Ig Henneman
Duo Baars Henneman
Queen Mab Trio
Henneman String Quartet
reviews Ig Henneman period 1986-2009
(…) Henneman skirts the fringes of tempered notes, her time just nicks the edges of meter, so that on “Zee-Engel” everything is just off-center from where it should be. Her sound lets you hear how she makes music, you’re aware of the friction of bow against string, of flesh against string, of the physical impact of a snapped string hitting wood. It’s a very honest sound, beautiful, but not in any conventional sense.
--Ed Hazell Point of Departure August 2009
(…) Altvioliste Ig Henneman is een constante in de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse improvisatiemuziek. Of moet je zeggen eigentijdse muziek? In een wereld die wordt gedomineerd door mannen, gaat de Nederlandse volstrekt haar eigen gang, doet geen enkele concessie, maakt kortom haar eigen muziek.
--Rinus van der Heijden Brabants Dagblad 1 juli 2005
(…) Ce travail représente une réussite d'autant plus exceptionnelle que Henneman parvient à faire entrer les trois autres musiciens dans le processus avec une liberté et un naturel confondants. Cette musique fascine par un mixte indécidable d'ancien et de nouveau. Dans le même mouvement elle rend dissonnant et problèmatique le passé trop univoque construit par l'histoire et les traditions et donne au présent un cohérence plus grande que celle de l'ahurissant vécu instantané. Dans ce temps musical les émotions humaines s'ébattent comme les pensionnaires de la Thélème de Rabelais.
--Noël Tachet Improjazz 2002
(…) dat de 40-jarige Amsterdamse altvioliste Ig Henneman tegen de stroom inzwemt is dus duidelijk. Nadat zij met de popgroep F.C.Gerania vooral compositorisch van zich deed spreken, durft zij met haar jazzkwintet alle aandacht op te eisen voor de melodische mogelijkheden van de altviool. (…) Nog overtuigender kwam zij echter voor de dag in de kleinere bezettingen, waarin zij enig pathos niet schuwde.
--Frans van Leeuwen NRC 22-3-1986
(...) Im Spannungsfeld von Komposition und Improvisation, und von Tradition und Innovation entsteht eine spannende und ungewöhnliche Musik, die in der zeitgenössischen Jazzmusik kaum etwas vergleichbares kennt.
--Emanuel Wenger about Henneman String Quartet, Jazz Live 131/2003
(…) Henneman is fel en scherp, zij zegt niet veel, elke opmerking is niettemin raak geplaatst.
--Mischa Andriessen Jazzenzo 1 Juli 2009
(…) Henneman brings her considerable experience as an improvisor, a noteworthy composer and leader of her own string quartet to this group, and gels extremely well with the established Queen Mab approach.
--Julian Cowley the Wire UK September 2005
(…) In al haar muziek durft Henneman zachte, ingetogen passages af te zetten tegen fel contrasterende, al dan niet collectieve improvisaties. Haar pregnante vakkundig gearrangeerde stukken bieden daartoe alle mogelijkheden.
--Kees Polling Trouw 23-10-1989
(...) As the evening progressed the Dutch Henneman String Quartet winded it’s way surprisingly into very interesting string-music routes like classic, Italian folklore, jazz or improvisation.
--sura, Kitzbüheler Anzeiger 13 Februar 2003-
(…) Vijf opmerkelijke muzikale solsiten vormen een hecht kwintet dat binnen de boeiende kaders van Ig Hennemans compositorische kwaliteiten een pittig pleidooi voert voor hedendaagse improvisatie-muziek.
--De Gelderlander 18-05-1990
(...) The difficult task of integrating composition and improvisation is carried out with aplomb by this group: they actually make it sound easy. (…)The players are comfortable working in a traditional, melodic, and harmonic manner but also can and do go way out. Everything that happens makes logical sense, and this is music that reveals rich layers of detail upon repeated listenings.
--Eugene Chadbourne, about Pes Wig 05, All Music Guide -
(…) Though they are closer in temperament to 20th-century string quartet literature than the jazz tradition, Henneman’s works incorporate improvisation, which yields unexpected pleasures; the notated passages veer and change gears like an improvisation in mid-flight.
--Bill Shoemaker Strings Magazine about Pes Wig 05 May/June 2000
(…) Her compositions inspire performances which are anything but ordinary, the collective improvising often breathtaking. The balance between melody and abstraction, rhythmic drive and ballad tones, keeps it all sounding brilliantly right.
