jazzkeller 69 e.V. Archiv


05.12.2003 - Einlass: 21:00:00 Beginn: 21:30:00
Waati - Reinhardtstr. 30, 10117

The Degenerate Art Ensemble (USA)

The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Joshua Kohl - Conductor, Composition
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Jherek Bischoff - Bass
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Bryan Cook - Schlagzeug
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Sprout Guy - Vocal
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Ian-Lee Lucero - documentary filmmaker
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Sam Mickens - Gitarre, Vocal
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Haruko Nishimura - Vocal
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Josh Stewart - Trompete
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Robert Dale Walker - Perkussion
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Sam Wambach - Tenorsaxophon
The Degenerate Art Ensemble - Nik Weisend - Designer

The Degenerate Art Ensemble (formerly Young Composers Collective), led by composer Joshua Kohl, is a Seattle-based ensemble, formed in 1993, that straddles the line between jazz, classical and rock. Their instrumentation includes electronics, violin, sax, clarinet, trumpet, guitar, percussion, bass. It is also a theatre, dance and performance-art group, conceiving and performing multi-media operas. ~ History of Rock Music, June 1999

Dig straight into the mother lode of melodic instrumental weirdness and embrace conductor/composer Joshua Kohl's explorations with The Degenerate Art Ensemble. They and vocalist Haruko Nishimura knocked my socks into next week when they played Portland's Medicine Hat, a show trembling with horns, guitars, and drums, building sensationally from easily-comprehended grooves to wild rhythms and feverish wails. I am pleased to report that their Unit Circle Rekkids release Rinko lives up to that live promise. A soundtrack to the performance piece of the same name (involving Butoh, I'd guess from the liner art), Rinko is not for the faint of heart. It's better suited to the open mind and the active ear. Signum No. 6, 2001. A nonet with a name like the Degenerate Art Ensemble promises Brecht-Weill-style cabaret, but the music steers clear of Weimar cliché. Composer Joshua Kohl doesn't play an instrument, but conducts, and one suspects that he's also directing the improvisers in real time. The music has some of the quest, melancholy, Mahlerish quality of Butch Morris's Current Trends in American Racism Today. Lowering and nostalgic sequences make use of some highly-individualized violin (Kendal Seager), trumpet (Josh Stewart) and electric guitar (Ben McAllister). The title track was performed with Butoh dancers, and the hilariously abrupt drums and shouts capture the dada impudence of Frank Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh. It's rare to find a sizeable improvising ensemble that can evoke determinate moods without suppressing the personality of the individual players, but DAE manage it. Engravings of bullets, guns and other torn-up Victoriana decorate the sleeve, underlining the macabre vibe: jazz noir, deft and dark. ~ Hi-Fi News, Ben Watson February, 2002