Ulrich Drechsler Cello Quartet live at Jazzfest Berlin 2010

Ulrich Drechsler (bcl)
Rina Kacinari (violc)
Christoph Unterberger (violc)
Jörg Mikula (dr)

recorded live at Georg-Neumann-Saal, Jazz Institute Berlin, November 7, 2010

See with your ears, hear with your eyes (Ulrich Drechsler) 05:26
Our Source (Ulrich Drechsler) 05:28
Eternal (Ulrich Drechsler) 04:52
Life-Long Mystery (Ulrich Drechsler) 06:00
Dance if you like to (Ulrich Drechsler) 04:43
Common Ground (Ulrich Drechsler) 04:32
Angel from the past (Ulrich Drechsler) 03:54
Don't try to understand everything (Ulrich Drechsler) 04:10
Gravity (Ulrich Drechsler) 04:02
A love affair (Ulrich Drechsler) 02:06

Ulrich Drechsler loves those low and semi-low sounds. In his new quartet, he surrounds himself with two celli and a drumset, while he himself favours the bass clarinet. His lines’ energetic elegance rests on the intensive study of Thelonious Monk, to whom he dedicated his 2004 album The Monk In All Of Us. The irresistible attraction of Drechsler’s songs not leastly harks back to the fact that as a nine-year-old, he played the clarinet in the marching band of his hometown. The dark, yet never gloomy sound of his Cello Quartet is absolutely unfamiliar in the jazz context. Nordic planes of sound encounter oriental ornaments, Balkan romanticism clashes with the modernism of a Viennese café, Mozart’s playful ease dissolves into Dolphy’s thoughtful complexity. In 2010 the Ulrich Drechsler Cello Quartet released the album "Concinnity".
“Elegant and quiet chamber jazz. Drechsler has switched from saxophone to bass clarinet, and this shapes the soundscape. Drawing beautiful melodic lines with such a rough instrument brings about a contrast resulting in a touching vulnerability. Drechsler has full command of the instrument. He treats tonality and song-like qualities in ways that brings lightness without tipping into soggy easy listening.”