Jazz Big Band Graz (Austria) plays the music from their latest release on Intuition Records, Joys and Desires.  US release August 22nd 

                                        distributed by Allegro

This CD is available digitally at: finetunes, itunes, musicload

also featured on New Sounds

Compositions by John Hollenbeck featuring Theo Bleckmann



Joys & Desires
John Hollenbeck & Jazz Bigband Graz | Intuition

By John Kelman for AllAboutJazz.com


Only days into the new year, and there’s already a strong contender for 2006 “best of” lists. That it
comes from John Hollenbeck—a drummer who, in recent years, has emerged as one of the most
distinctive composers in and out of jazz—is no surprise. After all, last year’s—A Blessing (OmniTone),
with his Large Ensemble, and Semi-Formal (Cuneiform), with The Claudia Quintet—were critically
acclaimed, genre-busting albums with roots in jazz, but equally drawn from other styles too numerous
to count.

Joys & Desires, with Austria's Jazz Bigband Graz, shares much in common with the broadly-textured A
Blessing. The ensembles are about the same size, with roughly the same instrumentation. Hollenbeck
even brings along Theo Bleckmann—whose creative approach to voice was a defining characteristic of
A Blessing. But Hollenbeck is far too creative a writer to repeat himself, with Joys & Desires
representing an even greater cosmopolitanism than that clearly evident on A Blessing.

Joys & Desires may consist of seven distinct pieces ”including the three-part mini-suite of the album’s
title—but there’s a narrative arc underlying the entire disc, making it more unified whole than
collection of discrete parts. It’s nothing as obvious as repeated motifs. Instead it’s a matter of the
music’s ebb and flow feeling like one long journey, with even the pauses between tracks feeling a
part of the emotional current.


“The Bird with the Coppery, Keen Claws” revolves around a simple two-note percussive motif that
evokes images of tropical rainforests, with all manner of whistles, electronics and horns imitating
natural sounds. The hypnotic rhythm may be static, but Hollenbeck layers long, languid horn lines
reminiscent of bassist Eberhard Weber’s writing, interacting with Bleckmann’s recitation of Wallace
Stevens’ highly visual verse.

“Just Like Him” also revolves around a repeated rhythmic pattern, this time more complex as
Hollenbeck’s drums and Oliver Kent’s piano create an irregularly-metered foundation for multi-
layered and canonical horn lines ultimately converging into a unified theme. Things reduce even
further until everything drops out but the horns and Bleckmann’s voice, contrapuntally alternating
between two notes that create an ambient-like segue into a riff-based solo section featuring
clarinetist Robert Friedl and saxophonists Heinrich von Kalnein and Klaus Gesing.

Hollenbeck’s writing seamlessly integrates his diverse influences, making episodic pieces like the 11
-minute “Abstinence”—with its almost collage-like blend of modern rhythms, orchestral drama, In a
Silent Way-like ambience, pure swing and chaotic free-play—a self-contained history lesson on
modern music. “Jazz Envy” runs the gamut from maelstrom-like directed themes to a synthesizer
solo by Uli Rennert, over a strong groove by bassist Henning Sieverts and Hollenbeck, that’s
reminiscent of Canterbury progressive players including National Health’s Dave Stewart and Soft
Machine’s Mike Ratledge.

In the hands of lesser artists, the seemingly infinite reference points of Joys & Desires would sound
like nothing more than a clutter of disjointed ideas. But Hollenbeck’s genius is his ability to link often
widely-disparate contexts together into compositions that bear an unmistakable logic and sense of
purpose.

Joys & Desires
John Hollenbeck & Jazz Bigband Graz | Intuition

By Chris May for AllAboutJazz.com


Because of their sheer physical bulk and lethal defensive firepower, big bands have remained
fundamentally immune to the jazz revolutions of the last sixty years. Bop, hard bop, cool, free,
fusion, funked up, rocked out, astral, groove, and ecstatic... all the major reinventions have been
created by smaller lineups. (Miles Davis's Birth Of The Cool band is the sole vanguard outfit to have
been bigger than a sextet, and itself was only a nine-piece.)


So when radicals like Sun Ra, Matthias Ruegg (leader of the Vienna Art Orchestra), or the eclectic
world/jazz drummer John Hollenbeck come along, rejecting mainstream codification and reimagining
everything, it's time to put out more flags.


Hollenbeck delivered his big band manifesto with last year's A Blessing, and Joys & Desires follows in
much the same direction. At its best it's a visceral, fiercely elemental concoction. Rhythmic
expression is at the core; harmonic invention is relatively unimportant; and the role of the bravura
soloist is much reduced. It's high torque ensemble music, often mesmerising in effect, precisely and
arrestingly detailed, lightly dipped in electronica, and with many novel textures.


“Abstinence” and “Jazz Envy” work particularly well, their extended, trance-like tones (a Hollenbeck
signature motif, often stated in unison by massed horns and at times echoing Tibetan temple chanting)
driven upward by intense, mounting rhythm from below.


In all this bold music, Hollenbeck is true to the spirit of his muse, the visionary late-eighteenth
century poet and painter William Blake. The album title is taken from Blake's poem “The Garden Of
Love,” which itself forms the basis of track six. The best of Joys & Desires gets close to the effect of
seeing Blake's “The Ancient Of Days” or “God Judging Adam” for the first time.


An intoxicating experience which repays your surrender.

JOHN HOLLENBECK & JAZZ BIGBAND GRAZ

Joys & Desires

Intuition

*****

"Drummer, composer and orchestrator Hollenbeck continues his creative subversion of the norms of big band jazz with this

remarkable and superbly performed album. Joys & Desires has perhaps an even greater sense of unity than last year's A

Blessing, even though the band is about the same size and even shares one piece (Abstinence). Since Hollenbeck draws his

inspiration for these seven pieces (including the three-part title suite) from poetry, painting, and experiences both personal and

musical, it's remarkable that this unity is not so much strictly musical as emotional. His voicings are unique, often on the

slenderest of harmonic bases, and while each performance seems to spring, full-blown, from the moment, repeated listening

reveals rigorous control. Remarkable and utterly unlike anyone else's music."

Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times, 3 February 2006

JAZZ TIMES March 2006:
JOHN HOLLENBECK & JAZZ BIGBAND GRAZ
Joys & Desires (Intuition)


First things first: Graz does not rhyme with jazz; it's the Austrian city that helps to subsidize the Bigband. Coleaders Horst-Michael Schaffer and Heinrich von Kalnein as well as trombonist Ed Neumeister are music-faculty colleagues at Graz University, and they've worked frequently with American drummer John Hollenbeck, whose brilliant but elusive mind concocted this brilliant but elusive project.

The ever-inquisitive art of Hollenbeck, who wrote all the charts, makes incredible demands on the Bigband, and there are surprisingly few solo statements. The accent is on free expression, frequent tempo changes, minimalism that's reminiscent of John Adams, fascinating contrapuntal lines and, above all, unison phrases. So much of the latter, the sections can brag about their intonation; the brass in particular are right on target. All of those elements come together in the longest track, "Abstinence." It requires patient listening, but it's worth it. Forget about Theo Bleckmann's vocals or recitations. They just can't compete with massed sonorities.

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