Ab Baars Trio
Ab Baars Quartet
Duo Baars Henneman
Ab Baars Solo
De Volkskrant (North Sea Jazz Festival)
Het Ab Baars Trio zette met de vervaarlijk 'growlende' trombonist Joost Buis een elegant Duke Ellington-programma neer.
--Jacob Haagsma (10/7/04)
Neue Musik Zeitung
Das Berliner Jazzfest 2002 trug Merkmale transatlantischer Korrespondenzen
(...) Das Ab Baars Trio aus den Niederlanden leitete Experimente mit Klängen und Strukturen des amerikanischen Jazzkomponisten und Klarinettisten John Carter in neue Arrangements. Verschiedene Stilmuster aus instabilen Motiven Neuer Musik, swingendem Modaljazz und freien Klängen balancierten Ab Baars (ts, cl), Wilbert de Joode (b) und Martin van Duynhoven (dr) zu kontrapunktischen Gebilden. Präzises Zusammenspiel zeichnete das hohe Niveau des Trios aus.
--Hans-Dieter Grünefeld (2002/12 | Seite 39)
Trouw
[...] The Ab Baars Trio has always excelled in subtle improvisation, but so ingenious and sensitive as in this concert programme I have not heard them before. [...] In this programme Baars again showed his mastery in making essentially little accessible music accessible.
--Kees Polling (16-2-1999)
Cadence
[...] The trio interplay is careful, consistent and resourceful.
--Robert Spencer (November 1999)
Het Ab Baars Trio zette met de vervaarlijk 'growlende' trombonist Joost Buis een elegant Duke Ellington-programma neer.
--Jacob Haagsma (10/7/04)
Neue Musik Zeitung
Das Berliner Jazzfest 2002 trug Merkmale transatlantischer Korrespondenzen
(...) Das Ab Baars Trio aus den Niederlanden leitete Experimente mit Klängen und Strukturen des amerikanischen Jazzkomponisten und Klarinettisten John Carter in neue Arrangements. Verschiedene Stilmuster aus instabilen Motiven Neuer Musik, swingendem Modaljazz und freien Klängen balancierten Ab Baars (ts, cl), Wilbert de Joode (b) und Martin van Duynhoven (dr) zu kontrapunktischen Gebilden. Präzises Zusammenspiel zeichnete das hohe Niveau des Trios aus.
--Hans-Dieter Grünefeld (2002/12 | Seite 39)
Trouw
[...] The Ab Baars Trio has always excelled in subtle improvisation, but so ingenious and sensitive as in this concert programme I have not heard them before. [...] In this programme Baars again showed his mastery in making essentially little accessible music accessible.
--Kees Polling (16-2-1999)
Cadence
[...] The trio interplay is careful, consistent and resourceful.
--Robert Spencer (November 1999)
The Chicago Tribune
Dutch ensemble treats Duke well
Baars and friends take Ellington for a revelatory spin
Uncounted bands have played evening-length concerts of Duke Ellington's music, but few have addressed his work as daringly as the Dutch reedist Ab Baars. Leading his exceptional quartet Monday night in the Chicago Cultural Center, Baars didn't merely revisit classic and obscure scores by Ellington‹he reconceived, rewrote and re-imagined them. For Ellington purists, the evening might have seemed a sacrilege. For listeners with open ears and minds, it was a revelation.
Baars argued throughout this program, and on his recent CD "Kinda Dukish," that Ellington's themes, chord progressions and even instrumental colors can generate virtually new compositions. To prove the point, the quartet offered listeners a shard of an original Ellington melody here, an evocation of a famous chord change there, a metamorphosis of a signature riff somewhere else.
Using these snippets as a starting point, Baars and his colleagues developed intricate improvisations in which each player contributed equally 'and poetically' to the whole.
Consider the quartet's hauntingly austere version of "Prelude to a Kiss," which rarely has sounded more nocturnal or tender. The misty, slightly dissonant effects with which the band opened the tune soon gave way to a serenely lyrical solo by trombonist Joost Buis. His gently dipping, swooping phrases sang out against bassist Wilbert de Joode's murmurs on the top register of his instrument, drummer Martin van Duynhoven's gentle attacks with mallets and Baars' delicately stated arpeggios on winds.
The chords may have been astringent, the phrases fractured, the famous theme often obscured, yet the hushed spirit of the original was unmistakable.
Here was Ellington's music reconstructed for a new century, yet somehow distilled to its essence. Many of the Ellington compositions on this program similarly re-emerged in a muted, quietly shimmering form that defied conventional wisdom on the nature of the jazz avant-garde. Baars and his quartet, in other words, reminded listeners that new music doesn't always reach for extremes of volume and tempo, sometimes expressing itself with genuine introspection.
