zeitkratzer vs. Terje Rypdal & Palle Mikkelborg: ‘Beyond’ at SWR NEWJazz Meeting, Baden-Baden 2010

Reinhold Friedl musical director, piano
Burkhard Schlothauer violin
Anton Lukoszevieze cello
Uli Phillipp bass
Maurice de Martin percussion
Marc Weiser electronics
Frank Gratkowski clarinet, saxophone
Hild Sofie Tafjord French horn
Hilary Jeffery trombone
Terje Rypdal guitar
Palle Mikkelborg leader, trumpet

recorded live at  SWR NEWJazz Meeting, Baden-Baden, November 4, 2010

This group’s name says it all. Berlin-based zeitkratzer (“time-scraper”) ensemble, grouped around composer, pianist and musical director Reinhold Friedl chips away at the norms of time. The ensemble’s top-class line-up interprets the notion of “contemporary music” in its very own way, it “shakes off the chains of notation” by first and foremost emphasising the aspect of “contemporariness”.
In joint projects with Lou Reed, Jim O’Rourke or Merzbow, the group’s underlying concept of a European soloists’ ensemble displayed surprising intersections of different contemporary conceptions of organising sound. Their ensemble thereby benefits from the diverse experiences its members have with improvisation, electronics, Minimalist music, Rock, Pop, Noise and folklore, the voyage always heading further into the past as well as into the future.
With Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal and Danish trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg zeitkratzer has invited two heavyweights of Nordic jazz who in their intensive application of different timbres on their part for five decades have been blurring the outlines of musical categories.
zeitkratzer´s latest CD is called "zeitkratzer WHITEHOUSE"