Public Release on February 4th, 2021
Available on our bandcamp: www.jazzdorseries.bandcamp.com
This album is an evocation, a personal musical interpretation of Wim Wenders' film Der Himmel über Berlin(Wings of Desire). The solo piano is a coveted but dreaded exercise. It offers a total freedom to the musicianbut also demands high requirements. The pianist had to be able to free himself from his own automatisms andto define a universe. As Philippe Ochem suggested to Grégory Ott: you have to explore new territories andwork on forms which are open enough to encourage to let go while remaining within a structure.
It is through their conversation that the idea of working from Wim Wenders' film came out.
For a movie lover such as Gregory Ott, films have always been an open door on emotions.. Just like music, theytell stories. In this film, both poetic and allegorical, improvisation plays a big role: Wim Wenders shot from dayto day without knowing himself the end of his fable. The director has abandoned himself to the unknown, tospontaneity, just as improvisation in jazz allows an infinity of possibilities to emerge. The film "Wings of Desires"treats several universal thematics such as childhood, live, life and death and adresses them through the faithin humanity. It invites the viewer to wonder, to imagine, things that are essential for the pianist.
This new way of working was a strong source of inspiration and allowed Grégory to compose this musicaljourney.
"From the very beginning of the project, we worked together,because it was a question of companionship on this project, onthe trail of letting go, of the unknown. We had to avoid thecomfort zone specific to each artist, to allow ourselves torestart from the beginning and to look for new roads todiscover. We shared music, talked about films, poetry, lookingfor a singular angle of approach that could open up newperspectives. Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire and PeterHandke's poetry, whose spirit inhabits the whole movie : "Als dasKind Kind War - When the child was child", quickly became amust. And it just started like that! The studio was booked in October and Gregory recorded almost all of it in one tape. Theforce of the evocation is there and the poetic power of the filmhovers with intensity on these progressively dug tracks".
Available on our bandcamp: www.jazzdorseries.bandcamp.com
This album is an evocation, a personal musical interpretation of Wim Wenders' film Der Himmel über Berlin(Wings of Desire). The solo piano is a coveted but dreaded exercise. It offers a total freedom to the musicianbut also demands high requirements. The pianist had to be able to free himself from his own automatisms andto define a universe. As Philippe Ochem suggested to Grégory Ott: you have to explore new territories andwork on forms which are open enough to encourage to let go while remaining within a structure.
It is through their conversation that the idea of working from Wim Wenders' film came out.
For a movie lover such as Gregory Ott, films have always been an open door on emotions.. Just like music, theytell stories. In this film, both poetic and allegorical, improvisation plays a big role: Wim Wenders shot from dayto day without knowing himself the end of his fable. The director has abandoned himself to the unknown, tospontaneity, just as improvisation in jazz allows an infinity of possibilities to emerge. The film "Wings of Desires"treats several universal thematics such as childhood, live, life and death and adresses them through the faithin humanity. It invites the viewer to wonder, to imagine, things that are essential for the pianist.
This new way of working was a strong source of inspiration and allowed Grégory to compose this musicaljourney.
"From the very beginning of the project, we worked together,because it was a question of companionship on this project, onthe trail of letting go, of the unknown. We had to avoid thecomfort zone specific to each artist, to allow ourselves torestart from the beginning and to look for new roads todiscover. We shared music, talked about films, poetry, lookingfor a singular angle of approach that could open up newperspectives. Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire and PeterHandke's poetry, whose spirit inhabits the whole movie : "Als dasKind Kind War - When the child was child", quickly became amust. And it just started like that! The studio was booked in October and Gregory recorded almost all of it in one tape. Theforce of the evocation is there and the poetic power of the filmhovers with intensity on these progressively dug tracks".
Philippe Ochem, director of Jazzdor
Recording and mixing: Philippe Gaillot at Studio Recall (October 2020 /Pompignan, FR); Mastering: Jean-François Untrau at Studio l'Atelier 65(Rosenwiller, FR); Produced by Jazzdor; Executive Producer: Philippe Ochem; Photos: DR / Graphics: Helmo
JAZZDOR SERIES 2021
THE ADVENTURE GOES ON!
WWW.JAZZDOR.COM
It is during what is commonly called "the first lock-down" in March 2020, when we cancelled our last season concerts as wellas the 14th edition of the Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin festival, thatwe made the choice to develop our recording activity that whichwas remaining on standby since. The emergency was to keep the music alive and keep the flameof our creative hopes burning. The idea, of course, was also tosupport musicians, to help them project themselves into new storiesdespite the pandemic.
Later on, we started two projects : the first solo piano album of the pianist Grégory Ott and the album of theviolinist Dominique Pifarély with his group Anabasis. Almost at the same time, came the projects of RobinFincker and his group Bedmakers - Tribute to an Imaginary Folk Band and then the one of Richard Bonnetwith Tony Malaby and Sylvain Darrifourcq who invited Louis Sclavis that evening.
A little later, two other projects came along : the Benoit Delbecq 4 with Marc Turner, John Hébert and GeraldCleaver and, later on Double Rainbow with Edward Perraud, Franck Vaillant and... Michel Portal! In total, six new references to be added to our catalog and to be published between January and October 2021.
