EnglishA multisensorial concert- Wednesday, 12th June 2019, 8 p.m.
BassX3: Gebhard Ullmann: bass clarinet & bass flute; Chris Dahlgren – contrabass; Christian Weber: contrabass – Fabio Dondero and Dominik Breider (Incense burning): Lavender and Myrrh
Ausland, Lychenerstrasse 60, 10437 Berlin
We are extremely proud to present for Incense of Music Nr. 36 BassX3, a worldwide unique trio located on the lower end of the tonal range of improvised chamber music. All three are well known improvisers and composers and their first cd entitled „bassX3“ has been released on drimala records in 2005. So, time for a little bit of jazz and a lot of freedom. We are helping with Lavender and myrrh. Solomon 5:5: I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
Gebhard Ullmann
Born on november 2, 1957 in Bad Godesberg, Germany saxophonist (tenor and soprano), bass clarinetist, bass flutist and composer Gebhard Ullmann studied medecine and music in Hamburg and moved to Berlin in 1983. Since then he has recorded more than 50 CDs as a leader or co-leader for prestigious labels such as Soul Note (Italy), Leo Records (UK), Between The Lines (Germany), CIMP (USA), NotTwo Records (Poland), Clean Feed (Portugal) Unit Records (Switzerland) and others. For many years he is considered one of the leading personalities in both the Berlin and international music scenes and has received numerous awards for his work including the Julius Hemphill Composition Award in two categories (’99), the Deutsche Phonoakademie award (’83), one of the first SWF Jazz Awards (’87) the first Berlin Jazz Award (2017) and the nomination best-jazz-CD-of-the-year by the German Schallplattenkritik for his CD Tá Lam in 1995. His CDs Final Answer (2002) The Bigband Project (2004) New Basement Research (2008) News? No News! (2010) Mingus! (2011) Clarinet Trio 4 (2012) Hat And Shoes (2017) were all listed in Downbeat Magazine among the best CDs of those years. The CD Transatlantic received the prestigious Choc of the French Jazz Magazine in 2012. Since 2005 Gebhard Ullmann is listed in the Downbeat Critics Poll, 2015 for the first time in three categories. Since 1993 Ullmann was a recording artist for Soul Note and has been living in New York City and Berlin. He has toured with his music throughout Europe as well as Africa, the Middle East, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, South East Asia, Mexico and China and performed on most of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals. Ullmann’s working bands are: Basement Research (with Steve Swell, Julian Argüelles, Pascal Niggenkemper, Gerald Cleaver), the cooperative band Conference Call (with Michael Stevens, Joe Fonda and Dieter Ulrich), the Clarinet Trio (with Jürgen Kupke and Michael Thieke), BassX3 (with Chris Dahlgren and Clayton Thomas) the Berlin quartet Gulf of Berlin (with Gerhard Gschlössl, Johannes Fink and Jan Leipnitz) his new Duo with vocalist Almut Kühne and The Chicago Plan (co-lead with Steve Swell. With Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang). Some of the more recent projects are the Double Trio de Clarinettes (the Clarinet Trio plus the French Trio de Clarinettes) the 8-piece Berlin Suite with all well known Berlin based improvisers, the duo with Achim Kaufmann, a 90-minute Solo program and the electro/acoustic project Das Kondensat (with Oli Potratz and Eric Schäfer). He also is a member of the NY Scott DuBois Quartet, the Berlin Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and Septych,HAT AND SHOES label: Between The Lines recording: Kreisschule Mutschellen, Switzerland by Walter Quintus project: Basement Research – Julian Argüelles (bs) Steve Swell (tb) Gebhard Ullmann (ts, bcl) Pascal Niggenkemper (b) Gerald Cleaver (dr) the project of the Belgian pianist Bram de Looze. During the 80’s Gebhard Ullmann was a leading force in the musicians‘ organisation JazzFront Berlin. Since the mid 90’s he had a teaching assignemnt for saxofone and ensemble at the University of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin for 10+ years. He also held master classes at universities worldwide. Since 2014 he is the head of the German Jazz Musicians‘ Union. Ullmann recorded or performed with Paul Bley, Andy Emler, Han Bennink, Satoko Fujii, William Parker, Barry Altschul, Herb Robertson, Marvin Smitty Smith, Laurent Cugny, Ellery Eskelin, Bob Moses, Keith Tippett, Frank Gratkowski, Sergeij Starostin, Tiger Okoshi, Bobby Previte, Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky, Glen Moore, Trilok Gurtu, Ab Baars, Andreas Willers, Lauren Newton, Andrew Cyrille, Sylvie Courvoisier, Steve Swell, Frank Möbus, Lee Konitz, Alexander v. Schlippenbach, Benoit Achiary, Willem Breuker, Carlos Bica, Enrico Rava, Rita Marcotulli, Bob Stewart, Dieter Glawischnig, Tony Malaby, Drew Gress, Michael Rabinowitz, Matt Wilson, Ivo Papasov, the Ensemble Percussion de Guinee, the European Radioorchestra, spoken word artist Sadiq Bey, the actor Otto Sander and many musicians from the Berlin scene as well as many others.
