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Call Me Helium - The Music Of Jimi Hendrix

Doran Stucky Studer Tacuma

Call Me Helium - The Music Of Jimi Hendrix

Format: CD
Label: Double Moon Records
UPC: 0608917115529
Catnr: DMCHR 71155
Release date: 28 August 2015
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1 CD
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Label
Double Moon Records
UPC
0608917115529
Catalogue number
DMCHR 71155
Release date
28 August 2015

""The playful merriment goes hand in hand with the rousing rockgrooves who also poin out to Hendrix in his heydays""

Jazzflits, 14-3-2016
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About the album

"When things get too heavy, just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man."

Jimi Hendrix said this in his last interview, rather casually, with a smile on his lips. On September 11, 1970, the guitarist complained to the journalist Keith Abdul Hadi that everything had become so complicated and difficult in the meantime. As a result, he actually wanted to be like helium, that gas, which is seven times lighter than air. Only one week later, Hendrix flew away in fact, light like a helium balloon, into infinity.

"This man really was a gas!!!!!!", the singer Erika Stucky praised him almost 45 years later with the euphoric emphasis of six exclamation points, whereby the word "gas" can be understood as "fun" or "enjoyment" in this context. With guitarist Christy Doran, the drummer and percussionist Fredy Studer and e-bass legend Jamaladeen Tacuma, she continues construction of a monument in sound to Hendrix after precisely one decade. The three Swiss already laid a remarkable foundation for this in 2005 with their live CD "Jimi" (Double Moon Records DMR 71048), but still with Ms. Kim Clarke on bass at that time. "We absolutely wanted to make a studio recording. To that end, Erika, Fredy and I prepared ourselves for a year, met once a month, created ideas and tried things out," Christy Doran explained the motives for the ambitious project. In any case, the Swiss-American all-star band did not want to jazz up the master's work in a complicated fashion. "We are trying to communicate the spirit and the energy of his music with the experience of today's music," Doran emphasized.

The result is an album that refreshingly rocks, but without falling into the usual superficial pattern of the genre. This is mainly due to the 7/8 and 5/4 times, the highly complex chords that Doran produces on the stratocaster, the virtuoso yet melodic bass playing of Ornette Coleman disciple Tacuma, which whisks away everything reminiscent of Noel Redding within a bar, as well as the nested, demoniacally haunting grooves of Studer, in which everything—true to the Hendrix motto—still sounds easy and comprehensible. "Fredy is a rhythm-eater," Erika Stucky stated in characterizing her co-musician. In addition to the Hendrix classics like "Hey Joe", "Gipsy Eyes", "Foxy Lady", "Machine Gun" and "Bold As Love", the fact that the four other pieces also interweave quotes from the flower-power period of the Beatles ("Sgt. Pepperʼs Lonely Hearts Club Band"), the musical "Hair" and Crosby, Stills & Nash, the forefathers of the singer-songwriter movement ("Teach Your Children"), is primarily due to the shrill, flamboyant vocalist. "I have to take the responsibility for that. I took in all these quotes so intensively that I am still exhaling them today. The reason is that I spent the first 10 years of my life in San Francisco. "Call Me Helium" was a return to my childhood when I wore all these colored clothes and tinkling-clinking bracelets. Jimi's lyrics spoke on a kids' level to me in those days: 'Let's take a ride on my dragonfly.' Oh, what kid would not like to fly on a dragonfly?"

Although a lot sounds rather original here, everything is really different in principle. The crux of the resurgent Hendrix tribute lies in the attention to lovely details, in tiny fractures that can come lightly into this music in a completely different, individual world of experience, but which shifts them unmistakably. Whoever perceives "Call Me Helium" just as nostalgic trip back to the blessed Woodstock times overlooks the fact that Doran Stucky, Studer and Tacuma are basically paying homage to the visionary Jimi Hendrix. In their original way, they generate the spores of its diverse musical ideas at the interface between the big stage of pop and the dim cellar light of modern avant-garde.
„When things get too heavy, just call me helium, the lightest known gas to man.“

Jimi Hendrix ließ diesen Satz in seinem letzten Interview fallen, eher beiläufig, mit einem Lächeln auf den Lippen. Am 11. September 1970 klagte der Gitarrist gegenüber dem Journalisten Keith Altham darüber, dass alles mittlerweile so kompliziert, so schwer wäre. Deshalb wolle er eigentlich wie Helium sein, jenes Gas, das sieben Mal leichter ist als Luft. Nur eine Woche später flog Hendrix tatsächlich davon, leicht wie ein Heliumballon, mitten hinein in die Unendlichkeit.