--Doug Lang Coda Magazine juli/augustus 1999
(…) Henneman, ooit lid van popgroep FC Gerania, en via de ensembles van Nedly Elstak en Misha Mengelberg thuis geraakt in de geïmproviseerde muziek, baseert haar composities op het princie van de reductie. Een tot de kern teruggebrachte expressie, die in schaduwen en halftinten een emotioneel effect krijgt. Het is een veeleisend procédé, dat soms tot voorzichting-ingehouden musiceren leidt, maar als het raak is (die vioolsolo Violaceo) een wonderlijke magie oproept.
--Erik van de Berg Volkskrant 05-03-1991
(…) La ricerca musicale di Ig Henneman, compositrice e solista di viola nata ad Haarlem (Olanda) sessant'anni fa, e' quanto mai interessante per i cultori della musica improvvisata e della classica contemporanea. Il suo e' un sorprendente percorso in cui troviamo l'austerita' della ricerca accademica, la ricchezza ritmico-timbrica del jazz storico, la spinta visionaria dell'improvised music olandese, in una trama giocata sul contrasto tra scrittura e oralita': atmosfere cameristiche si legano a momenti d'intensita' lacerante, in cui e' evidente il legame con l'estetica free e le sue diramazioni.
--Angelo Leonardi All about jazz.italy 2005
(…) Leidster Henneman, die zelf nadrukkelijk op de achtergrond acteert, heeft een schrijftrant die meer aansluit bij moderne ‘comprovisatiemuziek’ dan bij de traditie van Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. Toch is ‘bird the word’ in het fascinerende en veelkleurige vogelrijk dat de altvioliste heeft gecreëerd.
--John van Merriënboer De Gelderlander 18-05-1995
(…) Henneman, who has performed at the festival before, substituted New York bassist Mark Helias in this edition of her quartet, which played a suite of rhythmically vigorous, muscular, thematically juicy compositions inspired by Italian music and culture. That rare composer who can explore the conceptual nature of her instrument — the "string-ness," if you will, of the violin family — while also offering witty structures and evocative sonic textures, Henneman offered the most memorable concert in a weekend of strong performances.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times jazz critic July 2004 USA
(…) Henneman schöpft die Möglichkeiten ihres Instruments in extremer Weise aus, während Ab Baars immerhin zwischen den verschiedenen Instrumenten wechseln kann, Tenorsaxophon, Klarinette wie auch asiatischen Flöten, die sich bei diesen Klanggemälden als sehr hilfreich erweisen.
Eine außergewöhnliche Aufnahme, die eigentlich nur beim New Dutch Swing und seinen schier unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten entstehen können.
--Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen Jazz Podium September 2007
(…) Met ‘Dickinson’, Hennemans meest ambitieuze onderneming tot nu toe, laat de Amsterdamse componiste (47) zich kennen als iemand met wie evenzeer rekening gehouden dient te worden als met succesvolle generatiegenoten als Maarten Altena, Guus Janssen en Ab Baars.
--Kees Polling Trouw 04-01-1993
(…) "Vehement" is aptly titled as it is an intense, tight piece with quick, complex lines intersecting each other. Boisterous bass clarinet, spiraling viola and stark, dark piano weave together most impressively. The composing on the piece "Drums and Trumpets" (by Ms. Henneman) is most impressive as it makes Lori almost speak through her bass clarinet, reaching out most expressively. (…) On Ig's "Fluette et Legere", it is Marilyn's grand piano that is the most startling part of the trio. Each piece on this marvelous disc is a thoughtful and provocative work, endlessly fascinating in many ways.
--BLGallanter Downtown Music Galler NY February 17 2007
(…) Het werk van Henneman biedt veel boeiends in dit klankpalet dat hedendaagse componisten kleuren, maar doet niet onvoorwaardelijk afstand van een heldere structuur en herkenbaarheid van stemmingen. Men blijft muzikaal veelzeggend mededeelzaam in een veelal elders zo weinig toegankelijke klankwereld.
--Willem van Koppenhagen Gelderlander 18-05-1990
(…) Henneman skirts the fringes of tempered notes, her time just nicks the edges of meter, so that on “Zee-Engel” everything is just off-center from where it should be. Her sound lets you hear how she makes music, you’re aware of the friction of bow against string, of flesh against string, of the physical impact of a snapped string hitting wood. It’s a very honest sound, beautiful, but not in any conventional sense.
--Ed Hazell Point of Departure August 2009
(…) Altvioliste Ig Henneman is een constante in de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse improvisatiemuziek. Of moet je zeggen eigentijdse muziek? In een wereld die wordt gedomineerd door mannen, gaat de Nederlandse volstrekt haar eigen gang, doet geen enkele concessie, maakt kortom haar eigen muziek.