Thus "Half the Fun" (from Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's "Shakespearean Suite"), whispered sinuous lines over a soft but relentless drum vamp; Strayhorn's "Caravan" opened as a jazz chorale before riding a ferociously syncopated rhythm; and "Jack the Bear" subverted traditional swing rhythm with some of the most nimble contrapuntal improvisations one might hope to hear.
--Howard Reich (april 18 2006) hreich@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, The Chicago Tribune
Dutch ensemble treats Duke well
Baars and friends take Ellington for a revelatory spin
Uncounted bands have played evening-length concerts of Duke Ellington's music, but few have addressed his work as daringly as the Dutch reedist Ab Baars. Leading his exceptional quartet Monday night in the Chicago Cultural Center, Baars didn't merely revisit classic and obscure scores by Ellington‹he reconceived, rewrote and re-imagined them. For Ellington purists, the evening might have seemed a sacrilege. For listeners with open ears and minds, it was a revelation.
Baars argued throughout this program, and on his recent CD "Kinda Dukish," that Ellington's themes, chord progressions and even instrumental colors can generate virtually new compositions. To prove the point, the quartet offered listeners a shard of an original Ellington melody here, an evocation of a famous chord change there, a metamorphosis of a signature riff somewhere else.
Using these snippets as a starting point, Baars and his colleagues developed intricate improvisations in which each player contributed equally 'and poetically' to the whole.
Consider the quartet's hauntingly austere version of "Prelude to a Kiss," which rarely has sounded more nocturnal or tender. The misty, slightly dissonant effects with which the band opened the tune soon gave way to a serenely lyrical solo by trombonist Joost Buis. His gently dipping, swooping phrases sang out against bassist Wilbert de Joode's murmurs on the top register of his instrument, drummer Martin van Duynhoven's gentle attacks with mallets and Baars' delicately stated arpeggios on winds.
The chords may have been astringent, the phrases fractured, the famous theme often obscured, yet the hushed spirit of the original was unmistakable.
Here was Ellington's music reconstructed for a new century, yet somehow distilled to its essence. Many of the Ellington compositions on this program similarly re-emerged in a muted, quietly shimmering form that defied conventional wisdom on the nature of the jazz avant-garde. Baars and his quartet, in other words, reminded listeners that new music doesn't always reach for extremes of volume and tempo, sometimes expressing itself with genuine introspection.
Thus "Half the Fun" (from Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's "Shakespearean Suite"), whispered sinuous lines over a soft but relentless drum vamp; Strayhorn's "Caravan" opened as a jazz chorale before riding a ferociously syncopated rhythm; and "Jack the Bear" subverted traditional swing rhythm with some of the most nimble contrapuntal improvisations one might hope to hear.
--Howard Reich (april 18 2006) hreich@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, The Chicago Tribune
(…) On the longest piece “Stof-to Eiske”, the duo move from slightly frenetic to embracing empty space. Their patience with sounds expresses a sense that pay no heed to any audience, as if they have nothing to prove. Depth is almost effortlessly- which is quite impressive.
--Bruce Carnavale Coda 33 May/June 2007
A poetic soundscape, a musical fairy tale, a walk without a key map; this CD is as intangible and ambiguous as the little word "stof".
--Frans van Leeuwen NRC Handelsblad11 April 2007
Well, here's proof that Wittgenstein was wrong: yes, there is such a thing as a private language – or at least one that's a very well-kept secret between two people. The first names of husband and wife team of Ab Baars (tenor sax, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan) and Ig Henneman (viola) suggest characters out of Endgame, and indeed Beckett might have appreciated this duo, both for the aphasic, waterdrops-wearing-down-a-stone obsessiveness with which they pick at a note, and for the bleak, directionless playfulness which takes the place of an actual sense of humour.
--DWParis Trans Atlantic February 2007
(…) Check the almost rural melody painted by the noh-kan, with a raw-sounding viola opposing it, in Tackety Dancing Shoes. Or the many registers of the tenor, and the viola forming mournful airs, in Violetto Rossastro. The hushed tones of the shakuachi in Giallo di Napoli. The track for viola solo, Whirligig, where some thematic variations are quite easy to perceive, and where there is a beautiful musical episode with long, held notes with vibrato before the theme at the end. Or Ruby Slippers, chamber-like with clarinet, one of the pieces I liked the best on the CD. The strong, repeated, rhythmic figures by the viola, played pizzicato, and the "cool" tenor sax, blown, in Castle Walk In Herringbone Suit. The homage to Stravinsky in Igor's Bransle. The meditative and microtonal Grigio Perla Per Noguchi. Or the ever-changing long track, Stof - To Eiske, which has its start in the body of the viola being hit and arrives at a point where the viola gives pedal points to a "cool" clarinet sounding quite Ellington-like.
