Dieter Ilg
Parsifal
ACT ***
Eric Schaefer
Who Is Afraid of Richard W.?
ACT ***
With a Wagner connection, both albums, despite one playfully equipped with a question mark, find solutions to a problem that doesn’t really exist. If anyone wants to cover classical material even by a hideously divisive figure such as Wagner, then there really isn’t anything new or necessarily interesting in this. After all since Jacques Loussier’s interpreting of Bach, or classical composers from Milhaud on incorporating jazz into their compositional approach, it’s not a live issue. Bassist Ilg, who knows his Verdi as well as his Wagner, performs his Parsifal with the trio of pianist Rainer Böhm and drummer Patrice Héral with respect and gentleness, and it corresponds to the orthodox modern jazz piano style that’s not dissimilar to the tasteful approach of the Benedikt Jahnel Trio indicated on Equilibrium, although there is some fulfilling Ilg Trio improvising on tracks such as ‘Ich bin ein reiner Tor’, as any “fool” might discover. There’s some familiar Beethoven tucked in as well at the end.
Ilg offers variations on Wagner in essence but [em] drummer Schaefer’s album is “revisiting”, and despite the loaded terminology has more impact, flavoured by the superb pristine trumpet and flugel tone and interpretative subtlety of Tom Arthurs who you’ll also hear on the upcoming Julia Hülsmann quartet album. It’s not as conventional as Ilg’s, with bits of reggae on his own tune ‘Nietzsche in Disguise’ for instance, and Volker Meitz’s steamy organ intro to ‘Lohengrin’ is an inventive touch that does work especially when Arthurs builds a solo from its marshy base. Bassist John Eckhardt is also clearly a name to watch. If you liked Schaefer’s groove on ‘Das Modell’ on Wasted and Wanted you’ll want to hear what he does on this album from a drumming point of view, but the overall concept of both albums is more of a burden than a plus.
Stephen Graham
Both albums are released on 11 February. Dieter Ilg, top, and the cover of Who Is Afraid of Richard W.?