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Zacharya - Jazz Thing Next Generation Vol. 87

UASSYN

Zacharya - Jazz Thing Next Generation Vol. 87

Price: € 14.95
Format: CD
Label: Double Moon Records
UPC: 0608917138726
Catnr: DMCHR 71387
Release date: 26 March 2021
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Label
Double Moon Records
UPC
0608917138726
Catalogue number
DMCHR 71387
Release date
26 March 2021

"In terms of instrumentation, the Zurich trio is a classic jazz saxophone trio. But Tapiwa Svosve, Silvan Jeger and Vincent Glanzmann develop their own aesthetic with UASSYN. With their debut album, they succinctly bring their structurally exciting music..."

Jazz N More, 01-7-2021
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

Anything but ordinary – that could be the motto of the young Swiss trio UASSYN. Although the band has a line-up of saxophone, bass and drums, which has a long tradition in jazz history, it sounds anything but traditional. This is due to the unusual patterns that drummer Vincent Glanzmann drums, the steady bass Silvan Jeger plucks and the unique sound Tapiwa Svosve gets out of his alto saxophone.
"The combination of instruments is not that important for us,” Glanzmann said. “We are more defined by our personalities. It's about the overall sound that is generated – something warm and round.”

He hits the nail on his head with this, because although UASSYN clearly belongs to the rather avant-garde side of jazz, they sound anything but abstract or even cerebral. And they have been working on their common sound for a long time; the trio has been together for five years. “We know each other from the Zurich jazz scene,” Glanzmann said. “I played first with Silvan. We had a lot of ideas and waited for the right third person. Then Tapiwa came.”

They refer to their music as skater jazz, which they tried to whip into shape during the first two years in a rehearsal room. “We try to achieve a result with this jazz tonality through other approaches,” Glanzmann explained. “The image of a skater seemed quite fitting to us. If you take a board and go out, make turns and do tricks, it's a way to experience yourself. This is how we try to play our instruments.”

Taking their instruments and going out seemed to be the right next step to Uassyn. In addition to tours at home and abroad – Poland, Lithuania and Germany were already on their tour plan – they discovered a very special performance mode for themselves, which has a lot to do with their hometown Zurich.

“We played in public spaces during our skating sessions,” Glanzmann described this unusual experience. “In Zurich, every square meter seems to belong to someone. Basically we are only allowed to play in a rehearsal room or with the permission of a club. Consequently, we built a space for ourselves for each piece somewhere – perhaps analogous to street art – to occupy the city for us.”

Direct contact with a random audience shaped their music without Uassyn making any compromises. The special situation of the three musicians resulted in them responding precisely to each other and focusing on their peculiar and apparently effortless, forceful sound.
“In retrospect, the procedure of playing at these specific sites gave us the feeling of appropriating them in a very peculiar way,” Glanzmann can remember well. “We played without amplifiers, some alcoholics sang along, and most people watched us from a distance. Those who were there on a bicycle came closest to us, perhaps because they knew they could quickly leave.”

Now Uassyn is taking their long overdue next step and recorded their debut album “Zacharya” for the 87th release of Jazz thing Next Generation. Its music, which resembles an independent language – which is why the band name is also an invented word – is bursting with energy and vitality, but also has plenty of room for tender and ballad-like moments. Its songs seem hypnotic, live from a penetrating beat-bias and take advantage of the freedom that jazz promises as a result. The strangeness that their music radiates continues in the song titles “Dji-ut”, “Mmoosh” and "Kheretem". “Kheretem" is composed of the names of Egyptian gods,” Glanzmann explained. “Otherwise, we try to express the feeling of the piece through the title: like a picture, but using letters instead of colors.”

Alles außer gewöhnlich - so könnte das Motto des jungen Schweizer Trios Uassyn lauten. Denn obwohl die Band in der Besetzung Saxofon, Bass und Schlagzeug antritt, die in der Jazzgeschichte eine lange Tradition hat, klingt sie alles andere als traditionalistisch. Das liegt an den ungewöhnlichen Patterns, die Schlagzeuger Vincent Glanzmann trommelt, an dem stetigen Bass, den Silvan Jeger zupft und an dem eigen- und einzigartigen Sound, den Tapiwa Svosve aus seinem Altsaxofon herausholt.

