Undercurrent - European Jazz Legends Vol. 14 by Christy Doran

Christy Doran

Undercurrent - European Jazz Legends Vol. 14

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Intuition
UPC: 0608917132625
Catnr: INTCHR 71326
Release date: 12 January 2018
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Label
Intuition

UPC
0608917132625

Catalogue number
INTCHR 71326

Release date
12 January 2018

"'Undercurrent' is very similar to a practice session in which the musicians feel unspoken also play very, very well."

Trouw, 23-2-2018

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

If Christy Doran looked anywhere near his age, the name of the group he presented in concert at the Theater Gütersloh in the summer of 2017 could easily be misread. But since the Irish-Swiss guitarist not only looks, but moves, sounds and thinks nowhere near his 68 years, this trio is surely not (primarily) a „fountain of youth“, but a collective, constructive, and ever flowing „Sound Fountain“.

Doran is a founding member of OM, a Swiss Jazz-Rock-Fusion group, which took it’s name from an album by John Coltrane. Their 1978 collaboration with Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romao for JAPO/ECM was recently voted among Rolling Stone’s „100 greatest Jazz albums“. Meanwhile Doran, who still counts Jimi Hendrix among his greatest influences, has also co-founded the jazz department at the University in Lucerne, and played in a host of different bands and projects (and on over sixty recordings), ranging from his own groups „New Bag“ or „Bunter Hund“ on to recent duets with French guitarist Noël Akchoté, as well as composed music like „144 Strings for a Broken Chord“ for an ensemble with twenty guitars. Among the international instrumentalists he has worked with are Carla Bley, Albert Mangelsdorff, Edvard Vesala, Charlie Mariano, Iréne Schweizer, Piérre Favre, Sonny Sharrock, Tim Berne, Jim Black, Gunther Schuller, or Airto Moreira.

„Sound Fountain“ was founded in 2014, extending a longer standing musical friendship with the Argentinian bass-player Franco Fontanarrosa to include the Swiss drummer Lukas Mantel. It could be understood as an essence of all things Doran – „with various influences from Jazz to Rock to Ethno to Avantgarde“, as their website explains. „The trio will explore the musical territories pushing to the limits the capabilities of the standard guitar trio.“ And this they did on that Thursday in early September, tackling a new repertoire from Fontanarossa’s poetic rock-miniature „Abstracción Felina“ via an excerpt from the above mentioned composition for large guitar group by Doran and on to bluesy grooves like their encore „Bad News Babe“. Solid, sometimes spherical sounds, a musical experience balancing improvisation and composition, always energetic and elegantly flowing, „Sound Fountain“ certainly lives up to its name on this live recording.

Wenn man Christy Doran auch nur annähernd sein Alter ansähe, könnte der Name der Gruppe, die er im Sommer 2017 im Theater Gütersloh konzertant präsentierte, leicht falsch verstanden werden. Da der irisch-schweizerische Gitarrist sich auch bewegt, klingt und denkt, ist dieses Trio sicherlich nicht (primär) ein "Jungbrunnen", sondern ein kollektiver, konstruktiver und stets fließender "Klangbrunnen".
Doran ist Gründungsmitglied von OM, einer Schweizer Jazz-Rock-Fusion-Gruppe, die ihren Namen von einem Album von John Coltrane übernommen hat. Ihre 1978er Zusammenarbeit mit dem brasilianischen Perkussionisten Dom Um Romao für JAPO/ECM wurde kürzlich unter Rolling Stones "100 grössten Jazz-Alben" gewählt. Unterdessen hat Doran, der Jimi Hendrix immer noch zu seinen grössten Einflüssen zählt, auch die Jazzabteilung der Universität Luzern mitbegründet und in einer Vielzahl von Bands und Projekten (und auf über sechzig Aufnahmen) gespielt, von seinen eigenen Gruppen "New Bag" oder "Bunter Hund" bis hin zu Duetten mit dem französischen Gitarristen Noël Akchoté, sowie Musik wie "144 Strings for a Bro" komponiert. Zu den internationalen Instrumentalisten, mit denen er zusammengearbeitet hat, zählen Carla Bley, Albert Mangelsdorff, Edvard Vesala, Charlie Mariano, Iréne Schweizer, Piérre Favre, Sonny Sharrock, Tim Berne, Jim Black, Gunther Schuller oder Airto Moreira.

„Sound Fountain "wurde 2014 gegründet und begründete eine langjährige musikalische Freundschaft mit dem argentinischen Bassisten Franco Fontanarrosa, die auch den Schweizer Schlagzeuger Lukas Mantel einbezog. Es könnte als eine Essenz von allem verstanden werden, was Doran - "mit verschiedenen Einflüssen von Jazz über Rock, Ethno bis Avantgarde", auf ihrer Website erklärt. Das Trio erforscht die musikalischen Territorien, um die Möglichkeiten des Standard-Gitarrentrios bis an die Grenzen auszudehnen".
Und das taten sie an jenem Donnerstag Anfang September, als sie ein neues Repertoire aus Fontanarossas poetischer Rock-Miniatur "Abstracción Felina "in einem Ausschnitt aus der obigen Komposition für große Gitarrengruppe von Doran in Angriff nahmen ebenso wie bei ihrer Zugabe "Bad News Babe".