--Rinus van der Heijden Brabants Dagblad 1 juli 2005
(…) Ce travail représente une réussite d'autant plus exceptionnelle que Henneman parvient à faire entrer les trois autres musiciens dans le processus avec une liberté et un naturel confondants. Cette musique fascine par un mixte indécidable d'ancien et de nouveau. Dans le même mouvement elle rend dissonnant et problèmatique le passé trop univoque construit par l'histoire et les traditions et donne au présent un cohérence plus grande que celle de l'ahurissant vécu instantané. Dans ce temps musical les émotions humaines s'ébattent comme les pensionnaires de la Thélème de Rabelais.
--Noël Tachet Improjazz 2002
(…) dat de 40-jarige Amsterdamse altvioliste Ig Henneman tegen de stroom inzwemt is dus duidelijk. Nadat zij met de popgroep F.C.Gerania vooral compositorisch van zich deed spreken, durft zij met haar jazzkwintet alle aandacht op te eisen voor de melodische mogelijkheden van de altviool. (…) Nog overtuigender kwam zij echter voor de dag in de kleinere bezettingen, waarin zij enig pathos niet schuwde.
--Frans van Leeuwen NRC 22-3-1986
(...) Im Spannungsfeld von Komposition und Improvisation, und von Tradition und Innovation entsteht eine spannende und ungewöhnliche Musik, die in der zeitgenössischen Jazzmusik kaum etwas vergleichbares kennt.
--Emanuel Wenger about Henneman String Quartet, Jazz Live 131/2003
(…) Henneman is fel en scherp, zij zegt niet veel, elke opmerking is niettemin raak geplaatst.
--Mischa Andriessen Jazzenzo 1 Juli 2009
(…) Henneman brings her considerable experience as an improvisor, a noteworthy composer and leader of her own string quartet to this group, and gels extremely well with the established Queen Mab approach.
--Julian Cowley the Wire UK September 2005
(…) In al haar muziek durft Henneman zachte, ingetogen passages af te zetten tegen fel contrasterende, al dan niet collectieve improvisaties. Haar pregnante vakkundig gearrangeerde stukken bieden daartoe alle mogelijkheden.
--Kees Polling Trouw 23-10-1989
(...) As the evening progressed the Dutch Henneman String Quartet winded it’s way surprisingly into very interesting string-music routes like classic, Italian folklore, jazz or improvisation.
--sura, Kitzbüheler Anzeiger 13 Februar 2003-
(…) Vijf opmerkelijke muzikale solsiten vormen een hecht kwintet dat binnen de boeiende kaders van Ig Hennemans compositorische kwaliteiten een pittig pleidooi voert voor hedendaagse improvisatie-muziek.
--De Gelderlander 18-05-1990
(...) The difficult task of integrating composition and improvisation is carried out with aplomb by this group: they actually make it sound easy. (…)The players are comfortable working in a traditional, melodic, and harmonic manner but also can and do go way out. Everything that happens makes logical sense, and this is music that reveals rich layers of detail upon repeated listenings.
--Eugene Chadbourne, about Pes Wig 05, All Music Guide -
(…) Though they are closer in temperament to 20th-century string quartet literature than the jazz tradition, Henneman’s works incorporate improvisation, which yields unexpected pleasures; the notated passages veer and change gears like an improvisation in mid-flight.
--Bill Shoemaker Strings Magazine about Pes Wig 05 May/June 2000
(…) Her compositions inspire performances which are anything but ordinary, the collective improvising often breathtaking. The balance between melody and abstraction, rhythmic drive and ballad tones, keeps it all sounding brilliantly right.
--Doug Lang Coda Magazine juli/augustus 1999
(…) Henneman, ooit lid van popgroep FC Gerania, en via de ensembles van Nedly Elstak en Misha Mengelberg thuis geraakt in de geïmproviseerde muziek, baseert haar composities op het princie van de reductie. Een tot de kern teruggebrachte expressie, die in schaduwen en halftinten een emotioneel effect krijgt. Het is een veeleisend procédé, dat soms tot voorzichting-ingehouden musiceren leidt, maar als het raak is (die vioolsolo Violaceo) een wonderlijke magie oproept.
--Erik van de Berg Volkskrant 05-03-1991
(…) La ricerca musicale di Ig Henneman, compositrice e solista di viola nata ad Haarlem (Olanda) sessant'anni fa, e' quanto mai interessante per i cultori della musica improvvisata e della classica contemporanea. Il suo e' un sorprendente percorso in cui troviamo l'austerita' della ricerca accademica, la ricchezza ritmico-timbrica del jazz storico, la spinta visionaria dell'improvised music olandese, in una trama giocata sul contrasto tra scrittura e oralita': atmosfere cameristiche si legano a momenti d'intensita' lacerante, in cui e' evidente il legame con l'estetica free e le sue diramazioni.