„This man really was a gas!!!!!!“, adelt ihn die Sängerin Erika Stucky fast 45 Jahre später unter euphorischer Betonung der sechs Ausrufezeichen, wobei das Wörtchen „gas“ in diesem Zusammenhang auch mit „Spaß“ oder „Genuss“ gleichgesetzt werden kann. Mit dem Gitarristen Christy Doran, dem Drummer und Perkussionisten Fredy Studer und der E-Bass-Legende Jamaladeen Tacuma setzt sie nach genau einem Jahrzehnt den Bau eines klingenden Denkmals für Hendrix fort. Die drei Schweizer haben dafür 2005 mit der Live-CD „Jimi“ (Double Moon Records DMR 71048) schon einen bemerkenswerten Grundstein gelegt, damals allerdings noch mit Mrs. Kim Clarke am Bass. „Wir wollten unbedingt mal eine Studio-Aufnahme machen. Dafür haben Erika, Fredy und ich uns über ein Jahr lang vorbereitet, uns jeden Monat einmal getroffen, Ideen kreiert, Sachen ausprobiert“, erklärt Christy Doran die Motive für das ehrgeizige Projekt. Auf keinen Fall ging es der eidgenössisch-amerikanischen Allstarband darum, das Werk des Meisters kompliziert zu verjazzen. „Wir versuchen den Spirit und die Energie seiner Musik rüberzubringen, mit der Erfahrung heutiger Musik“, betont Doran.

Herausgekommen ist dabei ein Album, das erfrischend vital dahinrockt, ohne jedoch in die gängigen oberflächlichen Muster des Genres zu verfallen. Dies liegt vor allem an den 7/8- und 5/4-Takten, den hoch komplexen Akkorden, die Doran auf der Stratocaster erzeugt, dem virtuosen und zugleich melodischen Bassspiel des Ornette-Coleman-Jüngers Tacuma, das alle Reminiszenzen an Noel Redding innerhalb eines Taktes vom Tisch wischt, sowie den verschachtelten, dämonisch gehetzten Grooves von Studer, bei dem alles – getreu dem Hendrixʼschen Motto – dennoch leicht und nachvollziehbar klingt. „Fredy ist ein Rhythmenfresser“, charakterisiert Erika Stucky ihren Kollegen. Dass die Vier neben Hendrix-Klassikern wie „Hey Joe“, „Gipsy Eyes“, „Foxy Lady“, „Machine Gun“ oder „Bold As Love“ auch Zitate aus der Flower-Power-Zeit von den Beatles („Sgt. Pepperʼs Lonely Hearts Club Band“), dem Musical „Hair“ oder von Crosby, Stills & Nash, den Urvätern der „Singer-Songwriter-Bewegung“ („Teach Your Children“) verweben, liegt in erster Linie an der schrillen, extravaganten Vokalistin. „Das muss ich auf meine Kappe nehmen. Ich hab all diese Quotes so gefressen, dass ich sie heute noch ausdünste. Das liegt daran, dass ich meine ersten zehn Lebensjahre in San Francisco verbrachte. Für mich war ´Call Me Helium` ein Griff zurück in meine Kindheit, in der ich all diese farbigen Kleider und Klingelingel-Armkettchen trug. Jimis Texte sprachen mich dazumal auf der Kids-Ebene an: Let´s take a ride on my dragonfly. Ach, welches Kind wäre nicht gerne auf einer Libelle geflogen?“

Vieles klingt hier zwar ziemlich original, doch im Prinzip ist alles anders. Die Crux der wiederauflebenden Hendrix-Hommage liegt in den liebevollen Details, in winzigen Brüchen, die eine völlig andere, individuelle Erfahrungswelt in diese Musik einkehren lassen und den Bezugsrahmen leicht, aber unverkennbar verschiebt. Wer „Call Me Helium“ nur als Nostalgietrip zurück in die seligen Woodstock-Zeiten wahrnimmt, der übersieht, dass Doran, Stucky, Studer und Tacuma im Prinzip dem Visionär Jimi Hendrix huldigen. Auf ihre ureigene Art geben sie dessen vielfältigen musikalischen Ideen auf der Schnittstelle zwischen der großen Bühne des Pop und dem gedimmten Kellerlicht der modernen Avantgarde kräftig die Sporen.

Artist(s)

Christy Doran

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...
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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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Composer(s)

Press

"The playful merriment goes hand in hand with the rousing rockgrooves who also poin out to Hendrix in his heydays"
Jazzflits, 14-3-2016

Jazzthing Best Of 2015 - Ralf Dombrowski
Jazzthing, 01-2-2016

The Band plays solid and graspingly, showing the hard and soft aspects of Jimi Hendrix' music.
Jazzpodium, 01-12-2015

"With this attitude they live up to his free spirit a lot more than most hendrix tributes"
Eclipsed, 01-10-2015

"Differentiated, virtuosic and fierce, but also clearly structured, careful and quiet."
WDR Resonanzen, 01-9-2015

with which passion and dedication, with which breathtaking vocal technique 
Jazzpodium, 01-9-2015

no quote possible
Jazzthetik, 01-9-2015

the swiss-american quartett Doran, Stucky, Studer, Tacuma found the right access to the unreachable.
Jazzthing, 01-9-2015

"suprises with inventiveness, overflowing arrangements and adventurous interpretations"
In Music, 01-9-2015

Music 8/10 Sound 8/10
Stereoplay, 13-8-2015

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Often bought together with..

Take The Floor And Lift The Roof
Christy Doran's New Bag

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