...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.

...the "Dickbauer Collective"

Yesterday I attended the first concert in a series of three of the Session Work Festival at "Porgy & Bess", one of the most distinguished concert venues for jazz music in Vienna.

The first concert comprised three sets, starting with the band Luna*Lab and ending with the presentation of four new works composed by Viola Falb and Phil Yaeger for the "Session Works Composers Orchestra."

However,  I liked the second set, the "Dickbauer Collective", best. The core of this band is formed by Klaus Dickbauer (alto sax and bs clarinet) and his two nephews Stephan (tenor sax/clarinet) and Johannes (violin). This party of three is rounded up with Christian Wendt (bass) and Patrice Heral (drums).

What makes the music of this band outstanding, at least for me, is the constant evasion of listening expectations. That starts already with the instruments they chose, as violin and cello might not be what comes first to mind for jazz music with saxophones. But of course, it's not only the instrumentation that sticks in mind. It fact, it is the personal style of the band that allows a broad width of music that sounds completely different yet coherent with their other pieces.

The "Dickbauer Collective" presented music from their new album "Mosquito Warrior", which was also the last song they played that evening. This song, compared with their songs "Damals mit 4" or "Increments of Cool" are perfect examples for the variety of expressions they are capable of. In addition, the beat-boxing of drummer Patrice Heral added a good portion of humor to their performance.

Of all three bands of this evening, they also had the most congenial stage appearance. Especially the casual and easy-going announcements of Johannes Dickbauer between the songs made the audience enjoy their set probably as much as the band itself.