Bastian Stein

“Viktor”

(Pirouet Records PIT3091)

Bastian Stein is a young German trumpeter and composer signed to the German record label Pirouet, also home to the ground breaking trio led by pianist and composer Pablo Held.

“Diegesis”, Stein’s album début for the label was released in 2013 and included Held on piano plus the rhythm pairing of Matthias Pichler ( bass) and Tobias Backhaus (drums). The record garnered a considerable degree of critical acclaim, not least for Stein’s distinctive trumpet tone.

Stein was born in Heidelberg in 1983 before relocating to Vienna where he began his musical education prior to moving on to study in Amsterdam in New York. He is now based in Cologne.

“Viktor” introduces a brand new quartet and a significantly different instrumental configuration. This is a group without a harmonic instrument as Stein is joined in the front line by his compatriot Johannes Ender who specialises here on tenor saxophone. Of particular interest to UK readers will be the rhythm section of Phil Donkin (double bass) and James Maddren (drums), two young British musicians who are rapidly acquiring impressive international reputations.

Donkin has studied and worked in New York and has played with many of that city’s leading jazz musicians, among them saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Kevin Hays and guitarist Ben Monder. Currently based in Berlin he now performs with many of Europe’s most important players including German trombonist Nils Wogram and Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset. In 2015 Donkin released “The Gate (Whirlwind Recordings), a highly promising leadership début featuring a stellar band of New York based musicians including saxophonist Ben Wendel, pianist Glenn Zaleski and drummer Jochen Rueckert.

Like Donkin drummer James Maddren first came to prominence as a member of pianist Gwilym Simcock’s trio, the two young musicians quickly striking up a chemistry that is still palpable on this current recording. Although Maddren has remained based in the UK he is an incredibly busy musician whose credits are too extensive to be listed in full here. The list of UK musicians that he has collaborated with represent a veritable ‘who’s who’ of British jazz and he’s collaborated with some major international names too. In a chordless group Stein has spoken of the closeness of the relationship between the leader and the drummer and he is clearly a huge admirer of Maddren’s formidable, and supremely musical, abilities.

Stein has also spoken about a change in his compositional methods. Much of the music on “Diegesis” was based around chord changes and progressions. The more open environment of the chordless quartet has allowed greater scope for improvisation with the pieces now more likely to be structured around a melody or a bassline. 

“Viktor” takes its title from the name of Stein’s young son who was born shortly before the release of the album. The programme consists of seven Stein originals plus the quartet’s interpretation of “Der Abschied” by the German classical composer Gustav Mahler. Inevitably the instrumentation invites comparisons with Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet but there’s a definite European melodic sensibility too, as the inclusion of the Mahler piece suggests.

The album commences with the free-wheeling but melodic “Tati”, Stein’s dedication to the French film maker Jacques Tati. It’s driven by the fluent bass and drum grooves of the subtly propulsive and endlessly inventive British rhythm team which allow the horn players plenty of space to fashion their equally imaginative improvisations. Stein’s playing on “Diegesis” attracted plaudits for its beauty and although he remains a player with an exquisite tone and a strong melodic sense there’s a muscularity and inventiveness here that impresses more than mere prettiness. In this more exposed situation the delicate strength of Stein’s playing comes to the fore as he links up well with the similarly gifted Enders, professor of jazz saxophone at the music conservatory in Leipzig.

The following “Hydrastis” is named after the plant variously known as orangeroot, goldenseal or orange puckoon. The title reveals Stein’s ongoing fascination with botany and represents a companion piece to “Gladiolus Tristis” which appeared on his first album. The music here is more reflective, building from Donkin’s introductory bass figure to include wispy, introspective, breathy tenor sax and trumpet, the horn men operating both singly and in tandem gently buoyed by Donkin’s grounding bass and Maddren’s delicately brushed drums. There’s also an impressive bass solo from Donkin, thoughtful and melodic but also rich and deep in tone.

