Nobody plays Monk like Schlippenbach. In the same way that Monk would work away at a composition for several weeks, Schlippenbach has involved himself with Monk’s work for many years, listening, analysing, playing, all with the greatest conceivable respect. The 3 CD-set in which Alexander von Schlippenbach and the band Die Enttäuschung recorded Thelonious Monk’s complete works constitutes a most impressive testament to this deep involvement in Monk’s music.

For his solo program Alexander von Schlippenbach chooses some of his favourites from the Monk canon, including some of the more rarely performed pieces. For him it was not about arranging, re-harmonising or consciously changing the original forms of Monk’s compositions, because the themes themselves are so multifaceted and complex. Rather, it was Alexander von Schlippenbach’s first and foremost concern to keep very close to these themes and to concentrate his focus on a free interpretation of the melodies, with their
rhythmic twists and turns. Schlippenbach also likes to play his own compositions.

CD-recommendations: Monk’s Casino. The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk. Alexander von Schlippenbach, Axel Dörner, Rudi Mahall, Jan Roder, Uli Jennessen. Intakt CD 100 (3 CD Box).
Alexander von Schlippenbach. Schlippenbach Plays Monk. Intakt CD 207

Omri Ziegele’s favourite format is the pianoless saxophone trio. It has freedom and the capacity to spring sudden surprises. There is an openness and roughness about it, it thrives on being unrefined and creatively unstable. There are also all of the manifold possibilities for the drums to suddenly explode, which makes them such a dominant presence in the trio. The Zurich saxophonist Ziegele is a devotee playing in saxophone trios; in fact he has quite a few projects with the same instrumentation.

In 2011, Ziegele was playing with his Schweizer Holz Trio (Swiss wood trio) at a festival in Sibiu in Romania.
That was where he heard for the first time the London pairing of John Edwards (bass) & Mark Sanders (drums) in a totally convincing quartet.

One of the specialities of this festival was that there were late night gigs in the neighbourhood bars. Edwards and Sanders were playing at around midnight in such a spectacular, coruscating fashion in their well-honed duo, that the locals – who had mostly popped in for a quiet beer and weren’t expecting a concert at all – were completely captivated and dumbstruck. Ziegele was completely taken aback by the two players. What impressed him above all was the fact that at no moment did an extra instrument seem missing or necessary.

The pair were showing such wiliness and humour in their approach, Ziegel was overcome with the wish to start a project with them, and he has held on to that dream ever since.

And so it happens that the Intakt Festival in the Vortex is the first encounter between Ziegele, Edwards and Sanders. Pieces have been commissioned specially for the occasion, but these will be just a part of the picture – jumping-off points for an elaborate, switchbacking, grail-hunting and explosive trio which can be witnessed, uniquely, at the very moment of its inception.