Artist(s)

Christy Doran (guitar)

Christy Doran was born in Dublin, Ireland and has lived in Lucerne, Switzerland since his childhood. His father was an Irish ballad singer, providing Christy with his first exposure to music. In the 1970´s he was a founding member (along with Fredy Studer, Urs Leimgruber and Bobby Burri) of the seminal Swiss band "OM". Tours throughout Europe, radio/TV - appearances, workshops, music for ballet, theatre and film. Over the years, his career has included countless solo concerts, in which he regularly pushes to the limits the capabilities of a single guitar. He has played in duos with Marty Ehrlich, Harry Pepl, Fritz Hauser, Dave Doran, Dom Um Romao, John Wolf-Brennan, Robert Dick, Ray Anderson, among others. After playing in a trio with Jasper van´t Hof, he went on to form the "Christy Doran´s May 84" septet with Norma Winstone, Trilok Gurtu, Urs Leimgruber, Rosko Gee, Dom Um Romao and Dave Doran. He has been a member of the "Peter Warren Quartet" with Victor Lewis and John Surman, and "RED TWIST & TUNED ARROW" with Stephan Wittwer and Fredy Studer (1985 - 1987). Christy Doran was also a co-founder of "Doran/Studer/Burri/Magnenat," (later "Doran/Studer/Gerber/Magnenat") and member of a quartet with Bobby Previte, Mark Helias and Gary Thomas. He played in a trio with Marilyn Mazur and Kim Clarke, as well as with Sibylle Pomorin´s "Augeries of Speed" meeting Terry Jenour, Annie Whitehead, Kim Clarke, Herb Robertson, Kamal Sabir. As a member of Urs Leimgruber´s "Ensemble Bleu" he also played with Francoise Kubler, Louis Sclavis, Hans Koch. Other performances have included work with Carla Bley, Albert Mangelsdorff, Bob Stewart, Edvard Vesala, Charlie Mariano, Manfred Schoof, Iréne Schweizer, Aldo Romano, Piérre Favre, Peter Schärli, Glenn Ferris, Wolfgang Dauner, Fernando Sounders, Heiri Känzig, Julio Barreto, Sonny Sharrock, Jim Meneses, Keven Bruce Harris, Martin Schütz, Daniel Mouton, Ronan Guilfoyle, Marc Peterson, Burhan Oecal, Werner Lüdi, Christoph Baumann, Lars Lindvall, Mark Halbheer, Urs Blöchlinger, Günter Müller, Lauren Newton, Tim Berne, Jim Black, Gunther Schuller, Airto Moreira a.o. He has toured in Europe, North-Africa, India, the Caribic, Mexico, Bolivia, the U.S. and Canada. 1989 began a collaboration with trombonist Ray Anderson, which lead to the trio ANDERSON/BENNINK/DORAN (including drummer Han Bennink), which disbanded 1997. 1993 Christy Doran, together with Fredy Studer started the project "DORAN/STUDER/MINTON/BATES & ALI" play the music of JIMI HENDRIX". 1994 Django Bates was replaced by cellist Tom Cora. 1995/96 the band played in quartet with Phil Minton, Amin Ali, Fredy Studer and Christy Doran. Tours with this band throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the US and Canada. Since 1993 Christy Doran is working with American flutist Robert Dick and English drummer Steve Argüelles as the A.D.D. - Trio. 1994 Fredy Studer and Christy Doran refounded the double-bass - quartet with Jean-François Jenny-Clark (acoustic bass/Paris) and Jamaaladeen Tacuma (electric bass/Philadelphia). 1994 Swedish saxofonist Thomas Jàderlund invited Doran to play in the "Amazing Orchestra" (with Guy Klucevsek, Stein-Erik Tafjord, Svante Henryson, Tomasz Stanko, and Jonny Axelsson). A new collaboration with Albert Mangelsdorff, Bruno Spoerri and Reto Weber started 1997.
Recordings have included those with Hank Roberts, Joe McPhee, Corin Curschellas, Hardy Hepp, Helmut Zerlett, Iréne Lorenz, Boris Salchak, besides several recordings with musicians mentioned above. Christy Doran´s current groups include "Christy Doran´s New Bag" (founded Dec. 97) with vocalist Bruno Amstad, Wolfgang Zwiauer on electric bass, and Fabian Kurattli on drums. the A.D.D. trio, and "Spöerri-Doran-Weber" with Albert Mangelsdorff. Christy Doran also teaches at the "Musikhochschule" of Lucerne/Switzerland.

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Lukas Mantel (drums)

Lukas Mantel (b. 1982) is a drummer and composer from Zurich. Since studying under Pierre Favre, Norbert Pfammatter and Fabian Kuratli at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, he has been exploring classical South Indian music in depth and delving into numerous ethnic music traditions. Today, due to his wide-ranging experience in various musical genres, he is seen as one of the most innovative and independent voices among Swiss drummers. He has been leading his own sextet since 2017 and also works as an arranger and composer for other groups. With great sensitivity and capacity for interaction, he incorporates energy and groove into the music, while texture and timbre are always an important element of his play. Concerts...

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