The title of “Traces” stems from Stein’s musings on “the imprints my parents left on my character, who am I, what makes me different, what have I passed on to my son?”. The music is less introspective than the title and premise might suggest as the quartet return to ‘Ornette-ish’ territory with a crisp and muscular bass and drum groove again driving the music as Stein and Enders solo fluently, their contributions representing an effective blend of energy and eloquence.

“It Seems” is an oblique reference to Stein’s son, stemming from a quote made before Viktor’s birth - “It seems it’s going to be a boy”. This sees the group returning to more reflective territory but with the spirit of Ornette still very much present as Stein and Enders probe gently and intelligently above the fluid flow of the gifted British rhythm team.

“Off the Record” also acknowledges the influence of Viktor and “the things you don’t know when you decide to father a child”. Here the quartet up the energy levels once more with Enders, an imposing figure of a man, playing his most powerful solo of the set above the lithe grooves generated by Donkin and Maddren. Stein responds in kind with some of his most dynamic playing and overall the piece serves to emphasise Stein’s point about the closeness of the soloists and the drummer as the restlessly inventive Maddren continues to impress.

The title “For Felician”  acknowledges a musician friend and is a slow burner of a tune with Stein and Enders smouldering fluently and intelligently above the constantly mutating grooves and pulses generated by the two Brits. There’s an also an extended drum feature for Maddren, a typically well constructed affair that remains innately musical, selflessly serving the music rather than becoming a mere demonstration of technique, something that UK readers will appreciate that Maddren has in abundance.

“Fantasia” was written in homage of Stein’s new home city of Cologne and its music scene. The shortest track on the album it’s a brief but bustling affair that features the horns dovetailing delightfully above brisk but intelligent and inventive grooves.

The album concludes on an elegiac note with the quartet’s version of Mahler’s “Der Abschied”  (appropriately “The Farewell”) from the symphonic song cycle “Lied von der Erde” (“Song of the Earth”) which was composed in 1907-08. The original lasts for well over half an hour but Stein and his colleagues distil its essence into five and a half minutes of pure beauty. This is a tightly controlled group performance that finds the horns delicately sketching the melody before tentatively stretching out accompanied by anchoring bass and the gentle patter of brushed drums. Ender’s solo includes a brief passage of dialogue with Donkin alone. 

“I’m a Mahler fan” explains Stein “ It’s the same as it is with Miles Davis’ or John Coltrane’s music, I keep going back to it again and again. I probably heard this piece the first time during my classical studies in Vienna. Since then it hasn’t left me”. 

“Viktor” impresses with its well balanced group performances and high level of musical intelligence in what is still a very challenging instrumental format. Stein and Enders are obviously hugely accomplished technicians and very able soloists but -and I’ll admit to a certain level of bias here- it’s the contributions of Donkin and Maddren that really stand out for me. It’s particularly pleasing to see Maddren, one of the busiest and most consistent musicians on the UK jazz scene over the last decade, reaching out to an international audience, his playing is outstanding throughout the album.

“Viktor” is an intelligent and impressive piece of work but it could benefit from a little more variation in style, mood and pace and can begin to sound a little too dry and academic after a while.
I suspect that the best place to hear this group may well be in the live environment where everybody has the opportunity to throw off the shackles and stretch out a little more. The quartet will be touring in November and December 2015 with a handful of dates in the UK plus further performances in Austria and Germany.  I’m already looking forward to catching the group when they visit Cardiff. The tour dates are shown below; 

30.11.16
Cardiff / GB
Dempseys

01.12.16
Poole / GB
Soundcellar

03.12.16
London / GB
Vortex

04.12.16
Bristol / GB
Hen & Chicken

05.12.16
Wien / A
Jazzland

06.12.16
Wien / A
Jazzland

08.12.16
Hinterzarten / D
Museum

09.12.16
Karlsruhe / D
Hemingway Lounge

10.12.16
Backnang / D
Oehmann-Kunst

11.12.16
Hamburg / D
Jazz Federation

13.12.16
München / DE
Jazzplus

http://www.bastianstein.com

http://www.pirouet.com

 

 

 

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