Hayden Chisholm Info - Lucerne Jazz Orchestra

Hayden Chisholm
Der Saxophonist, Klarinettist, Komponist
und Produzent Hayden Chisholm wurde
1975 in Neuseeland geboren. Im Alter von
17 Jahren zog er in die Schweiz und begann kurz darauf, in Köln Musik zu studieren. Mithilfe des New Zealand Young Achievers’ Award und dem Preis für Improvisierte Musik der Stadt Köln unternahm er in
den Folgejahren ausgiebige Reisen, insbesondere nach Japan und Südindien, um die
dortigen Musikstile, aber auch die jeweiligen Denkansätze zu studieren.
Sowohl als Solist, als auch mit Ensembles
wie Root 70, Pluramon, Flanger, Jaki Liebzeit oder seiner eigenen Gruppe «The Embassadors» hat er alle Kontinente bereist,
oftmals mit Unterstützung des deutschen
Goethe Instituts. Zudem hat er Musik für
das Hamburger Schauspielhaus, den Westdeutschen Rundfunk und den BBC geschrieben und aufgeführt. Von 1998 bis
2000 wirkte er als composer in residence
beim Musik3 Festival in San Diego, und hat
an den Hochschulen in Köln, Hannover,
Berlin, Lima und Novosibirsk unterrichtet. Die intensive Zusammenarbeit mit der Künstlerin Rebecca Horn resultierte unter anderem in Projekten im Samsung Museum in Seoul oder bei den Salzburger Festspielen. Hayden Chisholm tritt zudem als Sprecher auf,
unter anderem beim Berliner Literaturfestival, und ist Meister im Obertonsingen.
Seine Einflüsse und Inspirationen reichen von Jazzsaxophonisten wie Johnny Hodges
oder Lee Konitz über zeitgenössische Musik, Japanische Gagaku Musik und Naturklänge
bis zu Literatur.
Mit dem eigens für das Lucerne Jazz Orchestra komponierten Programm „Mute Density“, welches 2011 zum ersten Mal zur Aufführung kam, wendete sich Hayden Chisholm
erstmals dem Klangkörper Jazzorchester zu. Die entstandene Klanglandschaft wirkt
ebenso die spröde wie sinnlich und entfaltet eine ganz eigene Schönheit.
Mute Density - Lucerne Jazz Orchestra with Hayden Chisholm
“Mute Density” transplants my tonal work with saxophone ensembles exploring overtone
tuning and monochromatic structures into a Big Band format.
After a few experiences with the classic “modern” big band sound, the one so well represented by the modern radio big band, I was left disappointed as to the variety in
timbre of the groups and the fact that they seemed to be producing nothing but amplified clichés- ie nothing more than small group jazz with theme-solo-theme rewritten for
a larger group with regular jazz voicings, little dynamic range, sketchy intonation at-
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Lucerne Jazz Orchestra Hayden Chisholm
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tempting to match the piano’s but never succeeding, no extended techniques, and on
and on. Perhaps most of all, I was left feeling empty by their sounds.
Growing up I had listened a lot to Ellington and Basie. Now these were bodies of sound
that really swept me away and if I may cite some differences to the ones today: the
guys in these band were not pushing the volume and theirs were starkly individual
sounds within the sections (take the Ellington Sax section as an example)– this gave the
bands beautiful individual colors which stands in stark contrast to the average flattened
saxophone big band sound of today.
At first I was reluctant to take on the Big Band form but the band from Lucerne was
persistent and so I decided to take a shot and see what I could do with this set up.
“Mute Density” uses some experimental notation forms which I first experienced playing
some of the early scores of Morton Feldman. The results of this can be heard in the
movement “Cassiopeian Dancehall”. Other movements use overtone tuning of the first
44 overtones with their respective cent deviations from the tempered scale. In the last
few years I had drifted away from using quarter-tones and been more involved with natural overtone tunings. This was my first attempt to use some of these in a larger Jazz
setting.
The Lucerne Jazz Orchestra
In “Sketches of Pain” several 12-tone rows are off-set against each other before the saxophones create a multiphonic carpet and as if often the case in this piece, I allow the
individual sections to conduct themselves- making the piece by definition different each
time it is performed. Also, my random-chord structures are played by the whole band at
various stages in the piece.
In “Desire Crossfade”, triads square off against each other beneath a 12 tone row structure. In Cluster Swing the entire band swings away in a cluster block- the result of a
dream of mine in which the WDR Radio Big band was playing these clusters whilst
Lucerne Jazz Orchestra • Postfach 7516 • 6000 Luzern 7
[email protected] • www.ljo.ch
Lucerne Jazz Orchestra Hayden Chisholm
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strapped on and spinning on an enormous leslie speaker which my foot controlled. The
resulting sound was awesome and unforgettable.
Although it’s the last piece on the CD, “Tune In” was originally the opener- a piece
which gradually arises out of the tuning process to incorporate the first 16 overtones
into a chord and serves to “tune in” and “turn on” the band to each other, no “dropping
out” needed.
The players from the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra were open for these new ideas and a delight to work with. In no time they assimilated the overtone structures and tuning into
their language and we were able to work on fine tuning the band sound.
It is to them and their spirit I dedicate this work.
Excerpt from the Mute Density worksheets.
Weitere Infos unter www.haydenchisholm.net
Lucerne Jazz Orchestra • Postfach 7516 • 6000 Luzern 7
[email protected] • www.ljo.ch
Lucerne Jazz Orchestra Hayden Chisholm
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Lucerne Jazz Orchestra
Saxophones Florian Egli, Reto Anneler, Christof Irniger, Rafael Schilt, Adrian Pflugshaupt
Trombones Lucas Wyss, Lukas Briggen, Silvio Cadotsch, Domenico Catalano
Trumpets Dave Blaser, Linus Hunkeler, Matthias Spillmann, Aurel Nowak
Piano Hannes Bürgi Bass Luca Sisera Drums Tobias Friedli
Conductor David Grottschreiber
Saxophone Hayden Chisholm
Tracks
1. Density 1 57’’
9. Cassiopeian Dancehall 2’19’’
2. White Monochorme 3’07’’
10. Blue Monochrome 2’54’’
3. Mute Cluster 2’51’’
11. Ambient Meltdown 7’11’’
4. Fragile Peace 1’10’’
12. Mute Density 1’12’’
5. Desire Crossfade 3’22’’
13. Quint Monochrome 3’27’’
6. Minor Attempt 4’07’’
14. Cluster Swing 2’54’’
7. Sketches of Pain 2’28’’
15. Tune In 8’22’’ (Bonus Track)
8. Metal Spit Lament 6’27’’
Total Time 53’01’’
All compositions by Hayden Chisholm
Recorded by Christoph Utzinger in Jazz School Luzern
Berlin, May 2012
Mixed and mastered by Pedja Avramovic
Dedicated to the Luzern Jazz Orchestra
Lucerne Jazz Orchestra • Postfach 7516 • 6000 Luzern 7
[email protected] • www.ljo.ch