Bruno Heinen

“Mr. Vertigo”

(Babel Records BBDV18151)

Bruno Heinen is a London based pianist and composer who has established an impressive reputation in both the jazz and classical music fields, with his work frequently combining elements of the two genres.

He has enjoyed a lengthy association with the Babel record label for whom he has released five previous albums, The first of these, “Twinkle, Twinkle” (2012) was a set of variations on the well known nursery rhyme theme recorded with his Dialogues Trio featuring bassist Andrea di Biase and drummer Jon Scott together with guest reed soloist Julian Siegel.

Next came “Tierkreis”,  (2013) a superb re-interpretation of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen in a contemporary jazz context which saw Heinen’s group expanded to a sextet with the addition of horn players Fulvio Sigurta (trumpet), Tom Challenger (tenor sax) and James Allsopp (clarinet).

The self explanatory “Postcard To Bill Evans” (2015) was an intimate duo set with the Danish guitarist Kristian Borring, while “Changing Of The Seasons” (2017) re-imagined Vivaldi in a collaboration with the Geneva based string ensemble Camerata Alma Viva.

Also in 2017 Heinen was part of the New Simplicity Trio featuring the Italian drummer and composer Antonio Fusco and the London based Danish bassist Henrik Jensen. These three collaborated on the album “Common Spaces”, also released on Babel.

Others with whom Heinen has worked include vocalists Reem Kelani, Emilia Martensson and Heidi Vogel and saxophonists Jean Toussaint, Julian Arguelles and Rachel Cohen..

He recently occupied the piano chair in a production of Leonard Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town” featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican.

Also something of an academic Heinen studied classical piano at the Royal College of Music with Head of Keyboard Andrew Ball before moving on to complete a Masters Degree in Jazz at the Guildhall where his tutors included the celebrated jazz pianists John Taylor and Pete Saberton, both sadly no longer with us. Heinen dedicates “Mr. Vertigo” to their memories.

Heinen is currently undertaking a practice based AHRC funded PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester “Counterpoint in Jazz Piano with specific relation to the solo work of Fred Hersch”. He is also due to perform solo at the forthcoming Debussy Perspectives Festival at the RNCM.

As a composer Heinen has written pieces for two pianos and percussion, jazz sextet, jazz big band and classical string ensemble. He has won prizes from the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Countess of Munster Trust and in 2009 was nominated for the Paul Hamlyn Composers Award.

Heinen’s latest album is inspired by his studies in counterpoint at the RNCM.  It is a solo recording described as “an exploration of solo piano counterpoint” featuring ten pieces that draw on Heinen’s broad range of influences including jazz, classical and even pop music. Seven pieces are original compositions, often inspired by the works of others, while the outside material includes Heinen arrangements of material by composers as diverse as Stockhausen, Jimmy Rowles and James Taylor.

Heinen’s album notes shed some valuable light on the individual pieces beginning with “The Forgotten Image”, a Heinen composition inspired by the music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and specifically his “Images Oubliees”, a work written in 1894 but not published in its entirety until 1977.  Heinen’s classically honed lightness of touch is apparent throughout and the reflective improvised section takes its inspiration from Debussy’s remark about his composition; “not for brilliantly lit salons, but rather conversations between the piano and oneself”.

Also credited to Heinen “Hommage A Kurtag” is an improvisation played using only the index fingers of each hand. This approach was inspired by the “Jatekok” series composed by the still living Hungarian pianist and composer Gyorgy Kurtag (born 1926). Kurtag himself explains the inspiration behind “Jatekok” thus;
“The idea of composing ‘Jatekok’ was inspired by children playing spontaneously, they pile up seemingly disconnected sounds and if this happens to arouse their musical instinct they look consciously for some of the harmonies found by chance and keep repeating them”.
Once again the mood is reflective, the piece may represent something of a “technical exercise” but due in part to its simplicity it is also hauntingly beautiful.

Heinen turns to jazz for inspiration on “Daydreamer”, a piece inspired by saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s composition “Night Dreamer”. Here Heinen switches to Fender Rhodes as he explores the relationship between two different time signatures. The use of the electric keyboard gives the piece an ethereal quality wholly in keeping with its title, while also arguably paying subtle homage to “In A Silent Way” and early Weather Report. “Although the beat does float, it is also set in a heavy groove. It’s a paradox in a way, like you’d have in a dream” comments Shorter on his original composition.