--Angelo Leonardi All about jazz.italy 2005
(…) Leidster Henneman, die zelf nadrukkelijk op de achtergrond acteert, heeft een schrijftrant die meer aansluit bij moderne ‘comprovisatiemuziek’ dan bij de traditie van Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. Toch is ‘bird the word’ in het fascinerende en veelkleurige vogelrijk dat de altvioliste heeft gecreëerd.
--John van Merriënboer De Gelderlander 18-05-1995
(…) Henneman, who has performed at the festival before, substituted New York bassist Mark Helias in this edition of her quartet, which played a suite of rhythmically vigorous, muscular, thematically juicy compositions inspired by Italian music and culture. That rare composer who can explore the conceptual nature of her instrument — the "string-ness," if you will, of the violin family — while also offering witty structures and evocative sonic textures, Henneman offered the most memorable concert in a weekend of strong performances.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times jazz critic July 2004 USA
(…) Henneman schöpft die Möglichkeiten ihres Instruments in extremer Weise aus, während Ab Baars immerhin zwischen den verschiedenen Instrumenten wechseln kann, Tenorsaxophon, Klarinette wie auch asiatischen Flöten, die sich bei diesen Klanggemälden als sehr hilfreich erweisen.
Eine außergewöhnliche Aufnahme, die eigentlich nur beim New Dutch Swing und seinen schier unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten entstehen können.
--Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen Jazz Podium September 2007
(…) Met ‘Dickinson’, Hennemans meest ambitieuze onderneming tot nu toe, laat de Amsterdamse componiste (47) zich kennen als iemand met wie evenzeer rekening gehouden dient te worden als met succesvolle generatiegenoten als Maarten Altena, Guus Janssen en Ab Baars.
--Kees Polling Trouw 04-01-1993
(…) "Vehement" is aptly titled as it is an intense, tight piece with quick, complex lines intersecting each other. Boisterous bass clarinet, spiraling viola and stark, dark piano weave together most impressively. The composing on the piece "Drums and Trumpets" (by Ms. Henneman) is most impressive as it makes Lori almost speak through her bass clarinet, reaching out most expressively. (…) On Ig's "Fluette et Legere", it is Marilyn's grand piano that is the most startling part of the trio. Each piece on this marvelous disc is a thoughtful and provocative work, endlessly fascinating in many ways.
--BLGallanter Downtown Music Galler NY February 17 2007
(…) Het werk van Henneman biedt veel boeiends in dit klankpalet dat hedendaagse componisten kleuren, maar doet niet onvoorwaardelijk afstand van een heldere structuur en herkenbaarheid van stemmingen. Men blijft muzikaal veelzeggend mededeelzaam in een veelal elders zo weinig toegankelijke klankwereld.
--Willem van Koppenhagen Gelderlander 18-05-1990
Festival International de Jazz de Montreal 2008
(...) The show was an intimate look at two distinct, creative voices in the Dutch scene. Sometimes it was frighteningly harsh, as when Baars chose to camp out in the highest register he’s capable of for a couple of minutes. Other times, it was stark and disarmingly beautiful, with a lyrical saxophone exchanging lines with a sensitive viola.
--Adam Kinner The Montreal Gazette June 2008
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2008
(...) Vancouver specializes in avant-garde New Dutch Swing, and two of its most compelling practitioners — reed man Ab Baars and his wife, violist Ig Henneman — performed twice. Saturday, they collaborated in mix-and-match permutations with Norwegians Inbebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) at the Performance Center at the Roundhouse, veering from careful sound explorations to frenetic conversations. Baars and Henneman duetted Sunday at the Western Front, offering a model of intimate, witty "handmade" music, as Baars' flannel, low-register clarinet blended gorgeously with Henneman's viola. Baars also recited haiku and played the shakuhachi, a difficult end-blown Japanese flute. He acknowledged his shakuhachi teacher, Vancouverite Takeo Yamashiro, who was in the audience.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival hits all the right notes
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times June 2008
(…) 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
(...) The show was an intimate look at two distinct, creative voices in the Dutch scene. Sometimes it was frighteningly harsh, as when Baars chose to camp out in the highest register he’s capable of for a couple of minutes. Other times, it was stark and disarmingly beautiful, with a lyrical saxophone exchanging lines with a sensitive viola.