„Die Besetzung ist uns gar nicht so wichtig“, sagt Glanzmann, „wir definieren uns eher über unsere Persönlichkeiten. Es geht um den Klangkörper, der generiert wird - der hat etwas Warmes und Rundes.“

Damit trifft er den Nagel auf den Kopf, denn obwohl Uassyn eindeutig der eher avantgardistischen Seite des Jazz zuzuordnen sind, klingen sie alles andere als abstrakt oder gar kopflastig. Und sie haben lange an ihrem gemeinsamen Klang gearbeitet - seit fünf Jahren ist das Trio bereits zusammen.

„Wir kennen uns aus der Zürcher Jazzszene“, erzählt Glanzmann. „Zuerst habe ich mit Silvan gespielt. Wir hatten viele Ideen und haben auf die richtige dritte Person gewartet. Dann kam Tapiwa.“

Sie selbst bezeichnen ihre Musik als Skater-Jazz, die sie in den ersten zwei Jahren im Probenraum versucht haben, auf den Punkt zu bringen. „Wir versuchen mit dieser Jazz-Klanglichkeit durch andere Denkansätze zu einem Resultat zu kommen“, führt Glanzmann aus. „Das Bild vom Skater erschien uns da ganz passend. Wenn man das Brett nimmt und raus geht, Kurven fährt und Tricks macht, ist das ein Weg, sich selbst zu spüren. Auf diese Art und Weise versuchen wir auch unsere Instrumente zu spielen.“

Das Instrument nehmen und raus gehen, das erschien Uassyn als nächster Schritt angemessen. Neben Tourneen im In- und Ausland - Polen, Litauen und Deutschland standen schon auf dem Tourplan - haben sie für sich eine ganz besondere Auftrittsform entdeckt, die viel mit ihrer Heimatstadt Zürich zu tun hat.

„Bei unseren Skater-Sessions haben wir im öffentlichen Raum gespielt“, schildert Glanzmann diese ungewöhnliche Erfahrung. „In Zürich gehört jeder Quadratmeter jemandem, da ist es schwer, einen Platz zu finden. Nur der Proberaum oder der Club ist für uns erlaubt. Wir haben uns also für jeweils ein Stück irgendwo aufgebaut - vielleicht analog zur Street Art -, um die Stadt für uns einzunehmen.“

Der unmittelbare Kontakt zu einem zufälligen Publikum hat ihre Musik geformt, ohne dass Uassyn dabei Kompromisse eingegangen sind. Dabei hat die spezielle Situation bei den drei Musikern dazu geführt, ganz genau auf ihre Mitstreiter einzugehen und ihre seltsam anstrengungslos erscheinende Klanggewalt zu fokussieren.

„Im Nachhinein hatten wir schon das Gefühl, dass uns der Platz auf eine komische Art gehört“, kann sich Glanzmann noch gut erinnern. „Wir haben ohne Verstärker gespielt, die Alkoholiker haben mitgesungen, die meisten Menschen haben uns eher aus der Ferne zugeschaut. Die, die auf einem Fahrrad da waren, sind uns noch am nächsten gekommen, vielleicht, weil sie wussten, dass sie schnell wieder weg konnten.“

Nun gehen Uassyn den nächsten fälligen Schritt und haben mit „Zacharya“ ihr Debüt-Album für die 87. Folge von Jazz thing Next Generation eingespielt. Ihre Musik, die einer eigenen Sprache gleicht - weshalb der Bandname auch ein selbst erfundenes Kunstwort ist -, birst dabei vor Energie und Vitalität, hat aber auch viel Platz für zärtliche und balladeske Momente. Ihre Songs wirken hypnotisch und leben von einer eindringlichen Beat-Lastigkeit und machen sich gerade dadurch die Freiheit, die der Jazz verspricht, zunutze. Die Fremdheit, die ihre Musik ausstrahlt, setzt sich in den Songtiteln - „Dji-ut“, „Mmoosh“ oder „Kheretem“ fort.
„‚Kheretem‘ setzt sich aus den Namen ägyptischer Götter zusammen“, erläutert Glanzmann. „Ansonsten versuchen wir, mit dem Titel das Gefühl des Stücks zum Ausdruck zu bringen: Wie ein Bild, bei dem man statt Farben Buchstaben benutzt.“

Artist(s)

UASSYN

UASSYN. A repeated boxing. Clarity and presence in the blow to come. Targeting an in-between-the-notes. A mid section of formlessness. Shimmering from scuffed rinestones. A common identity. Appears. The pierogi. In Polish highway motels. A social construct. A social concept formed out of dough and stuffings. transformations (how?) rhythmic embodiment... Founded in 2015 UASSYN spent their first two years secretly surfing the waves of spatial compositions and their inherent densities. Then traveling Europe. Including the people they are surrounded with into their understanding of self. Feeding. Splitting.
more

UASSYN. A repeated boxing. Clarity and presence in the blow to come. Targeting an in-between-the-notes. A mid section of formlessness. Shimmering from scuffed rinestones. A common identity. Appears.

