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After leading a klezmer group in New York and playing with
Styrenes and
God Is My Co-pilot,
cellist and avantgarde composer Fred Lonberg-Holm (1962) moved to
Chicago and founded
the Light Box Orchestra, a rotating orchestra of jazz musicians
(guitarists Kevin Drumm and Ben Vida, violinist Bob Marxh, saxophonist Guillermo Gregorio, keyboardist Jim O'Rourke, and so on),
so named because the improvisers are switched on and off by a box of lights,
whose career is documented on First Contact (Locust, 2002).
A pupil of Anthony Braxton, Lonberg focused his early recordings on improvised
music: Theory of Motion (1990), that includes a duet with Braxton,
Solos and Trios (1991), the solo Personal Scratch (february 1996).
Trigger was a surreal trio with Paul Hoskin on contrabass clarinet and Leslie Ross on bassoon, documented on All These Things (june 1992), released only in 2006.
Peep was a quartet with saxophonist Michael Attias, trombonist Edward Ratliff and percussionist Rob Cimino
inspired by circus orchestras and parade bands
that recorded Joy of Being (1997).
In Zenith was a trio with bassist/trombonist Jeb Bishop and drummer Michael Zerang that recorded Building A Better Future (1998).
Since then, his recordings include:
35 Grapes (march 1998), a duo with percussionist Michael Zerang for which Fred Lonberg-Holm played cello, mandolin, erhu, melodica, banjo;
Site-Specific (Explain, 1999), a collection of dissonant duos with Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Charles Kim, John Corbett, Michael Zerang, Jim Baker, Ben Vida, Todd Rittman, Michael Krassner, Jeb Bishop, Helen Mirra, and Adam Sonderberg;
Claque (Meniscus, 2000), a trio with trumpeter Alex Dorner and Zerang;
Disappeared (Nuscope, 2001), a trio with pianist Sten Sandell and Zerang;
as well as albums with Peter Broetzmann's and Ken Vandermark's groups.
At the same time, Fred Lonberg-Holm enjoyed playing with rock bands such as
U.S. Maple,
Boxhead Ensemble,
Flying Luttenbachers.
His interest in popular music translated in Terminal 4.
Possibly inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet,
Terminal 4 (Truckstop, 2001) is his attempt at composing rock music for
a pseudo-jazz quartet of cello,
guitar (Ben Vida), bass (Josh Abrams) and trombone (Jeb Bishop).
The delicate chamber arias of Oil Pack and
This Was The Frippe Time best illustrate the program.
But other, more sophisticated, pieces achieve an intriguing balance of
pop ballad's fluidity, classical music's elegance and
avantgarde music's cacophony:
N Heptane
(contrasting a somber trombone motif and atonal guitar crackling),
Pending Solitude (a gloomy minimalist pattern);
Eat Some More (a Frank Zappa-esque circus fanfare sinking in a lake
of dissonances).
The instruments alternate at decomposing
Slinky, a theme worthy of 1960s tv soundtracks. And
A.D., a sort of speedy folk dance, is pulverized by the guitar.
The overall mood is melancholy, but redeemed by a surreal wit.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx) Se sei interessato a tradurre questo testo, contattami
Dietro i Terminal 4 si cela
il piu` noto Fred Lonberg-Holm, polistrumentista (ma eccelle al
violoncello) e compositore. Dopo aver suonato a New York in un gruppo
kletzmer, in un numero impressionante di rock band (God Is My Co-Pilot,
Flying Luttenbachers, US Maple), nel Boxhead Ensemble e dopo aver
registrato collaborazioni che spaziano dal jazz all`avanguardia con
O`Rourke, Peter Brotzmann, Vandermark e Kevin Drumm (solo per citarne
alcuni), si e` calato nei panni del compositore per il progetto Terminal
4.
Seguendo la strada del Modern Jazz Quartet, Terminal 4 (****) e` un
tentativo di comporre musica rock per un quartetto pseudo-jazz di
violoncello, chitarra (Ben Vida), basso (Josh Abrams) e trombone (Jeb
Bishop). Ci sono delicate arie da camera ("Oil Pack", "This Was The
Frippe"), ma altri brani, piu` sofisticati, fondono in modo affascinante
la fluidita` della ballata pop, l`eleganza della musica classica e la
cacofonia dell`avanguardia. E` il caso di "N Heptane" (dove un cupo
motivo del trombone contrasta con il crepitio atonale della chitarra), di
"Pending Solitude" (un malinconico pattern minimalista) e di "Eat Some
More" (una fanfara da circo alla Zappa affondata in un mare di
dissonanze).
Il feeling complessivo e` melanconico, ma compensato da uno humour
surreale.
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