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Independent music since 1986.

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224: GÜNTER BABY SOMMER. Dedications

Intakt Recording #224 / 2013

Günter Baby Sommer: Drums, Percussion, Voice

Recorded January 10, 11, 12, 2013, by Kulturradio vom rbb (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg).

Original price CHF 12.00 - Original price CHF 30.00
Original price
CHF 30.00
CHF 12.00 - CHF 30.00
Current price CHF 30.00
Format: Compact Disc
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Günter 'Baby' Sommer is at the height of his musical career. After 'Song for Kommeno' (Intakt CD 190)
Sommer, one of the architects of European jazz drumming, now presents his Solo masterpiece.
The nine songs on the album tell stories and draw the listener into this exhilarating wonderworld of rhythms.
Tubular bells, hang, gongs, xylophone and an array of unusual percussion instruments plus his voice, transform his carefully chosen drum set into a percussive orchestra of rare intensity.

Günter 'Baby' Sommer, who lives in Dresden, East Germany, has dedicated this album to the great drummers of jazz: from Baby Dodds, from whom Sommer got his nickname, to Philly Joe Jones, Ed Blackwell, Max Roach, Pierre Favre, Han Bennink and Paul Lovens. From the first beat of the album you enter the world of swing, bebop, drive and pulse. This is a breathtaking adventure in sound and an exciting guide through the art of jazz drumming.

Album Credits

Cover art: Kornelios Grammenos
Graphic design: Jonas Schoder
Photos: Tobias Sommer

All compositions by Günter Baby Sommer. Recorded January 10, 11, 12, 2013, by Kulturradio
vom rbb (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg). Mixed and mastered May 13, 14, 2013, by rbb.
Sound engineer: Peter Schladebach. Sound supervisor: Wolfgang Hoff. ProTools-Operator:
Uli Hieber. Technician: Hitoshi Rösner. Mastering: Monika Steffens. Radio producer: Ulf
Drechsel, rbb. Produced and published by Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.

Customer Reviews

Based on 34 reviews
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D
Dustin Mallory
Cadence Magazine

Dedications is a courageous release of solo drumming accompanied by Sommer's creative use of narration and a series of vocal grunts, growls, howls, and other fun vocal embellishments. Each track on the album is dedicated to a giant of jazz drumming and contains the vocabulary/style of the drummer being honored. Sommer's tributes include drummers from both sides of the pond with Dodds, Philly Joe, Blakey, Blackwell, and Roach representing America. On the eastern side of the Atlantic, Sommer also pays respect to Swiss-drummer Pierre Favre and German-drummer Paul Lovens.
The opening track, dedicated to Warren "Baby" Dodds, includes a narration where Sommer reveals Dodds as his primary inspiration and source of his nickname. Sommer includes a section on the woodblocks and his drums have the open, ringing sound that is associated with early jazz drummers. Sommer branches out in some of the recordings to create a "quasi-percussion ensemble." In the recording dedicated to Blakey, Sommer uses an ABA form that begins with timpani, shakers, and a gong that signifies the end of the first section (among other instruments). "A Letter to Paul" even contains a John Cage-esque percussion ensemble sound that includes metallic and glass effects coupled with a haunting vibraphone melody. Overall, the album may surprise some listeners who think it is just an album of drumming. It is not. Although Sommer phrases his lines around the drums very nicely, it's his conceptual palette of percussive orchestration that makes this album worthwhile.

https://nebula.wsimg.com/d1cf5113187d84187f12efb20e56ca07?AccessKeyId=972E417EFD7ED6ED057A&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

