2011: Grosse Abfahrt

Tom Djll: trumpets, preparations
matt ingalls: clarinet & bass clarinet, violin
Tim Perkis: electronics
Gino Robair: energized surfaces & voltage made audible
John Shiurba: electric guitar
with guest Kyle Bruckmann: oboe, English Horn

Grosse Abfahrt (“great departure”) is a project by founder Tom Djll to explore a number of problems in freely improvised music. The first and most obvious of these is the problem of ensemble size, which he wanted to tackle head-on: GA ensembles are always of seven to ten players. This range seems to settle in a locale where there is a strong opportunity for individual sound-agents to emerge and make a statement against the ensemble backdrop, and also for the entire ensemble to cohere into long-form structures that transcend the productions of conventional improvised-music sociality (another problem we tackle regularly). How these ensembles are collected takes up another problem: that of the conflict between fluency and comfort among improvising compadres. Fluency between players’ languages and approaches is desirable, of course; however, it can lead to complacency. Another goal of Grosse Abfahrt is to explode this complacency onstage. Grosse Abfahrt is made up of a core group of five players which does not vary. These people are all very familiar with each other’s strengths, preferences, and foibles, yet they do not play as a quintet (well, on one occasion they did). To this core Tom adds musicians who have not played with any of the core members. Often, these outsiders come from far away, and are playing as duos or trios already, so they arrive with some comfort and fluency in their own musical relationship. How these two dynamics come together to create music, with practically no introduction (much less, rehearsal), is their practice.

Artist (photo by Photographer)