top
Petite Fleur

Petite Fleur

Christof Lauer

Label: ACT music
Format: CD
Barcode: 0614427956729
barcode
Catalog number: ACT 9567
Releasedate: 30-05-14
„It is the authenticity, music constantly on the move, full of energy, lightness, and melancholia, that I find so fascinating about Sidney Bechet. His spirit, which transforms music into wonderful images, seduced me to delve into his cosmos. Given a contemporary arrangement by Rainer Tempel and played by a large band, a unique dynamic emerged that makes Bechet's music seem timeless.“ (Christof Lauer)
Only very few of today's jazz musicians and fans still know  Only very few of today's jazz musicians and fans still know  Only very few of today's jazz musicians and fans still know  Only very few of today's jazz musicians and fans still know who Sidney Bechet is who Sidney Bechet is who Sidney Bechet is who Sidney Bechet is: one of the founding fathers of jazz. He  played  the  soprano  saxophone  like  no  other,  and  with his  French-Creole-inspired  compositions,  he  was  a forerunner of jazz's openness to all musical styles.   
   
More  than  ten  years  ago,  ACT  owner  Siggi  Loch More  than  ten  years  ago,  ACT  owner  Siggi  Loch More  than  ten  years  ago,  ACT  owner  Siggi  Loch More  than  ten  years  ago,  ACT  owner  Siggi  Loch,  whose passion for jazz was aroused by a Bechet concert that he attended at the age of 15, asked Christof Lauer whether he could  imagine  doing  a  project  that  focused  on  this  jazz pioneer.  What  Loch  was  hoping  for  was  an  entirely  new way  of  looking  at  the  genius  of  this  New  Orleans  native, born  in  1897,  interpreted  by  someone  from  a  free-jazz background  who  had  developed  his  unmistakable  sound
playing with Albert Ayler and Stan Getz, collaborating with the  Frankfurt  School  of  Albert  Mangelsdorff  and  Heinz Sauer,  and  working  with  American  jazz  musicians  and  the French  avant-garde  around  Michel  Godard  and  Marc
Ducret.  
 
But as Lauer recalls, he  But as Lauer recalls, he  But as Lauer recalls, he  But as Lauer recalls, he ––––    the "best saxophonist we have in  the "best saxophonist we have in  the "best saxophonist we have in  the "best saxophonist we have in EuEuEuEurope"  rope"  rope"  rope"  according  to  Volker  Kriegel  –  was  "in  a  totally different place at the time". But the seed was sown, and it
germinated slowly but surely, as is not entirely  atypical for Lauer:  For  example,  he  didn't  bring  out  his  debut  album,
chastely bearing only his name as a title, until 1990, at the tender age of 37, which, however, promptly won the annual
German Record Critics' Award, a feat that he repeated nine years  later  with  his  ACT  debut  "Fragile  Network".  Lauer also  says  that  he  didn't  have  much  to  do  with  Bigband music  either,  until  1993,  when  he  finally  succumbed,  after
several requests, and joined the NDR Bigband, which he is still a member of to this day. The band director at the time, Dieter Glawischnig, who had been Lauer's teacher in Graz in the 70s, convinced him with arguments such as that the orchestra was transforming into a soloist band.        
    
In  a  similar  way,  the  collaboration  had  also  become  more  intense  with  Rainer  Tempel  in  recent  times intense  with  Rainer  Tempel  in  recent  times intense  with  Rainer  Tempel  in  recent  times intense  with  Rainer  Tempel  in  recent  times,  one  of Germany's leading bigband arrangers and composers, who also works for the NDR Bigband. It was with him that Lauer
revisited the subject of Sidney Bechet, "and I found myself relating  to  Siggi  Loch's  idea  as  a  bigband  thing,  because
Rainer knows how I play and how you can realize a project like that. And because he always totally engrosses himself in every venture he commits to."

And  that  is  something  that  cannot  be  overh And  that  is  something  that  cannot  be  overh And  that  is  something  that  cannot  be  overh And  that  is  something  that  cannot  be  overheard  on  the  eard  on  the  eard  on  the  eard  on  the
album  "Petite  Fleur",  album  "Petite  Fleur",  album  "Petite  Fleur",  album  "Petite  Fleur",  which  they  recorded  in  four  days  in the  studio.  Unmistakable  Bechet  classics  appear  in  an entirely new light thanks to Lauer's distinctive tone and the
multilayered  arrangements.  It  all  begins  with  the  soprano saxophone,  because  even  though  most  know  Lauer  as  a tenor  saxophonist:  "I  played  an  incredible  amount  of soprano  in  the  HR  Jazz  Ensemble,  and  occupied  myself with it intensively," he says. Sidney Bechet's typical vibrato is replaced by Lauer's intense and expressive sound, which can draw long lines just as readily as swirling garlands. "It wouldn't make any sense to copy Bechet," Lauer explains. "It's about finding out how it interacts with your own world, and what energy is borne of that."   
 
And so Bechet's sound cosm And so Bechet's sound cosm And so Bechet's sound cosm And so Bechet's sound cosmos is given new clothes,  os is given new clothes,  os is given new clothes,  os is given new clothes, with Lauer,  Tempel  and  the  NDR  Bigband  intelligently  and profoundly  interpreting  the  contrasts  that  lie  between  the lines in these catchy and emotional tunes: on standards that Bechet lent his inimitable signature to, such as Harry Barris' "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" and "On The Sunny Side Of The Street"; but even more so on his own famous songs from  his  Paris  period,  from  the  title  track  "Petite  Fleur"  to
"Les  Oignons"  through  to  the  Magrebinian-influenced "Casbah  -  Song  of  the  Medina".  Right  from  the  intro,
Tempel's  mastery  can  be  heard,  letting  the  NDR  Bigband take paths that branch off the streets of Antibes - "Dans Les
Rues  D'Antibes"  -,  only  to  have  Lauer's  saxophone artistically  entice  them  back  onto  main  street  again.  And
even for Lauer, "Si Tu Vois Ma Mere" is the best proof "of the incredible power of these almost forgotten works. They
are really catchy, and yet at the same time artistic."  
 
"We tried out a lot more songs than could go onto the CD,"  "We tried out a lot more songs than could go onto the CD,"  "We tried out a lot more songs than could go onto the CD,"  "We tried out a lot more songs than could go onto the CD," Lauer recalls, but one surprise, Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose", is on the album, and it has its own special relevance: "Early  on  in  my  career,  I  was  supposed  to  play  that  in  an old-time ensemble. I turned up at the rehearsal, played it the way I'd learned it, garnered disapproving frowns and never went there again. It didn't work at all, and now I wanted to make  up  for  that  –  doing  it  my  way."  "Petite  Fleur"  is  the best  proof  of  how  worthwhile  it  is  to  rediscover  tradition from  time  to  time,  just  as  one  recaptures  one's  own biography.