Baggerboot

This trio of improvisers from Wuppertal, Germany, and Brakel, Belgium, have, according to their label, named this collection of improvisations after a dredger, baggerboot, used to clear canals in the Lowlands. Quite why I don't know, except perhaps as a surrealist gesture.

They come with no less a recommendation than that of their sleevenote writer, none other than the legendary Pauline Oliveros, who, perhaps as an accordionist herself, and a sometime colleague of fellow accordionist Ute Völker (Wuppertal), appreciates the rich sonorities this free jazz trio produce.

With violinist Gottschalk (Wuppertal) and double bassist Jacquemyn (Brakel), Völker conjures up incredibly rich textures that remind me of the magisterial Jokleba and, weirdly, even early Weather Report. The accordion sometimes acts like an organ, the bass blocks out the picture, and the strings - viola as well as violin - supply the tension.

Comparisons are, however, ultimately self-defeating here; they are, to plagiarise Whitman, singing the song of themselves. So much free music can sound like being dragged backwards through mud, but from the first of these three lengthy improvisations you can sense an interaction and empathy similar to, but different to, AMM. They have found a unique voice - imagine maybe a mini-me version of the Globe Unity Orchestra - and they express it with aplomb, brio, and no little humour. They have discovered shocking and delightful new sounds on their instruments, and range boldly between contemporary classical music and anarchic free jazz. A free music recording you'll find yourself playing again and again.
     - John Gill, The Wire

Gottschalk has made her presence known on the Downtown New York music scene in recent years with several appearances at the cuttingedge Vision Festival in the company of stalwarts such as Peter Kowald, Oliver Lake, and William Parker, among others. The violinist/violist joins forces on (1) with bassist Jacquemyn and accordionist Völker for a program of dynamic and electrifying action that leaps well over the line into the trio's output that casts a mesmerizing spell of bewitching magnitude. Gottschalk and Völker are on similar tonal wave lengths churning out rapidfire missiles of intense heat while Jacquemyn builds a rumbling bass foundation from which they are able to ignite. Three lengthy pieces compose this session where speed of collective execution is at times supplanted by introspective musings. The trio doesn't remain in this reflective stage for long and continually reverts to a state of piercing acoustics. Gottschalk and Völker seemingly creep inside each other's mind set using their interactive communicative skills. The violinist builds a barbed perimeter around the action and the accordionist enters the circle with jarring staccato complements. In the underworld beneath them, Jacquemyn stirs a murky pot of viscous consistency to balance the sonic spectrum. Deep, mindbending canyons of spontaneity erupt into a sea of joyously cacophonous sound rivers. This is not, however, music that washes over one in waves of numbing abstractness; it is highly provocative artistry that commands rapt attention to the intricacies of three astute musicians who reward the bold voyager with a startling brand of creativity.
     - Frank Rubolino, Cadence

Baggerboot appears to begin where Frutas Azules concludes, with Gottschalk at last asserting herself, although Völker appears a bit more reserved. This isn't unexpected either. Wuppertal-native Gottschalk was part of the late German bassist Peter Kowald's Ort-Ensemble and since then has improvised with a wide range of stylists including British saxophonist Evan Parker, American bassist William Parker, and Chinese guzheng player Xu Feng Xi . Not that the powerful contributions of Jacquemyn can be downplayed. The bassist, who lives in Brakel, Belgium, is not only a sculptor who assaults tree trunks with axe and chainsaw, but for the past 20 years has joined musical forces with improvisers ranging from Belgium-based saxophonist André Goudbeek and Kowald to American saxophonist Jeffrey Morgan and French percussionist Lê Quan Ninh.

Unlike the nearly effete, formalist improvisation of Frutas Azules, the three tracks entitled "Cascades" I through III on this CD are no-holds-barred improv, consequently running the risk of failure as well as success. The former taints "Cascade I", which is overlong at more than 25 minutes, and almost submerges it beneath energized solipsism. Sharp spiccato squeals from the high strings, multiphonic tremolo from the accordion, and dissonant ratcheting buzzing from the double bass too often shove the textures into subterranean percussiveness and reverb. While a singular fiddle tone is almost flute-like and some ratcheting stops from Jacquemyn sound as if he's taking a metal comb to his strings, the concentrated polyphony is nearly wearying.

Almost as extended, "Cascades III" is a focused, final variant which defines the trio's improvisational skills. It follows the 12-minute interlude of "Cascades II", which highlights bulging bellows from Völker, whistling stress and unison vocalizing from Gottschalk, plus Jacquemyn's string rapping. On the concluding variation, though, as the fiddle's glissandi turn to extended falsetto arpeggios, the bassist introduces dissonance while the accordionist's reeds take on definite baritone saxophone resonance. With Völker maintaining a throbbing ostinato made up of minimalist, organ-like textures, Gottschalk's vibrant strokes reference a hoedown and Jacquemyn's gravelly tones rotate to a series of descending arco stops. Down-pedaling from fortissimo and prestissimo pitches, the trio—especially the violinist—splinters sounds into their upper partials, contracting timbres into shrill whistles, then dead silence.

