that draw from their experiences and feed from emotions. The group’s guidelines were simple: strategic considerations are of no importance. What is crucial, however, is a jointly developed sound, which deliberately avoids short-lived trends – what is hip today may be old news tomorrow.
creatures & states tells stories about living beings and the states they can get into. The band intentionally blurs reality, dream and fiction in its colorful pieces, taking listeners on a journey through different moods. “Our music is becoming more and more precise and profound”, Evgeny Ring explains, “The compositions gain even more importance. This project is first and foremost an ensemble record, which does not focus on overflowing solos. And for each piece we have a clear visual idea and share the same images in our minds”.
The musical landscape is wide on creatures & states. Introspective, conceptual and sometimes melancholic moments mark one end of an emotional range, for example in Klesse’s “Choral For P” (inspired by Arvo Pärt’s Tintinnabuli) and “Einsiedlerkrebs”. The latter “simply draws from times in the life of a musician: there are those necessary moments of solitude. And then there are those moments on tour when one feels like a nomad, like a snail with its own house on the back.” The other, nervously exuberant side of emotion is marked by “Flirr!”, also from Klesse’s pen. “It is about the state of mind, in which one is overwhelmed by too many thoughts and wants – too many different things at once. One loses oversight at some point. It can work well, when you organize, compose, when you’re on tour or when you’re in love. But it can also turn into a negative, if you want too much.” The moments of energetic free play in “Flirr!” seem to have reached a new dimension for this band.
Line-Up:
Evgeny Ring alto saxophone | Philip Frischkorn piano | Stefan Schönegg double bass | Eva Klesse drums
Track Listing:
1. Brushing Hippopotami (6:33) | 2. Minotaurus’ Labyrinth (5:40) | 3. Choral for P (3:18) | 4. Herbstmonat (5:29) | 5. Mr. Liu (6:16) | 6. Hal Incandenza (11:28) | 7. Einsliedlerkrebs (6:44) | 8. Flirr! (2:01) | 9. La Vie (5:10) | 10. Der Tuchmacher (5:52)
Release Date: 5 October 2020
Format: CD | Digital
Label: Yellowbird/Enja Records
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Last modified: October 30, 2020
