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262: OMRI ZIEGELE – NOISY MINORITY. Wrong Is Right

Intakt Recording #262/ 2016

Omri Ziegele: Alto Saxophone, Voice
Ray Anderson: Trombone
Jan Schlegel: E-Bass
Dieter Ulrich: Drums, Bugle

Recorded May 10, 2015 at Miller's Theater in Zurich.

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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The Zürich trio Noisy Minority with New York tombone player Ray Anderson: Anderson is the outstanding trombonist of the American jazz scene, and Noisy Minority, Zurich Saxophoneophonist Omri Ziegele’s band, is known for its modern jazz with expres- sive power, drive and buoyancy.
Bandleader Ziegele composed eight new pieces for the album “Wrong Is Right”. It’s a dare-devil ride in uneven grooves and rangy tunes with free improvisation and spontaneous arrange- ments, approached with a bold understanding of jazz and its tradition.
The music of “Wrong Is Right” is “direct, immediate, surprising, exhilarating,” writes Steff Rohrbach in the linernotes “They take great pains with their powder, doling it out carefully, exploding it only when they want to – which greatly increases its effect and shows how intelligently the four musicians handle their themes.”

Album Credits

Cover art: Julia Amboschütz & Andreas Gefe
Graphic design: Jonas Schoder
Liner notes: Steff Rohrbach
Photos: Peter Pfister

Music & lyrics by Omri Ziegele. Recorded May 10, 2015 at Miller's Theater in Zurich. Recorded by Jeroen Visser. Mixed & Mastered by Jeroen Visser & Noisy Minority.

Customer Reviews

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K
Ken Waxman
The New York City Jazz Record

Alto saxophonist Omri Ziegele, electric bassist Jan Schlegel and drummer Dieter Ulrich rarely record as Noisy Minority, although the trio has been together since 1995. The Swiss-Israeli reed player and Swiss rhythm team confound expectations on Wrong is Right by welcoming American trombonist Ray Anderson. Unlike the proverbial third wheel, the voluble brass player's contributions are like adding a fourth wheel to a European mini car. Connected as if he was part of the chassis from the beginning, Anderson helps create a smooth ride without negating Noisy Minority's sports car-like freedom.

Case in point is "Tolck", whose throbbing narrative boomerangs from an exploration of the trombone's husky bottom timbres intercut with high-pitched mocking saxophone lines to a relaxed interface arbitrated by bass sputters, which snaps back into energy-music-like cadences by the finale. Schlegel's stinging parts are as solid as James Jamerson's were for Motown, aptly demonstrated on the title tune. He's able to rein in enough though so that Anderson can slip in clenched throat growls before the swinging line resumes. The quartet also handles a modified West Coast jazz-like march ("Finally Your Own Voice") and a high-energy boppish refrain ("Late Cats' Rushing Hour") with the same dexterity, each benefitting from Ulrich's wriggling off-center accents. Like a '50s beret- wearing hipster's finger snaps, Anderson's dyspeptic near-vocal intermezzos are perfect accompaniment to Ziegele's pseudo-beatnik poetry reading on "Where I'm Going To". When Anderson's buzzing plunger leaps coincide with the saxophonist's sharp reed bites without words, the tune reaches a gutty climax, extended with a crying coda on the following track.

"Decimal System" is the most characteristic instance of the quartet's concrete cooperation. A stop- time exposition where the musicians creep along like cape-wearing cartoon villains, the sonic journey is characterized by regular road-marker-like pops from Ulrich and sluicing flutter tones from both horns, with Anderson digging beneath the asphalt for subterranean timbres and Ziegele motoring along to maintain the groove. Neither too noisy or much of a minority where jazz is concerned, this quartet and CD actually have majority appeal.

E
Eyal Hareuveni
All About Jazz Blog

The Swiss trio Noisy Minority led by alto saxophonist-poet Omri Ziegele mocks the notion that you can make a clear-cut line between what is right and wrong in jazz or any improvised music. Their aesthetic goes deeper than the often-repeated inverse by pianist Kenny Barron: "if you don't make mistakes, you don't play jazz." Instead, Noisy Minority adopts Italian philosopher Alessandro Bertinetto argument that jazz is not an aesthetic of imperfection but a "perfection of the moment."