--Adam Kinner The Montreal Gazette June 2008
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2008
(...) Vancouver specializes in avant-garde New Dutch Swing, and two of its most compelling practitioners — reed man Ab Baars and his wife, violist Ig Henneman — performed twice. Saturday, they collaborated in mix-and-match permutations with Norwegians Inbebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) at the Performance Center at the Roundhouse, veering from careful sound explorations to frenetic conversations. Baars and Henneman duetted Sunday at the Western Front, offering a model of intimate, witty "handmade" music, as Baars' flannel, low-register clarinet blended gorgeously with Henneman's viola. Baars also recited haiku and played the shakuhachi, a difficult end-blown Japanese flute. He acknowledged his shakuhachi teacher, Vancouverite Takeo Yamashiro, who was in the audience.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival hits all the right notes
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times June 2008
(…) 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
Thin Air (WIG 14)
From the Reviews:
about CD ‘Thin Air’ (Wig 14) 2006
This international trio’s newest disc is as exciting and diverse as the music on which it is loosely based. (…) Each track mixes conventionalities with the recent codified language of Eurofree improv, and the juxtapositions prove that these three musicians are as comfortable “in the tradition” as with the full range of sonic possibilities their chosen instruments offer. The brevity of the dics is welcome, only as it cuts down on the chances of aimless meandering that can cloud otherwise succesful improvised music. While many have approached the classics in the spirit of decomposition and failed, Thin Air is a sprightly and continuously engaging achievement.
--Marc Medwin Cadence May 2007
(…) As the longstanding duo Queen Mab, bass clarinetist Lori Freedman and pianist Marilyn Lerner have developed an unique rapport that is both rigorous and nurturing. They hold each other’s feet to the fire in their exacting ensembles, but there is also the palpable sense that they have each other’s back when they go out on a limb in an improvisation. It’s a very specific chemistry that Henneman supplements rather than disrupts, even when the two Canadians are at their most explosive, an occasional occurrence over the course of this scintillating album.
--Bill Shoemaker www.pointofdeparture.org Issue 9 - January 2007
(…) Something is up. I listen to the piece a few more times and at every turn I’m surprised at how easily they shift between styles. They’re like a sly fox who’s trying to outrun a wolf. Throughout the record, they take sudden shifts in direction at least half a dozen times. Every time this happens, you’re left with a question mark smack in front of your face. Is theirs an exercise in confusion or are they deliberately playing every imaginable style of sound they can get their hands on? Regardless, interplay with each other is marvellously stated. From the crow-like clarinet guffaws, through to the pointed viola clicks, through to the understated piano caresses, these women are working on a higher plane in terms of communication.
--Tom Sekowski thewholenote.com/discoveries_march 2007
This is a fabulous trio of two Canadians and one Amsterdam native. Made up mostly of carefully composed pieces that shift textures and feature intricate group interplay, “Thin Air” is a great example of how many musical situations are possible with only three creative musicians.
--Picks of the week for January 29, 2007 Chicago Sound Radio WNU
Each piece on this marvelous disc is a thoughtful and provocative work, endlessly fascinating in many ways. -
--Downtown Music Gallery NY February 17 2007 BLGallanter
(…) With several records already in their discography this band's compositional style is strong, as is the communication between the players, making for an excellent and recommended release.
--Unusual & Experimental Music www.squidco.com
See Saw (WIG 11)
From the Reviews:
Portland May 13, 2005
(...) a magnificent improvising chamber trio of the highest order. Utilizing ideas and energies from a wide array of musical disciplines they presented an exciting program which was very original and accomplished.
--Brad Winter Cadence July 2005
Seattle May 14, 2005
(…) One of the beauties of this band is that it combines qualities stereotypically associated with women - cooperation, deference and blending in - with ones assigned to men - aggression, structural rigor and a lack of sentimentality. It's an unbeatable combination.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times May 2005
Ottawa Jazz Festival July 1, 2005
(…) At times intensely cerebral, elsewhere more purely visceral, Queen Mab was an interesting counterpoint to Evan Parker's waves of sound and Roscoe Mitchell's more Afro-centric quintet performance. A fitting conclusion to a short but intriguing series that has hopefully been successful enough to encourage festival organizers to continue bringing this kind of left-of-centre music to the festival in future years.
--John Kelman All About Jazz
Montreal Festival International de Jazz July 4, 2005
(...) Other festival highlights included Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava's radiant Quintet, Zakir Hussain's stunning duets with guitarist John McLaughlin, Randy Weston's trio, and the exquisitely edgy Queen Mab Trio.
--Larry Appelbaum Jazznin Japan
(...) Questions of composition and improvisation aside, what defines See Saw is the level of minute interactions, the devastating passion motivating each note, and the number of ideas per minute, all key traits of Queen Mab's music.
--François Couture All-Music Guide
(…) Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions. There's an indebtedness to free jazz energies and techniques as well as more preconceived jazz structures and conditions of virtuosity.
