Hannes Enzlberg Songs To Anything That Moves - Btl10192 - Jazz - by Between The Lines

The role of jazz bassists has changed greatly over the years: they no longer have the image of an extra on stage, many musicians have demonstrated their qualities as creative composers and conceptualists. This changing role is also reflected in the young history of “Between the lines”. Peter Herbert and John Lindberg are two innovative bassists featured by the label, and now they are joined by a third: Hannes Enzlberger from Vienna. His btl-debut "Songs to anything that moves" is a very personal exploration of the work of Carla Bley. Years ago, Enzlberger’s interest in jazz led him directly to Bley - or vice versa; hard to say after so much time has passed. It all started with a tape of the "Social Studies" album, which brought Enzlberger into the Bley cosmos track by track. Enzlberger didn’t make it easy on himself: Carla Bley and her music are one, a unity that is rare to find in jazz. The pianist’s compositions pose a challenge that is very different from a standard from the Real Book: they do not obey the rules of "pure" jazz theory, and they derive a lot of their appeal from the special way in which they are performed. Bley's ensembles are always composed of musicians with very divergent styles. This is one of the main reasons why Carla Bley's music is so unconventionally vibrant and fresh. Hannes Enzlberger's "Songs to anything that moves" are the result of a work in progress. This progress was made partly consciously and partly unconsciously. For example, this is what Enzlberger said about how the composition Heiße Nächte came about: "My love of Bley's music started with the 'Social Studies' album, particularly the 'Reactionary Tango' track – only much later did I realise that a tango I had subsequently composed was strongly influenced by that track; I worked and re-worked it over the years and have now arranged it for the current line-up." Everything flows – this might sum up another important basic principle underlying the "Songs to anything that moves". Enzlberger provided his musicians with a pool of pre-structured material for the band to draw from and juggle with. Apart from these elements, though, each musician has a maximum of creative leeway. This is very much in the spirit of Carla Bley: the spirit and the vibrancy of her music are preserved even though Enzlberger's quartet has found its very own, unique sound.