These academic arguments lose their importance the moment start listening to Wrong is Right, featuring the Noisy Minority augmented by veteran downtown New York trombonist Ray Anderson. You may find yourself surrendering to the telepathic interplay of the Noisy Minority trio- -featuring electric bassist Jan Schlegel and drummer Dieter Ulrich, working together since 1995, but releasing only one album as a trio before, First silence (Intakt, 2001). This trio never gives routine a chance, recklessly pushes its envelope, taking risks and nonchalantly incorporating highly personal sonic stew ingredients of funk, noise and punk.

Noisy Minority played with Anderson in New York in 2012 and all four musicians reconvened again in Zurich in 2015, performing the Wrong is Right material about two dozen times before recording it in a one-day studio session. Ziegele new compositions explore the immediate rapport between him and Anderson. These compositions explore their urgent, conversational interplay, the manner that both build the tension, often with a sharp sense of humor, fuse it lit and explode in commanding solos. Schlegel and Ulrich charge this tight and expressive interplay with wise, fast shifting pulses.

Ziegele spoken-word poem "Where I'm Going To" emphasizes the expansive and intelligent sonic universe that the quartet has developed. Noisy Minority plus Anderson interplay embraces immediate, rough energy, hard-driving rhythm, eccentric sounding solos, free-improvised noisy searches and and intriguing Beat poetry wisdom. The title piece sound is an ironic, swinging exploration of a prog rock rhythmic module. The longest piece, the 14-minutes "Tolck" opens the interplay to the most wild ideas and spontaneously improvised, highly personal language of Ziegele and Anderson. This piece enables both to create the most eccentric and busy conversation, occasionally disturbed by noisy, fractured pulse of Schlegel and Ulrich. Warmly recommended.

Reviews in Other Languages

J
Jean Buzelin
Cultur Jazz Magazine

Le saxophoniste alto Omri Ziegele ne nous est pas inconnu et nous avons déjà signalé son travail tant en duo qu’en nonette avec lequel il a réalisé déjà trois disques. De ce groupe, il n’a conservé que la rythmique (Jan Schlegel, basse électrique, et Dieter Ulrich, batterie) pour former Noisy Minority, trio très soudé et ouvert, auquel s’est joint ici le grand tromboniste américain Ray Anderson. L’apport de cet immense musicien, et la façon dont il navigue à travers les huit compositions de Ziegele (lequel n’est pas en reste) provoquent un vif intérêt.

https://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article3004

C
Christoph Merki
Tages-Anzeiger

Wild und wüst geht es auf «Wrong Is Right» manchmal zu. Noisy Minority, das Zürcher Trio um den Altsaxofonis ten Omri Ziegele, den E-Bassisten Jan Schlegel und den Schlagzeuger Dieter Ulrich, haben das Album eingespielt, gemeinsam mit dem amerikanischen Posaunisten Ray Anderson. Nun, dass die Musik es (auch) richtig krachen lässt, sollte einen nicht übersehen lassen, mit wie viel Ambition Omri Ziegele die acht Stücke fürs Album geschrieben hat: Man identifiziert schon im Eröffnungsstück <> geschult haben mag, vielleicht an Ornette-Coleman-Themen.

Ist das am Ende gar Zerebralkunst? Nein, bei Noisy Minority, seit 1995 bestehend (dies ist aber erst ihre zweite Platte), spielen zu erfahrene Musiker, als dass sie nicht wüssten, welch tödliche Gefahr die <

F
Frank von Niederhäusern
Züritipp

Neue Urwucht

JAZZ Das war eine Fuhre damals. Kaum dem Studio entflohen, wo sie ihr erstes Album aufgenommen hatten, fegten drei wilde Enddreissiger aus Zürich als Noisy Minority 1988 über die Bühne des Schaffhauser Jazz- festivals. Berauscht von dieser Session, entschied das Trio, die Studioaufnahmen zu archivieren und stattdessen den Schaffhauser Radiomitschnitt auf ihre Debüt-CD zu packen. Fast 20 Jahre später legen Saxer Omri Ziegele, E-Bassist Jan Schlegel und Drummer Dieter Ulrich nun ihr zweites Album <