“Virgo” finds Heinen revisiting “Tierkreis”, Stockhausen’s zodiac inspired work.  This version features Heinen duetting with an original Stockhausen music box on a piece that maintains the otherworldly mood established by “Daydreamer”. On the 2013 “Tierkreis” recording “Virgo” featured Heinen duetting with trumpeter Fulvio Sigurta with the sound of the music box added midway through the piece. A full review of the“ Tierkreis” album can be read here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/bruno-heinen-sextet-tierkreis/

The beautiful Jimmy Rowles tune “The Peacocks”, written for the 1975 album of the same name featuring saxophonist Stan Getz, has long been a favourite vehicle for jazz musicians, particularly Rowles’ fellow pianists. Heinen’s elegant arrangement adds contrapuntal elements in keeping with the theme of the album while losing nothing of the essential beauty of the piece. Heinen also takes inspiration from the lyrics later added by British vocalist Norma Winstone with an excerpt featuring in the album packaging;
“I still hear the ringing of the church bells in the morning
The Peacocks still calling out their sad and bitter warning
Beauty is only an illusion here
Your true is an intrusion
A mirage is all it’s ever been”.

This leads directly into Heinen’s own “Mirage”, a suitably mysterious sounding piece that makes subtle use of the interior of the instrument plus judicious overdubbing and post production techniques. Once again words are used as a source in inspiration, these written by Nicki Heinen, Bruno’s sister;
“Delicate as a hummingbird, heat on sand
sweat blisters, lost to the sun
cracked tongue given to air
bluish bracken, green on green
at the horizon, closer and further,
the heady sent of water”.

“International Blues” finds Heinen doubling on acoustic and electric pianos and essentially sparring with himself on an original composition inspired by the colour International Blue developed by the artist Yves Klein. Amidst the jostling contrapuntal lines the piece also possesses an agreeable bluesiness that suggests an alternative interpretation of the title.

The title track draws its inspiration from Paul Auster’s book of the same name. I recall that the former Loose Tubes flautist Eddie Parker used to lead a band called Mr. Vertigo, the band name presumably drawing on the same source of inspiration. However I digress. The music has a brooding, sombre quality in keeping with Heinen’s description “the piece describes the nightmare of a boy being buried alive by his master as part of his quest of learning to fly”. There’s a kind of chilling beauty about it.

“In Kocki” is a Heinen original inspired by a recent trip to India and makes use of the Vagadhibhusani South Indian Karnatic Scale or ‘mela’. It’s a complex, vibrant, highly rhythmic piece that allows the listener to fully appreciate Heinen’s awesome technical abilities. There’s also a judicious amount of post production too.

The album concludes with Heinen’s arrangement of the well known James Taylor song “Fire And Rain”, which its composer has described as “a look at trying to pick up and get started again”. After the frenetic “In Kocki” the serenity of Heinen’s arrangement comes as quite a contrast.  It’s a lengthy performance that I suspect may be largely improvised with Taylor’s familiar melody only appearing towards the end of the piece. The feel of the music is classical, rather than jazz or folk, but once again it’s genuinely beautiful.

With its mix of musical styles “Mr. Vertigo” is a solo piano recording that is capable of sustaining the listener’s attention throughout. The judicious use of Rhodes and post production techniques provides additional colour and texture but it’s Heinen’s acoustic playing that really carries the day. He draws upon many sources of inspiration but ultimately the music feels like his own. Despite the agreeable and admirable diversity there’s also an organic quality about the album, a feeling of unity and purpose. It’s often very beautiful and doesn’t in any way feel dry and academic.

Despite the fact that the acoustic piano part were recorded at the Vortex Jazz Club in London Heinen launches the album at Kings Place on March 29th 2018 before playing a short series of other UK dates as below;

Thurs. 29 March
8.00pm
LONDON - Kings Place, Hall 2, 90 York Way, N1 9AG   * ALBUM LAUNCH*
£12.50/ £9.50 http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/music/bruno-heinen-mr-vertigo-album-launch#.Wil9g2SMjZ

Sunday 1 April
8.00pm
ASHBURTON - St. Laurence Chapel, 21 St Lawrence Ln, Newton Abbot TQ13 7DD   £13 or £6 https://www.facebook.com/ashburtonlive/

Weds. 4 April
8.30pm
CARDIFF - Flute and Tankard, 4 Windsor Place £7 http://thefluteandtankard.com/

Sunday 15 April
8.15pm
LONDON – Vortex Jazz Club, Gillet Square N16 £10 http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/   

 

 

 

blog comments powered by Disqus