The pierogi. In Polish highway motels. A social construct. A social concept formed out of dough and stuffings.

transformations (how?)

rhythmic embodiment...

Founded in 2015 UASSYN spent their first two years secretly surfing the waves of spatial compositions and their inherent densities. Then traveling Europe. Including the people they are surrounded with into their understanding of self. Feeding. Splitting.


less

Silvan Jeger (double bass)

Silvan Jeger (* 1985 / Acoustic Bass): Barely reaching his 30th birthday, Silvan Jeger is clearly the youngster of „Peter's Playstation“ - 40 years apart from it's elder statesman saxophone player Andy Scherrer. Despite his youth he already left his mark in the Swiss Jazz scene, playing with three distinguished, different Swiss tenor -saxophonist-led bands by the likes of Christoph Grab, Reto Suhner and Christoph Gallio. Those - among many other projects - let him tour and travel the world far beyond Switzerland. For the last two years, „Peter's Playstation“ has relied on his groove, sound and ability to interact, with SNOWLAND being his first recording with the band.
more
Silvan Jeger (* 1985 / Acoustic Bass): Barely reaching his 30th birthday, Silvan Jeger is clearly the youngster of „Peter's Playstation“ - 40 years apart from it's elder statesman saxophone player Andy Scherrer. Despite his youth he already left his mark in the Swiss Jazz scene, playing with three distinguished, different Swiss tenor -saxophonist-led bands by the likes of Christoph Grab, Reto Suhner and Christoph Gallio. Those - among many other projects - let him tour and travel the world far beyond Switzerland. For the last two years, „Peter's Playstation“ has relied on his groove, sound and ability to interact, with SNOWLAND being his first recording with the band.

less

Tapiwa Svosve (alto saxophone)

Composer(s)

Silvan Jeger (double bass)

Silvan Jeger (* 1985 / Acoustic Bass): Barely reaching his 30th birthday, Silvan Jeger is clearly the youngster of „Peter's Playstation“ - 40 years apart from it's elder statesman saxophone player Andy Scherrer. Despite his youth he already left his mark in the Swiss Jazz scene, playing with three distinguished, different Swiss tenor -saxophonist-led bands by the likes of Christoph Grab, Reto Suhner and Christoph Gallio. Those - among many other projects - let him tour and travel the world far beyond Switzerland. For the last two years, „Peter's Playstation“ has relied on his groove, sound and ability to interact, with SNOWLAND being his first recording with the band.
more
Silvan Jeger (* 1985 / Acoustic Bass): Barely reaching his 30th birthday, Silvan Jeger is clearly the youngster of „Peter's Playstation“ - 40 years apart from it's elder statesman saxophone player Andy Scherrer. Despite his youth he already left his mark in the Swiss Jazz scene, playing with three distinguished, different Swiss tenor -saxophonist-led bands by the likes of Christoph Grab, Reto Suhner and Christoph Gallio. Those - among many other projects - let him tour and travel the world far beyond Switzerland. For the last two years, „Peter's Playstation“ has relied on his groove, sound and ability to interact, with SNOWLAND being his first recording with the band.

less

Tapiwa Svosve (alto saxophone)

Press

In terms of instrumentation, the Zurich trio is a classic jazz saxophone trio. But Tapiwa Svosve, Silvan Jeger and Vincent Glanzmann develop their own aesthetic with UASSYN. With their debut album, they succinctly bring their structurally exciting music...
Jazz N More, 01-7-2021

... Eschewing rock or ecstatic jazz influences, this group’s music is so scrupulously symmetrical that at times it threatens to become bloodless. Luckily the accomplished ingenuity of alto saxophonist Tapiwa Svosve, bassist Silvan Jeger and drummer Vincent Glanzmann means that the six joint instant compositions are enlivened by textural deviations even as triple coordination keep the tunes on level paths...
Thewholenote, 29-6-2021

... we get six sounds that could have gone straight into a record by Arthur Blythe (1940 - 2017)... This has become a fine debut record from a trio that has both good ideas and fine playing. And with the alto saxophone in the lead, this sounds brash and fine.  
Salt Peanuts, 25-4-2021

... Perhaps too much has really been lost in jazz: the progressive, the democratic, the original, the nonlinear. UASSYN have just begun the search for it.
Jazzthing, 23-3-2021

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