The Moholo Songs

Tracklist

1. Moholo2:10
2. Mind7:42
3. Glide5:26
4. Calotti6:19
5. Mood7:21
6. Light6:51
7. Pharoah9:10
8. Lomo1:35
9. Agnem Jamu4:52

Personnel & credits

• Fuhrer ViennaArtwork [Graphic Concept]
• Christoph SprengerBass
• Peter BürliCo-producer
• Volker DueckCo-producer
• Elmar Frey (2)Drums
• Lasse NipkowEngineer, Mixed By
• Dan SuterMastered By
• Jochen BaldesPhotography By
• Thomas FehrPhotography By
• Adrian FreyPiano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes]
• Jochen BaldesProducer
• Jochen BaldesTenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
• Michael GassmannTrumpet, Flugelhorn
• Jochen BaldesWritten-By

About this record

Genre

Jazz

Style

Contemporary Jazz

Discogs

View on Discogs ↗

Press

“his ornamental-like improvisations, always searching for beauty, remind one of Charles Lloyd”Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) ↗

“kunstvoll ausgearbeitete, wie vom Bildhauer gemeisselte Werke”Jazz'N'More (Reiner Kobe) ↗

“zuweilen an Telepathie grenzende Zusammenspiel”Der Landbote (Tom Gsteiger) ↗

“eine der schwereren CD's des jüngeren Jazz”Stereo (Stephan Richter) ↗

“Fantasie und Teamarbeit”Tagesanzeiger Zürich (Frank von Niederhäusern) ↗

“you sometimes cannot identify individual players”jazzthing.de ↗

Reception

"The Moholo Songs" (recorded 12-13 January 2006 at Studio 2, Radio Studio Zürich, produced for Schweizer Radio DRS 2; released by Double Moon Records as Jazz thing Next Generation Vol. 16) drew warm coverage from the Swiss and German jazz press. Reviewers consistently praised the quintet's group-first aesthetic over individual soloing: the seamless blending of the horns (Baldes on tenor/bass clarinet and Gassmann on trumpet/flugelhorn), the cinematic, wave-like flow alternating tension and relaxation, and Baldes's lyrical, beauty-seeking improvising. The NZZ likened Baldes's fragile, ornamental playing to Charles Lloyd. Jazz'N'More described the compositions as artfully sculpted works; the Landbote singled out near-telepathic interplay between Baldes and Gassmann; Stereo called it one of the more demanding/substantial recent jazz CDs in its weaving of composition and improvisation; the Tagesanzeiger highlighted the fantasy and teamwork of the long-running Subnoder quintet. Reception was positive and substantive but concentrated in the Swiss/German-language press; no English-language reviews (AllMusic, All About Jazz, JazzTimes, DownBeat) were found.

Recognition

Selected for the curated Jazz thing Next Generation series (Volume 16), a co-production of Double Moon Records and the German magazine Jazz thing that spotlights notable contemporary jazz acts — the series selection itself functions as editorial recognition. The album was produced under the auspices of Schweizer Radio DRS 2 (Swiss public radio), indicating institutional/broadcast support. No specific awards, prizes, festival commissions, or academic citations were found.

Background

Album credited to Jochen Baldes Subnoder, a long-running Swiss quintet led by tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Jochen Baldes. It is his third suite for the band after Niniland (1999) and Osmotic Jazz (2003). Personnel: Jochen Baldes (tenor sax, bass clarinet), Michael Gassmann (trumpet, flugelhorn), Adrian Frey (piano, Fender Rhodes), Christoph Sprenger (bass), Elmar Frey (drums); all compositions by Baldes. Recorded 12-13 January 2006 at Studio 2, Radio Studio Zürich, produced for Schweizer Radio DRS 2. The title references South African drummer Louis Moholo, whom Baldes saw perform in a duo with Irène Schweizer and found deeply impressive; he also called "Moholo" simply a beautiful, earthy word. Concept per Baldes: the music aims at a cinematic, atmospheric group sound and images rather than note-heavy solos, drawing on the electric Miles Davis / Fender Rhodes aesthetic. Baldes studied at the Bern Jazz School under Andy Scherrer and did workshops with Mark Turner and Wynton Marsalis; he is also a painter and sculptor. (Note: two "Michael Gassmann"s exist online — this is the Swiss jazz trumpeter, confirmed as Subnoder's trumpet/flugelhorn player on every source, not the classical musicologist.)