Concert
“What Eludes Us”
De Beren Gieren © Francis Vanhee
Belgian piano trio De Beren Gieren deploy the elasticity of jazz in service of deep head-nodding grooves. They apply improvisational foundations to the very construction of its multi-partite music, where space is carved out for disparate influences, whether the lyric minimalism of Erik Satie or the fractal throb of club music.
(BE)
German premiere
Since first emerging 15 years ago, the Belgian trio De Beren Gieren has steadily drifted away from jazz orthodoxy in search of fresh areas of exploration. On paper they may seem like an old school piano trio, but only if The Bad Plus was a starting point. Over time the agile rhythm section of double bassist Lieven Van Pée and drummer Simon Segers has pushed well past swing into elaborate grooves more indebted to electronic music and post-rock. While keeping an acoustic piano at the core of his soundworld, keyboardist Fulco Ottervanger has gamely and inventively made electronics a crucial part of the trio’s attack.
The trio recorded its seventh and most recent album “What Eludes Us” (Sdban) in Bergen, Norway with producer Jørgen Træen, who helped De Beren Gieren deftly straddle electronic music tropes with flashes of Baroque melody, fourth world expansiveness and jazz improvisation, delivering party-grade kicks with unfussy intellectual rigour. Simply put, De Beren Gieren have located the sweet spot between body and head, fusing indelible melodies with elaborate rhythmic constructions where spontaneity is reflected through splintered and reconstituted grooves rather than strings of predictable solos.
Simon Segers – drums, electronics
Fulco Ottervanger – piano, synthesizers, electronics
Lieven Van Pée – double bass, electric bass
22:00
(DE)
An event by A-Trane, further information and tickets exclusively at www.a-trane.de