http://gebhard-ullmann.com
Christian Weber
toured in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, England, Ireland, Poland, Israel, China, Taiwan, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Kuwait, Croatia, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Japan, Russia, USA, Canada… and works/worked with Lina Allemano, Bruno Amstad, Tim Barnes, Johannes Bauer, Ludwig Bekic, Han Bennink, Claudia Ulla Binder, Jeb Bishop, Andres Bosshard, John Butcher, Antoine Chessex, Gene Coleman, Collegium Novum, Lol Coxhill, Chris Dahlgren, Tim Daisy, Jacques Demierre, Bertrand Denzler, Robert Dick, Roberto Domeniconi, Michel Doneda, Christy Doran, Paul Dunmall, Markus Eichenberger, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Evans, Kai Fagaschinski, Pierre Favre, Peter K Frey, Charles Gayle, Gegenklang, Michael Griener, Andy Guhl, Uli Gumpert, Boris Hauf, Franz Hautzinger, Stefan Heckel, Gerry Hemingway, Gerhard Herrmann, Charlotte Hug, Ben Jeger, Russ Johnson, Jason Kahn, Vera Kappeler, Mazen Kerbaj, Hans Koch, Ritsche Koch, Jonas Kocher, Tomas Korber, Peter Kowald, Jesse Kudler, Joachim Kühn, Oliver Lake, Joke Lanz, Urs Leimgruber, Tony Levin, Werner Lüdi, Paul Lytton, Rudi Mahall, Phil Minton, Norbert Möslang, Michael Moser, Jon Mueller, Günter Müller, Simon Nabatov, Lucas Niggli, Noid, Evan Parker, Dave Phillips, Simon Picard, Wolfgang Puschnig, Christian Reiner, Wolfgang Reisinger, Paul Rogers, Roger Rotor, Olaf Rupp, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong, Julian Sartorius, Eric Schaefer, Philip Schaufelberger, Matthias Schubert, Willem Schulz, Irène Schweizer, Christine Sehnaoui, Sharif Sehnaoui, Elliott Sharp, Martin Siewert, Markus Stauss, Steamboat Switzerland, Michael Jefry Stevens, Co Streiff, Michael Thieke, Dieter Ulrich, Tom Varner, Colin Vallon, Walter & Sabrina, Matthew Welch, Chris Wiesendanger, Bo Wiget, Michel Wintsch, Stephan Wittwer, Nils Wogram, Christian Wolfarth, Michael Wollny, Nate Wooley, Katsura Yamauchi, Raed Yassin, Otomo Yoshihide, Michael Zerang, Matthias Ziegler, Alfred Zimmerlin, Philip Zoubek…
Chris Dahlgren
was born in New York, NY on Nov. 13, 1961. He began with music on the cello at the age of 6, and later switched to the bass. His earliest experiments with improvisation on the cello brought upon him the wrath of his elementary school music teacher who shouted, “Get out of here Dahlgren- you will never be a musician!” He received his BM in Jazz Studies from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (1986) and a MA in Composition/ Experimental Music from Wesleyan University (2003). Chris has studied composition with La Monte Young, Anthony Braxton, Alvin Lucier and Christian Wolff. He has studied bass with Barry Green, Francois Rabbath and Dave Holland, among others. During the mid-1980’s, as the in-house bassist of the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, Chris had the opportunity to learn about jazz music directly from some of the greatest American masters, such as: Herb Ellis, Red Rodney, John von Ohlen, Art Lande, Charles Tolliver and Joe Lovano. In this time he also established himself as a composer and unique voice on the bass, co-founding the band Ekimi and the music label Krysdahlark making several recordings, thereupon. In 1993, Chris moved back to his native New York, and for eleven years was actively performing and recording with his own (Slow Commotion, Best Intentions) and other’s bands on the Downtown scene. In this period he released many of his own recordings, as a composer and improviser, on the Koch Jazz, CIMP, Not Two, Between-the-Lines, Leo, ESP and other record labels, in addition to performing on numerous recordings by other artists. From 2001 to 2009 he was a regular member of ensembles of the seminal avant-garde composer and woodwinds player Anthony Braxton. Since 2004, he has been living in Berlin, Germany, performing, composing and collaborating with significant European musicians, composers and artists. In 2006 Chris began to play the viola da gamba, and is presently introducing this instrument into the field of improvised music. In 2008, he formed his new band: LEXICON, which had its debut recording come out on the Jazzwerkstatt label in March, 2010. Chris regularly tours around the world with his own, as well as other ensembles. Since 2003, Chris teaches and coaches ensembles in Berlin at the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler and Jazz Institut Berlin. He has received numerous grants and awards in music composition from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council and Headlands Arts Center (USA), as well as receiving commissions for his compositions from private individuals and organizations.
Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia, China (Plectranthus mona lavender) to southeast India. Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils. The most widely cultivated species, Lavandula angustifolia, is often referred to as lavender, and there is a color named for the shade of the flowers of this species. The English word lavender is generally thought to be derived from Old French lavandre, ultimately from the Latin lavare (to wash), referring to the use of infusions of the plants. The botanic name Lavandula as used by Linnaeus is considered to be derived from this and other European vernacular names for the plants. However it is suggested that this explanation may be apocryphal, and that the name may actually be derived from Latin livere, „blueish“. The ancient Greeks called the lavender herb nardus, after the Syrian city of Naarda (possibly the modern town of Dohuk, Iraq). It was also commonly called nard. Lavender was one of the holy herbs used in the biblical Temple to prepare the holy essence, and nard (’nerd‘ in Hebrew) is mentioned in the Song of Solomon: „Nard and saffron, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes, and all the finest spices. „During Roman times, flowers were sold for 100 denarii per pound, which was about the same as a month’s wages for a farm laborer, or fifty haircuts from the local barber. Its late Latin name was lavandārius, from lavanda (things to be washed), from the verb lavāre (to wash). (from Wikipedia)
Myrrh is a natural gum or resin extracted from a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense, and medicine. Myrrh mixed with wine can also be ingested. Commiphora myrrha is native to Somalia, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, (Somali Region) of Ethiopia and parts of Saudi Arabia. The word myrrh corresponds with a common Semitic root m-r-r meaning „bitter“, as in Aramaic murr and Arabic مُرّ murr. Its name entered the English language from the Hebrew Bible, where it is called מור mor, and later as a Semitic loanword was used in the Greek myth of Myrrha, and later in the Septuagint; in the Ancient Greek language, the related word μῠ́ρον (múron) became a general term for perfume. The 5th dynasty ruler of Egypt King Sahure recorded the earliest attested expedition to the land of Punt, modern day Horn of Africa particularly Somalia which brought back large quantities of myrrh, frankincense, malachite and electrum. Other products that were also brought back included wild animals, particularly cheetahs, the secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius), giraffes and Hamadryas baboons (which was sacred to the Ancient Egyptians), ebony, ivory and animal skins. Sahure is shown celebrating the success of this venture in a relief from his mortuary temple which shows him tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace named „Sahure’s splendor soars up to heaven“. This relief is the only one in Egyptian art depicting a king gardening. Myrrh was used by the ancient Egyptians, along with natron, for the embalming of mummies. Myrrh is mentioned as a rare perfume in several places in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 37:25, the Ishmaelite traders to whom Jacob’s sons sold their brother Joseph had „camels … loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh,“ and Exodus 30:23-25 specifies that Moses was to use 500 shekels of liquid myrrh as a core ingredient of the sacred anointing oil. Myrrh was an ingredient of Ketoret: the consecrated incense used in the First and Second Temples at Jerusalem, as described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. An offering was made of the Ketoret on a special incense altar and was an important component of the temple service. Myrrh is also listed as an ingredient in the holy anointing oil used to anoint the tabernacle, high priests and kings. Myrrh was recorded in the first century BC by Diodorus Siculus to have been traded overland and by sea via Nabatean caravans and sea ports, which transported it from indigenous Ethiopian sources in Southern Arabia to their capital city of Petra, from which it was distributed throughout the Mediterranean region. Myrrh is mentioned in the New Testament as one of the three gifts (with gold and frankincense) that the magi „from the East“ presented to the Christ Child (Matthew 2:11). Myrrh was also present at Jesus‘ death and burial. Jesus was offered wine and myrrh before the crucifixion (Mark 15:23). According to John’s Gospel, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea brought a 100-pound mixture of myrrh and aloes to wrap Jesus‘ body (John 19:39). The Gospel of Matthew relates that as Jesus went to the cross, he was given vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink (Matthew 27:34); the Gospel of Mark describes the drink as wine mingled with myrrh (Mark 15:23). Because of its mention in the New Testament, myrrh is an incense offered during some Christian liturgical celebrations. Liquid myrrh is sometimes added to egg tempera in the making of icons. Myrrh is mixed with frankincense and sometimes more scents and is used in almost every service of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, traditional Roman Catholic, and Anglican/Episcopal churches. Myrrh is also used to prepare the sacramental chrism used by many churches of both Eastern and Western rites. In the Middle East, the Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally uses oil scented with myrrh (and other fragrances) to perform the sacrament of chrismation, which is commonly referred to as „receiving the Chrism“.According to the Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine, „The Messenger of Allah stated, ‚Fumigate your houses with al-shih, murr, and sa’tar.'“ The author claims that this use of the word „murr“ refers specifically to Commiphora myrrha. (from Wikipedia)