--Beppe Colli CloudsandClocks.net | Catania (I) Jan. 7, 2007
(…) Si tratta di un percorso fatto di gesti sonori minimali, isolati, in diversi rapporti di dipendenza fra di loro; un percorso alla ricerca di una dimensione introversa, di un dialogo intimo, a tratti più pensato che parlato. Prevalgono quindi le ricercatezze timbriche: squittii, sospiri, soffi, strozzature, flebili frasi melodiche, rimasticazioni, insistenze, sospensioni, reticenze... (…)
--Libero Farnè Allaboutjazzitaly 29-12-2006
(…) You asked if I “liked” the music, separate from what I wrote. Very much.
For one thing, I like the reduced instrumentation, two “single line” instruments. I like counterpoint, and the ways you create a dramatic setting without the usual chordal accompaniment. Several of the solutions you used, usually involving a thinning and thickening of lines, I often relate to in visual ways. A duo like this of course fits into the undefined area between classical and jazz, which I’m also interested in. Also, I liked the open improvisational process, melodic but with surprising curves and textures that define the drama. And I appreciate brevity.
--Art Lange, Chicago september 27 2006
--Bruce Carnavale Coda 33 May/June 2007
A poetic soundscape, a musical fairy tale, a walk without a key map; this CD is as intangible and ambiguous as the little word "stof".
--Frans van Leeuwen NRC Handelsblad11 April 2007
Well, here's proof that Wittgenstein was wrong: yes, there is such a thing as a private language – or at least one that's a very well-kept secret between two people. The first names of husband and wife team of Ab Baars (tenor sax, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan) and Ig Henneman (viola) suggest characters out of Endgame, and indeed Beckett might have appreciated this duo, both for the aphasic, waterdrops-wearing-down-a-stone obsessiveness with which they pick at a note, and for the bleak, directionless playfulness which takes the place of an actual sense of humour.
--DWParis Trans Atlantic February 2007
(…) Check the almost rural melody painted by the noh-kan, with a raw-sounding viola opposing it, in Tackety Dancing Shoes. Or the many registers of the tenor, and the viola forming mournful airs, in Violetto Rossastro. The hushed tones of the shakuachi in Giallo di Napoli. The track for viola solo, Whirligig, where some thematic variations are quite easy to perceive, and where there is a beautiful musical episode with long, held notes with vibrato before the theme at the end. Or Ruby Slippers, chamber-like with clarinet, one of the pieces I liked the best on the CD. The strong, repeated, rhythmic figures by the viola, played pizzicato, and the "cool" tenor sax, blown, in Castle Walk In Herringbone Suit. The homage to Stravinsky in Igor's Bransle. The meditative and microtonal Grigio Perla Per Noguchi. Or the ever-changing long track, Stof - To Eiske, which has its start in the body of the viola being hit and arrives at a point where the viola gives pedal points to a "cool" clarinet sounding quite Ellington-like.
--Beppe Colli CloudsandClocks.net | Catania (I) Jan. 7, 2007
(…) Si tratta di un percorso fatto di gesti sonori minimali, isolati, in diversi rapporti di dipendenza fra di loro; un percorso alla ricerca di una dimensione introversa, di un dialogo intimo, a tratti più pensato che parlato. Prevalgono quindi le ricercatezze timbriche: squittii, sospiri, soffi, strozzature, flebili frasi melodiche, rimasticazioni, insistenze, sospensioni, reticenze... (…)
--Libero Farnè Allaboutjazzitaly 29-12-2006
(…) You asked if I “liked” the music, separate from what I wrote. Very much.
For one thing, I like the reduced instrumentation, two “single line” instruments. I like counterpoint, and the ways you create a dramatic setting without the usual chordal accompaniment. Several of the solutions you used, usually involving a thinning and thickening of lines, I often relate to in visual ways. A duo like this of course fits into the undefined area between classical and jazz, which I’m also interested in. Also, I liked the open improvisational process, melodic but with surprising curves and textures that define the drama. And I appreciate brevity.
--Art Lange, Chicago september 27 2006
(…) Noted for his abstract, sometimes pointillistic approach that pushes the outer limits of intonation, Baars has a style that encompasses the propulsive explorations of Albert Ayler and Eric Dolphy, the husky tonalities of Von Freeman and the AACM’s Roscoe Mitchell, and the screaming-yet-meticulous melodies of John Carter.
--Jeff Economy Music Notes theTribune
--Jeff Economy Music Notes theTribune