J
Jörg Konrad
KultKomplott Blog

http://www.kultkomplott.de/Artikel/Musik/#article_anchor_429

Reviews in Other Languages

G
Guido Festinese
Il Manifesto

Un Planète nippo-francese

Nuovo progetto «made in France>> per Aki Takase, la pianista giapponese che in casa Intakt s'era dedicata soprattutto ai duetti, negli ultimi tempi. Uno di essi era con il grande clarinettista Louis Sclavis, che qui, in Flying Soul assieme a Doninique Pifarely al violino e Vincent Courtois al violoncello forma l'ossatura del La Planète, quartetto che speriamo di vedere presto su un palco. La pianista del Levante ha tocco sapiente e cangiante: da oscure simmetrie ritmiche monkiane, caricate di incursioni nel buio dei registri gravi ad aggraziati sciami scampanellanti, il disco scorre come un film emozionante e continuamente in evoluzione. Un altro (già rodato) dialogo a tre voci Intakt a dir poco eccellente è quello di Mavi, Luciano Biondini alla fisarmonica, Michel Godard con tuba e arcaico serpentone, Lucas Niggli a percuotere vari attrezzi: una meraviglia di interplay che cresce ad ogni ascolto. Fa tutto da solo (batteria, percussioni, voce!) Günter Baby Sommer nel rischioso ma efficacissimo Intakt Dedications: le «dediche sonore>> sono per i grandi batteristi della storia del jazz.

A
Anonymous
SRF Radio

Günter Baby Sommer, der Klangtrommler aus Dresden

Er gehörte zum Kern der DDR-Jazzszene, halb von der Partei geduldet, halb im Untergrund. Mit 70 Jahren ist er heute einer der profiliertesten Schlagzeuger im europäischen Jazz. Patrik Landolt, Gründer des Jazz-Labels «Intakt», kennt Günter Baby Sommer aus langer Zusammenarbeit.

Günter Baby Sommer, geboren in Dresden am 25. August 1943, hat die Jazzgeschichte beidseits des eisernen Vorhangs geprägt: Er hat sowohl Wolf Biermann bei geheimen Privataufnahmen begleitet, wie auch mit Irène Schweizer am «Taktlos»-Festival improvisiert.
Als junger Musiker hat er die solide Ausbildung in der DDR genossen und daneben im Radio «Westsender» gehört, um sich die angesagten Sounds und Grooves der Bands aus den USA anzueignen. Mit Ulrich Gumpert und dem zehn Jahre älteren Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky spielte er im «Zentralquartett», der massgeblichen Jazzformation der DDR in den 1970-er Jahren.
Seine Duos mit Pianisten wie Irène Schweizer und Cecil Taylor fanden auch bei den Jazzfans im Westen ein begeistertes Echo. Ausserdem war der Bücherleser auch im musikalischen Kontakt zu namhaften Autoren, gestaltete Programme mit Christoph Hein und Günter Grass oder dem Lyriker Thomas Kling.
Auch die Soloarbeit von Günter Baby Sommer kommt zur Sprache in der Sendung mit dem Label-Manager und Musikveranstalter Patrik Landolt, der den Musiker seit dem ersten Taktlos-Festival kennt und schätzt.
Zudem geht es um Sommers politisches Engagement, zuletzt mit der CD «Songs for Kommeno», mit der er an ein Verbrechen der deutschen Wehrmacht in Griechenland erinnert und den 317 Opfern der Zivilbevölkerung zusammen mit griechischen Musikern ein Denkmal setzt.

http://m.srf.ch/sendungen/jazz-collection/guenter-baby-sommer-der-klangtrommler-aus-dresden

J
Jean Buzelin
Cultur Jazz Magazine

Pierre Favre est l'un des dédicataires d'un disque conçu par Günter Baby Sommer (Cf. Culturejazz - Günter Baby Sommer, 08/11/2012) en hommage aux grands batteurs qui l'ont marqué, à commencer par le grand Baby Dodds, l'ancêtre, qui fut le premier à enregistrer en solo, et d'où le percussionniste allemand tire son surnom. Tour à tour sont évoqués Philly Joe Jones, Pierre Favre donc, Art Blakey, Paul Lovens son compatriote, Han Bennink, Ed Blackwell et Max Roach — on pourrait faire plus mauvais choix — lui-même les commentant dans un Selfportrait. Avec une légèreté et une musicalité rares, il choisit pour chacun telle ou telle partie de la batterie, tel ou tel accessoire, partant des wood-blocks de Baby Dodds jusqu'à la batterie complète de Ed Blackwell, et terminant par un mini-concerto à la Max Roach. Que celui qui n'aime pas la batterie n'écoute pas ce disque !!!

https://culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article237

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