--Julian Cowley The Wire September 2005
(...) Pour évoquer ce qu'on entend là j'aimerais convoquer Gérard de Nerval dans son poème le plus célébre, parlant des "soupirs de la sainte et les cris de la fée".
--Noël Tachet ImproJazz Mai 2005
(...) Queen Mab is famous for raising eyebrows. In their ten year existence, they have solidified themselves as a driving force in the Canadian avant-garde music scene.
--Sarah Petrescu, the Martlet, November 2002
(...) Henneman fits nicely into this modest, though skillful scheme of things (...) she draws a useful variety of unconventional sounds with the gentle bounce, scrape and stroke of her bow. Some are scrawny, some have a Dietrich-like smokiness. Some sound like a squadron of mosquitos, some create tension with their flirtatious intonation.
--Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail, November 4, 2002
From the Reviews:
about CD ‘Thin Air’ (Wig 14) 2006
This international trio’s newest disc is as exciting and diverse as the music on which it is loosely based. (…) Each track mixes conventionalities with the recent codified language of Eurofree improv, and the juxtapositions prove that these three musicians are as comfortable “in the tradition” as with the full range of sonic possibilities their chosen instruments offer. The brevity of the dics is welcome, only as it cuts down on the chances of aimless meandering that can cloud otherwise succesful improvised music. While many have approached the classics in the spirit of decomposition and failed, Thin Air is a sprightly and continuously engaging achievement.
--Marc Medwin Cadence May 2007
(…) As the longstanding duo Queen Mab, bass clarinetist Lori Freedman and pianist Marilyn Lerner have developed an unique rapport that is both rigorous and nurturing. They hold each other’s feet to the fire in their exacting ensembles, but there is also the palpable sense that they have each other’s back when they go out on a limb in an improvisation. It’s a very specific chemistry that Henneman supplements rather than disrupts, even when the two Canadians are at their most explosive, an occasional occurrence over the course of this scintillating album.
--Bill Shoemaker www.pointofdeparture.org Issue 9 - January 2007
(…) Something is up. I listen to the piece a few more times and at every turn I’m surprised at how easily they shift between styles. They’re like a sly fox who’s trying to outrun a wolf. Throughout the record, they take sudden shifts in direction at least half a dozen times. Every time this happens, you’re left with a question mark smack in front of your face. Is theirs an exercise in confusion or are they deliberately playing every imaginable style of sound they can get their hands on? Regardless, interplay with each other is marvellously stated. From the crow-like clarinet guffaws, through to the pointed viola clicks, through to the understated piano caresses, these women are working on a higher plane in terms of communication.
--Tom Sekowski thewholenote.com/discoveries_march 2007
This is a fabulous trio of two Canadians and one Amsterdam native. Made up mostly of carefully composed pieces that shift textures and feature intricate group interplay, “Thin Air” is a great example of how many musical situations are possible with only three creative musicians.
--Picks of the week for January 29, 2007 Chicago Sound Radio WNU
Each piece on this marvelous disc is a thoughtful and provocative work, endlessly fascinating in many ways. -
--Downtown Music Gallery NY February 17 2007 BLGallanter
(…) With several records already in their discography this band's compositional style is strong, as is the communication between the players, making for an excellent and recommended release.
--Unusual & Experimental Music www.squidco.com
See Saw (WIG 11)
From the Reviews:
Portland May 13, 2005
(...) a magnificent improvising chamber trio of the highest order. Utilizing ideas and energies from a wide array of musical disciplines they presented an exciting program which was very original and accomplished.
--Brad Winter Cadence July 2005
Seattle May 14, 2005
(…) One of the beauties of this band is that it combines qualities stereotypically associated with women - cooperation, deference and blending in - with ones assigned to men - aggression, structural rigor and a lack of sentimentality. It's an unbeatable combination.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times May 2005
Ottawa Jazz Festival July 1, 2005
(…) At times intensely cerebral, elsewhere more purely visceral, Queen Mab was an interesting counterpoint to Evan Parker's waves of sound and Roscoe Mitchell's more Afro-centric quintet performance. A fitting conclusion to a short but intriguing series that has hopefully been successful enough to encourage festival organizers to continue bringing this kind of left-of-centre music to the festival in future years.
--John Kelman All About Jazz
Montreal Festival International de Jazz July 4, 2005
(...) Other festival highlights included Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava's radiant Quintet, Zakir Hussain's stunning duets with guitarist John McLaughlin, Randy Weston's trio, and the exquisitely edgy Queen Mab Trio.
--Larry Appelbaum Jazznin Japan
(...) Questions of composition and improvisation aside, what defines See Saw is the level of minute interactions, the devastating passion motivating each note, and the number of ideas per minute, all key traits of Queen Mab's music.
