Talking Cows - Almost Human
Talking Cows – Almost Human Veröffentlichung 17. Februar 2012 (JAZZSick Records / inakustik/ EAN 8713897901337
Live: Sa., 31.3.2012 Jazz-Schmiede, Düsseldorf
Video: Late Night Music at ArtEZ Conservatorium with TALKING COWS Oct. 5th 2011
Jazz is deep but you are allowed to have fun, right?
Deswegen dieses Video hier: Auch Kühe lieben Jazz und die Farmer sind nicht immer einer Meinung deswegen- Talking Cows im Kuhstall
Neues Video zum Thema....Auch Kühe lieben Jazz ...(Dutch Humor mit engl. Untertiteln)
Muuh oder besser wow. Da lässt wieder jemand die Kuh fliegen. Die sprechenden Kühe („Talking Cows“) aus den Niederlanden beliefern uns aus Ihrem Jazz-Biotop zum drittenmal mit Ihren „Bop & Pop“-Geschichten.
Auf Ihrer 3. CD „Almost Human“ (Jazzsick Records) werden lt. Cover im Talking-Cows-Frisiersalon die Lockenwickler im Retro-Look zum Glühen gebracht. Der allerfeinste humorvolle Umgang mit der Tradition ist und bleibt nun mal das Markenzeichen dieser Band. Aber Vorsicht, hier handelt es sich nicht um coiffeur-affinen Smalltalk der 60er Jahre sondern um tierisch gute Improvisationskunst der Gegenwart. In dieser Musik wird nichts ausgemistet, aber auch nichts wiedergekäut. Hervorragend geerdet agiert die Rhythmus-Gruppe bestehend aus Dion Nijland am Bass und Yonga Sun am Schlagzeug.
Also einfach das Ganze nicht zu tierisch ernst nehmen oder eben doch?
FragenSie die Jungs an der nächsten MP3-Melkstation. Sie wissen schon wo!
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some comments on the songs on our cd:
Hurdless: (Frans)
the music came first, the title later...
Frans wanted a 3/4 bar, a complicated melody for tenor&bass,
hiding the 3/4 rhytm under a 2-feel
jumpy music that ends up being some sort of jazzwaltz
A Serious Lack Of Humour: (Robert)
I really like these earthy baslines so I use them whenever possible
I wanted a melody that would have the same power as the bassline
somehow we managed to stay away from the Coltrane/McCoy Tyner
sound that you hear a lot on this kind of modal music, we tried to think
more in a percussion manner
A Stroll For Gonso: (Frans)
This is dedicated to Paul Gonsalves, the famous tenorsaxophonist with Duke Ellington
His sound was very special, a bit like Ben Webster, but he was harmonically more advanced.
His specialty was blues and ballads. This song is a kind of 'bluesballad'.
Paul Gonsalves would sometimes take a little walk through the audience while playing,
that is why he called it 'Stroll for Gonso'.
Dinner Is Served; (Robert)
this is a very cheerfull tune to me,
it has a very light mood so I thought of this title.
with some friends in the house...dinner is served!
Not Yet: (Robert)
It has some kind a 'waiting' quality, this song.
It has a very comfortable beat to me, so maybe it would mean:
comfortabely waiting for things to happen! (did they happen? Not Yet!)
Most Def: (Frans)
Frans wanted to write a 'free' vehicle for improvisation.
'Most Def' is Baltimore slang for 'Most Defenitely'.
In the American TV-serie The Wire. there is a character who uses this expression a lot.
Because it took Frans some time to understand what it meant,
he found it a good title for a tune that you maybe don't immediately understand on 1st hearing.
Hang Glider: (Frans)
An open improvisation from bass and tenorsaxophone with a lot of 'overtones'.
Then a rubato theme and an open improvisation from piano and drums.
The title came when listening to the music: he thought of a very high viewpoint
when hanging on a deltawing, and seeing everything very small and at great distance.
Mooing Around: (Robert)
this is the music that I come from, it has a little Monk flavour because the theme has
a pretty hard, angular phrasing, we play it more or less 'straight' but with some nice ideas in solo's.
It is a bit like showing our muscles in music, so I called 'Mooing Around'.
Two Guys and Beer: (Robert)
on a rather dissapointing rehearsal when we had tried a few new songs and liked none of them,
I was a bit sad and asked Frans: let's have a beer together!
We are good friends and we did have a few beers together.
So in honour of this 'friendship' I wrote this song that has again a very comfortable atmosphere.
But there is some adventure in the solo, so it must have been a good German beer!
Hop on/Hop Off: (Frans)
this piece has 2 kind of meters: 7/4 for the bass and 4/4 in the melody part.
When playing at the Bimhuis Frans looked out of the window from the dressing room
and he saw a canalboat that was called: Hop On/Hop Off Canal Boat.
That is my title he thought.
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Talking Cows was founded in 2004 by pianist Robert Jan Vermeulen and saxophonist Frans Vermeerssen. There was a bit more to it then just two musicians who liked each other’s playing. Until then they had never played together: they came from totally different areas of the Dutch jazz scene.
The idea came up to make the group ‘a celebration of differences’, so that the different backgrounds became the subject of the group’s material. In drummer Yonga Sun and bass player Dion Nijland they found the perfect rhythm section; they are very creative musicians with an open mind and experience in playing different styles.
In the ensuing seven years, the group presented concerts in clubs and at festivals in the Netherlands and abroad. They made numerous radio recordings, did some TV appearances and recorded 2 CDs.
There’s been a great deal of positive feedback from audiences and press, and Talking Cows is now considered a leading exponent of Dutch jazz music. The videos about farmers, cows and jazz music in a cowshed that appeared on their website have also been received enthusiastically. ,.
Almost Human demonstrates how the group has developed into a solid, flexible and original ensemble. While at first the different style elements were rather distinct, they have now merged into a new blend.
The compositions by Vermeerssen and Vermeulen are still connected to the rich history of jazzmusic, from blues, rhythm changes, Ellington and improvised music to funk. But the group gives this music a typical ‘Talking Cows sound’. In a review of a concert in the Bimhuis/Amsterdam on the 18th january 2011, Frank van Herk/Volkskrant wrote:
Jazz from Holland, that’s exactly what Talking Cows wants to offer. This quartet has a typical Dutch view of tradition, coloured with humour, spontaneous interaction and the willingness to open up the structures of the music. The compositions are based on catchy, often hummable themes, that are fragmented and defragmented and flirt with chaos before taking on recognizable features once more.
Talking Cows are:
Frans Vermeerssen tenor saxophone
Robert Vermeulen piano
Dion Nijland bass
Yonga Sun drums
www.talkingcows.nl