Andreas Willers Tin Drum Stories - BTL10179 - Jazz - par Between The Lines

Flight into art seems to be one of the ways of escaping the complexities of reality. Even if Andreas Willers took his inspiration for his 4-part Tin Drum Stories from the quaint twists in the plot of Günter Grass’ novel The Tin Drum, his compositions and the way he transposed his model are fascinating in their own right. The explorations of this exceptional guitarist, who has made recordings with most of the important European musicians, including Enrico Rava and Louis Sclavis, as well as with Americans such as Paul Bley and David Murray, are convincing simply because he has long since found a way for himself which is agreeably different from the music of multitudes of imitators of Bill Frisell and John Scofield. In his Tin Drum Stories, melodies are often merely hinted at and move in space like mobiles. Some motifs arrange themselves into melodic patterns which emerge as surpris- ingly as the colourful, flowing patterns produced in the glass segments when one shakes a kaleido- scope. Horst Nonnenmacher’s bass runs provide structure without imposing restrictions. They are dependable centres of calm in an eldorado of sounds which oscillate between minimal music, jazz avant-garde and rock. Michael Griener’s unobtrusive percussion adds another dimension to the scenario. Without losing itself in the entangled undergrowth of free association, this excellent rhythm team has gonefar beyond any conventional interpretation of accompaniment. The continuously changing interaction of the melodic elements, which each musican in the trio develops leads to a balanced group dynamism. Except for The Bastard Period which is a joint composition, all the pieces are by Andreas Willers. The music on this CD ranges from the mysterious Piratenlied to Leinen Los which is played on a banjo and sounds like a twentieth-century work song with its muted rhythm, to the contemplative reprise of Shelter.