--François Couture All-Music Guide
(…) Queen Mab Trio have a well-defined identity, yet the music is continuously allusive, evoking diverse compositional styles extending from Erik Satie to Louis Andriessen, suggesting awareness too of non-European musical traditions. There's an indebtedness to free jazz energies and techniques as well as more preconceived jazz structures and conditions of virtuosity.
--Julian Cowley The Wire September 2005
(...) Pour évoquer ce qu'on entend là j'aimerais convoquer Gérard de Nerval dans son poème le plus célébre, parlant des "soupirs de la sainte et les cris de la fée".
--Noël Tachet ImproJazz Mai 2005
(...) Queen Mab is famous for raising eyebrows. In their ten year existence, they have solidified themselves as a driving force in the Canadian avant-garde music scene.
--Sarah Petrescu, the Martlet, November 2002
(...) Henneman fits nicely into this modest, though skillful scheme of things (...) she draws a useful variety of unconventional sounds with the gentle bounce, scrape and stroke of her bow. Some are scrawny, some have a Dietrich-like smokiness. Some sound like a squadron of mosquitos, some create tension with their flirtatious intonation.
--Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail, November 4, 2002
HENNEMAN STRING QUARTET reviews
Freshness, verve highlight Vancouver jazz fest
(...) Highlights of this 400-show, 40-venue extravaganza so far have included a three-day residency by award-winning composer/trumpeter Dave Douglas; a glorious string quartet performance by Dutch violist and composer Ig Henneman; and the opening salvos of a reprised festival theme — electronically-inspired club jazz from the exciting new Scandinavian scene.
(...) No such defection occurred at the mesmerizing, sitting-room-only concert at the Western Front Sunday. Henneman, who has performed at the festival before, substituted New York bassist Mark Helias in this edition of her quartet, which played a suite of rhythmically vigorous, muscular, thematically juicy compositions inspired by Italian music and culture. That rare composer who can explore the conceptual nature of her instrument — the "string-ness," if you will, of the violin family — while also offering witty structures and evocative sonic textures, Henneman offered the most memorable concert in a weekend of strong performances.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times jazz critic July 2004 USA
(...) There exists a romantic formality, perhaps due to those historical references, with a spontaneous edge that only improvisers can bring to music, an individuality that shines in the most formal of situations. The romance of the Renaissance is in the air, but this beautiful recording is of now and does not reside in history.
--Bill Smith, about the CD Piazza Pia, Coda Magazine Januar/Februar 2004 Canada
(...) The tension between composition and improvisation and between tradition and innovation creates an uncommon music that knows few equivalents in the world of contemporary jazz music.
--Emanuel Wenger, about the CD Piazza Pia, Jazz Live 131/2003 Austria
(...) A program between well-mannered and cheeky. Chambermusic punctuality and powerstrokes with charm. Everything without disturbing mysteriousness.
--OÖNachrichten 14 Februar 2003
(...) As the evening progressed the dutch Henneman String Quartet winded it’s way surprisingly into very interesting string-music routes like classic, italian folklore, jazz or improvisation.
--sura, Kitzbüheler Anzeiger 13 Februar 2003
(...) pero también existe un equilibrio entre los integrantes de este cuarteto con onze piezas ejecutadas con una admirable estilización que no envidia nada un Nancarrow por Kronos o a unos Arditti en una noche afortunada. Un bello disco que no evita ecos de melodías popularesde baile. Una epifanía menor.
--E.Fuente, about Piazza Pia, Cuadernos de Jazz nov/dec 2002
(...) Ig Henneman’s String Quartet was the best performance, in terms of sheer quality and fun. The pieces were defamiliarized Sicilian madrigals, Neapolitan folk music or inspired by Monteverdi - the performance breathed fresh air.
--Bruce Carnevale, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Coda Magazine July/August 2002
(...) The program reached its artistic height during the second concert of the night with the string quartet of the Dutch viola player Ig Henneman: a contemporary string quartet that looks at the Italian tradition of the middle ages and madrigales with irony and refinement, performed with pathos: themes like Cassetone and Semipiaci (a delightful mix between a gigue and a blues) confirm the dutch métissage classic - improvised as one of the most original of the european panorama.
--Francesco Màndica, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Musica Jazz 10 Italy
(...) Innovative, full of vivacity and complex irony was the result of the concert of the Henneman String Quartet a string quartet led by Ig Henneman.
--Luigi Onori, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Il Manifesto 21 november 2001
(...) The difficult task of integrating composition and improvisation is carried out with aplomb by this group: they actually make it sound easy. A nice combination of male and female energy exists in this group, as well as a combination of Dutch musicians and so-called ex-patriot Americans who have settled in the Netherlands. The players are comfortable working in a traditional, melodic, and harmonic manner but also can and do go way out. Everything that happens makes logical sense, and this is music that reveals rich layers of detail upon repeated listenings.