Defining the triumphs and consequences of energized improv, Baggerboot impresses with the trio's willingness to experiment. More consistent throughout, the more formal Frutas Azules doesn't attain the same level of accomplishment.
     - Ken Waxman, One Final Note

Bonnie Wright's new label, Henceforth Records is off to a good start with a couple of thrilling releases.

"Baggerboot" features a trio of two musicians from Wuppertal, Germany - violinist and viola player Gunda Gottschalk and accordion player Ute Völker - along with Belgian bassist Peter Jacquemyn [who is also a member of the famous WIM]. Unusual choice of instrumentation for a jazz improvisation ensemble, but then again, this is not really jazz. It somehow straddles the boundaries and moves freely between improvisation and new music. In fact, new music is the moniker I would stick on the trio. Many of the recent work by members of the trio can be heard on various releases on Free Elephant label, which incidentally is run by Gottschalk. From a musical perspective, the trio doesn't really probe any new frontiers. This sort of comprovised [partially composed and mostly improvised music] has been done numerous times before. What's interesting here is all three players are truly interested in the texture of the sounds. How will the sounds appear as Gottschalk scrapes a mean pattern across her violin, while accordionist Völker weaves waves of chaotic noise, all the while Jacquemyn pounds his bass into submission with brutal force. Most interesting passage comes in "Cascade III", where a moody, drone passage is introduced. Highly energetic, the sounds are weaved in a fashion that makes the sum of the parts more interesting than individual ingredients.
     - Tom Sekowski, Gaz-eta

Gunda Gottschalk/Peter Jacquemyn/Ute Volker - baggerboot (Henceforth Records 102) Featuring Gunda Gottschalk on violin & viola, Ute Volker on accordion (both from Wuppertal, Germany) and Peter Jacquemyn on contrabass (from Brakel, Belgium). We know the gifted improviser Gunda Gottschalk from her work with Peter Kowald, as well as her duo with Xu Feng Xia, both from performances at previous Vision festivals. She once played a fine solo set here at DMG. Contrabass explorer, Peter Jacquemyn, also played a great duo set here at DMG with vocalist Anna Homler a few months back and has an incredible, bizarre solo bass disc out that I reviewed right after his in-store performance. Ute Volker has a trio disc out with John Russell on Emanem, but I can't say that I was familiar with her before this date. Both Gunda and Ute are members of a group called Partita Radicale.

This acoustic trio sound completely unique, a very strange blend of two strings and accordion. Both string players are masters of extended technique(s) and highly unusual sounds. They twist, bend and manipulate those strings in all sorts of bizarre ways. Ute also gets her accordion to wheeze and twist notes inside out. This trio is often dense, frantic, spirited, fractured and occasionally over-the-top, yet they know when to lighten up and deal with less intense textures. It often takes some work and concentration in order to hear how it fits together, although there is joy in the way that you do hear that cosmic thread when you open yourself up to it. An extraordinary and quite challenging trio, well worth your discriminating listening abilities.
     - Bruce Gallanter from Downtown Music Gallery.

Trois longs morceaux en public encore, dans lesquels Baggerboot cherche l’épaisseur de la pâte sonore. Le jeu de violon est très rigoureux, l’archet ne se pose jamais sur les cordes sans une hésitation qui met en évidence la qualité granuleuse des sons et renvoie à la décision de produire un son ou pas : il y a dans cette musique un tremblement fondamental. L’accordéon expulse des souffles organiques, des vents puissants. Les cordes de la contrebasse sont frottées, secouées, tordues comme des cordes. Cette musique qui couvre tout le spectre sonore, du grave à l’aigu et du mezzo voce au fortissimo a quelque chose de rayonnant, peut-être induit par son rapport avec l’orgue et ses qualités contrapuntiques. On ne sait si il faut référer les trouvailles à la logique de discours personnels ou aux réaction aux autres. La question devient oiseuse dans ce cas. George Lewis se demandait sur Sound on Survival: « La musique de Eneidi, Valsamis et Ellis, comment est-elle possible ? », si cette question est si souvent exprimée en musique improvisée ce n’est pas que les musiciens y aient la tête particulièrement enflée mais qu’on y soit en contact direct avec des sujets. Toucher ainsi des individus hors des imaginaires ordinaires ne peut que provoquer un étonnement heureux qui nous attache à eux.
     - Noel Tachet, Improjazz France