The Clarinet Trio
Probably the most striking aspect of the Clarinet Trio’s music is the instrumentation: three clarinets pure. No strings, no piano, no percussion. A trio in the classical sense.
The three musicians create music of strong atmospheric density. Single long lasting tones appear from nowhere. Playing with the volume, drama can be sensed. Silence. Then again sounds that palpate the silence, but also offer that exact silence the space to it’s own unfolding. The music is creatively composed and sensitively improvised. It can also growl, paint sounds and swing melodically.
In 2022 the Clarinet Trio released the 6th CD entitled ‚Transformations and Further Passages‘ for its 25th anniversary.
It features German Jazz Compositions from the 1950s and 60s. Music by Albert Mangelsdorff, Karl Berger, Rolf and Joachim Kühn, E.L. Petrowsky, Jutta Hipp, Joki Freund, Manfred Schoof and others.
links:
press:
‚ Rarely, however, have I heard a recent recording of either genre, classical or jazz, which I’ve not only enjoyed this much but was thoroughly engrossed in from start to finish … and as I say, somehow or other it all comes together to produce a part written-part spontaneous modern composition that I defy even the cleverest and most cutting-edge classical composer to equal, let alone surpass.‘
-Lynn René Bayley, Artmusiclounge 2022
‚ Germany’s Gebhard Ullmann’s clarinet Trio was one of the most rollicking small-groups of the festival. The clarinetists raced around each other’s upper-register counterpoint on material that ranged from film composer Nino Rota’s themes to an outrageous version of ‚Tea For Two.‘ The band proved that Italian and Dutch improvisers don’t have a European monopoly on humor.‘
-Aaron Cohen, Downbeat
‚ Not only are the arrangements satisfyingly eclectic — compare the devilish arrangement of clarinetist Rolf Kuhn’s ‚Don’t Run‘ to the satisfyingly blue-note rich ‚Der Blues ist der Koenig‘ from clarinetist Ernst Petrwosky, for example — but the individual musicianship is absolutely peerless. 5 stars.‘
-Paul Aquaro The Freejazz Blog 2022
releases:
The Clarinet Trio | Transformations and Further Passages | Leo Records (UK) | 2022 | CD
The Clarinet Trio plus Alexey Kruglov | Live in Moscow | Leo Records (UK) | 2017 |CD
Le Double Trio de Clarinettes | Itinéraire Bis | Between The Lines (D) | 2013 | CD
The Clarinet Trio | 4 | Leo records (UK) | 2012 | CD
The Clarinet Trio | Ballads and Related Objects | Leo Reocrds (UK) | 2004 | CD
video:
Video by Oliver Potratz
„Cleopatra“ by Joki Freund