--Eugene Chadbourne, about Pes Wig 05, All Music Guide
(…) Though they are closer in temperament to 20th-century string quartet literature than the jazz tradition, Henneman’s works incorporate improvisation, which yields unexpected pleasures; the notated passages veer and change gears like an improvisation in mid-flight.
--Bill Shoemaker Strings Magazine about Pes Wig 05 May/June 2000 nr 86
Freshness, verve highlight Vancouver jazz fest
(...) Highlights of this 400-show, 40-venue extravaganza so far have included a three-day residency by award-winning composer/trumpeter Dave Douglas; a glorious string quartet performance by Dutch violist and composer Ig Henneman; and the opening salvos of a reprised festival theme — electronically-inspired club jazz from the exciting new Scandinavian scene.
(...) No such defection occurred at the mesmerizing, sitting-room-only concert at the Western Front Sunday. Henneman, who has performed at the festival before, substituted New York bassist Mark Helias in this edition of her quartet, which played a suite of rhythmically vigorous, muscular, thematically juicy compositions inspired by Italian music and culture. That rare composer who can explore the conceptual nature of her instrument — the "string-ness," if you will, of the violin family — while also offering witty structures and evocative sonic textures, Henneman offered the most memorable concert in a weekend of strong performances.
--Paul de Barros Seattle Times jazz critic July 2004 USA
(...) There exists a romantic formality, perhaps due to those historical references, with a spontaneous edge that only improvisers can bring to music, an individuality that shines in the most formal of situations. The romance of the Renaissance is in the air, but this beautiful recording is of now and does not reside in history.
--Bill Smith, about the CD Piazza Pia, Coda Magazine Januar/Februar 2004 Canada
(...) The tension between composition and improvisation and between tradition and innovation creates an uncommon music that knows few equivalents in the world of contemporary jazz music.
--Emanuel Wenger, about the CD Piazza Pia, Jazz Live 131/2003 Austria
(...) A program between well-mannered and cheeky. Chambermusic punctuality and powerstrokes with charm. Everything without disturbing mysteriousness.
--OÖNachrichten 14 Februar 2003
(...) As the evening progressed the dutch Henneman String Quartet winded it’s way surprisingly into very interesting string-music routes like classic, italian folklore, jazz or improvisation.
--sura, Kitzbüheler Anzeiger 13 Februar 2003
(...) pero también existe un equilibrio entre los integrantes de este cuarteto con onze piezas ejecutadas con una admirable estilización que no envidia nada un Nancarrow por Kronos o a unos Arditti en una noche afortunada. Un bello disco que no evita ecos de melodías popularesde baile. Una epifanía menor.
--E.Fuente, about Piazza Pia, Cuadernos de Jazz nov/dec 2002
(...) Ig Henneman’s String Quartet was the best performance, in terms of sheer quality and fun. The pieces were defamiliarized Sicilian madrigals, Neapolitan folk music or inspired by Monteverdi - the performance breathed fresh air.
--Bruce Carnevale, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Coda Magazine July/August 2002
(...) The program reached its artistic height during the second concert of the night with the string quartet of the Dutch viola player Ig Henneman: a contemporary string quartet that looks at the Italian tradition of the middle ages and madrigales with irony and refinement, performed with pathos: themes like Cassetone and Semipiaci (a delightful mix between a gigue and a blues) confirm the dutch métissage classic - improvised as one of the most original of the european panorama.
--Francesco Màndica, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Musica Jazz 10 Italy
(...) Innovative, full of vivacity and complex irony was the result of the concert of the Henneman String Quartet a string quartet led by Ig Henneman.
--Luigi Onori, about Rome - Controindicazioni 2001, Il Manifesto 21 november 2001
(...) The difficult task of integrating composition and improvisation is carried out with aplomb by this group: they actually make it sound easy. A nice combination of male and female energy exists in this group, as well as a combination of Dutch musicians and so-called ex-patriot Americans who have settled in the Netherlands. The players are comfortable working in a traditional, melodic, and harmonic manner but also can and do go way out. Everything that happens makes logical sense, and this is music that reveals rich layers of detail upon repeated listenings.
--Eugene Chadbourne, about Pes Wig 05, All Music Guide
(…) Though they are closer in temperament to 20th-century string quartet literature than the jazz tradition, Henneman’s works incorporate improvisation, which yields unexpected pleasures; the notated passages veer and change gears like an improvisation in mid-flight.
--Bill Shoemaker Strings Magazine about Pes Wig 05 May/June 2000 nr 86