...John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble

The "John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble"

After I returned from the concert of the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble in the Wiener Konzerthaus I listened to a couple of songs with his Claudia Quintet. I was instantly struck by the huge difference of this music compared to that I had just listened to at the Konzerthaus. Apparently, John Hollenbeck, drummer of his band, has a variety of styles at his disposal.

At their Konzerthaus performance the band played six pieces, which were similar to the title song of their album "Eternal Interlude" quite long. The most prominent trait of the music presented that evening was its continuous smoothness: this music had almost no rough edges. After listening to his other compositions on CD this characteristic became even more prominent.

Neither Fish nor Fowl

The music of the Konzerthaus performance lacked spontaneity to be jazz, lacked ambition to be classical avantgarde music, and was way too long to be recognized as pop music. Nevertheless, it kept my attention for the whole concert, and I wondered why. It is certainly Hollenbeck's strength to maintain a certain atmosphere over a long period of time, which is a task not easily accomplished by any composer. The music, especially the aforementioned "Eternal Interlude", is in itself not particularly interesting but can serve as an outstanding model for a medium scale composition. It does not break apart into fragments, it rather maintains tension over the whole distance, though on a low level. 

Jazz-aficionados and Hollenbeck disciples might be disappointed by my conclusion as well as by the evening itself. More than a few cleared the hall (which was not sold out) between the last piece and the encore. The mere working off of compositional paradigms apparently was not enough for them.

No need for disappointment

"Der Standard", one of Austria's most important newspapers, cited Hollenbeck with the words, that "jazz only is a part of a whole." That is certainly true and a valid starting point for compositional ambitions. But Hollenbeck still owes me a musical explanation what he considers to be "whole".


In an article on WQXR's website Hollenbeck presents his mixtapes, containing music by the finest composers of the 20th century, ranging from Georg Friedrich Haas, György Ligeti, Steve Reich to Meredith Monk and others. Strange enough, almost nothing of this influences were perceptible in the Konzerthaus concert.


I am really looking forward to listen to Hollenbeck's other recordings with his "Claudia Quartet." The few pieces I've already heard are completely different to yesterday's concert. I guess these are the ones where he carries through everything he is famous for.