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Axel Dörner, Roger Turner, Ra Ra da Boff:
Untitled (London Leipzig Berlin)

(EUPH 047)

Axel Dörner - trumpet
Roger Turner - drums, percussion
Ra Ra da Boff - electric organs, little instruments

01 (14’24)
02 (21’06)
03 (29’50)

Die Musik ist sehr gut.
Axel Dörner

Punk im ursprünglichen Wortsinn.
Gregor Mahnert

I like the music a lot.,,.,..,
Gilbert did a very precise mix on the rhythm section,..,.,!!!
Really interesting to me -- in an almost stylised way ,,.,.,.,.,.,.,
Thanks for releasing the material.,.,.,.,!!
It’s the first release with me and axel,.,.,.,.,.

Roger Turner

The double Ra sending pulsating signals from out of space.
Turner and Dörner sound as if they play in a shipyard, next to huge canvases whipped by a storm.
A clever creation of calculated differences like condensed drone clusters and tiny sound splinters.

Martin Schray

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Format: 12-cm-CD
Price: 16,99 €
ISBN: 978-3-944301-34-1
Ordering: oliverschwerdt@euphorium.de

Digital download: https://drner-turner-daboffturner-leimgruberflesh.bandcamp.com/album/untitled-london-leipzig-berlin

 

Reviews:

Untitled (London Leipiger Berlin) ist nach den Lebensmittelpunkten von Roger Turner, Ra Ra da Boff und Axel Dörner benannt. Der eine spielt Percussion, der man kaum zu nahe tritt, wenn man sie erratisch, alogisch oder narrenfrei nennt. Dazu verteilt Dörner gepressten Pustekuchen, tonarm fauchend, quarrend, puffend, schnarrend, aufschrillend oder trillernd, wie auch immer, Hauptsache eigentrötlerisch und querab der Spur, die in den Trompeterhimmel führt. Und darunter lässt Ra Ra da Boff elektrische Orglen wummern oder fiepen, weit davon entfernt, wie es der Hersteller im Sinn hatte. Wer da nur einen weiteren Decknamen jenes auch schon als Birg Borgenthal, Edithrakneff Weinermond oder Elan Pauer maskierten naTo-Legionärs vermutet, wird dahingehend belehrt, dass der Gemeinte da in Personalunion mit Friedrich Kettlitz kinderkramt und mit Spielzeugflöte, etwas Zitherdrahtigem, sonstigem Krims- und Kleinkram und sogar mit der Stimme als finaler Intensitätseinspritzung agiert. So dass dieser Bizephalus mit dem Londoner Gefährten eine verspielt perkussive und mit dem Berliner eine tönende Schnittmenge teilt. Turner tockt und und tapst, drischt und ratscht, klirrt und rappelt, stöchert und nadelt auf den Stoppelfeldern der Art Brut so polymorph-pervers, wie man es von Phil Minton und Konk Pack her von ihm kennt. Da Boff lässt seine Sounds gelegentlich pulsieren und sirrend oder murrend anschwellen, so dass auch Dörner mehr Wind beutelt und mehr Dampf ablässt, ohne dadurch an der Schäbigkeit seines Dampfnudelblues groß was zu ändern. Es gibt sogar einen krawalligen Temperamentsausbruch, aber eigentlich ist das Kleinklein schön verblüffend genug in seinem ungenierten Anything-goes.
BAD ALCHEMY, Rigobert Dittmann (Bad Alchemy Nr. 88, Januar 2016) (201601), S. 27.

Trumpeter Dörner and percussionist Turner are both perfectly at home in a full blooded, free jazz situation but in all three of theselengthy improvisations, with da Boff playing electric organs and little instruments, they settle into a constantly regenerating micro-environment of small, muted gestures. Dörner is a master of tightly controlled techniques, which he gleefully unpacks here while Turner busies himself with metallic scrapes and rattles, and da Boff adds a throbbing background hum. But after a while it’s not so easy to tell who’s doing what. Who’s that tinkering with a piano’s innards? Is that mooning growl coming from an organ or a trumpet? Or is it a disconsolate Wookiee trying to take the stage?
WIRE, Daniel Spicer (Wire Nr. 384, February 2016) (201602), S. 63f..

Hier wird der Jazz-Fehdehandschuh von innen nach außen gestülpt. Und wieder zurück: Das Trio Turner/Dörner/Boff lotet auf dem Album aus dem Hause Euphorium die Innen- bzw. Außenräume eines konventionellen Jazzvokabulars aus und beschränkt sich dabei darauf, was gemeinhin als musikalische Nebenprodukte aussortiert wird. Punk also im ursprünglichen Wortsinn vielleicht – oder klassischer Freejazz, wenn man mir den Ausdruck verzeiht. Dabei entstehen kompetente Spannungszustände und deren musikalische Kommentarebenen, prächtige Widersprüchlichkeiten und zärtliche Einverständnisbekundungen, alles was zu einem guten Gespräch unter Freunden so gehört. Zuweilen entwickeln sich sogar spröde Grooves, die jedoch sogleich erschreckt fallengelassen werden, um nicht in Versuchung zu kommen. Auch da scheint man sich einig zu sein. Trotzdem gelingt es auf lange Sicht nicht wirklich, der Vereinzelung der Instrumente zu entkommen, denn mit fortschreitender Laufzeit scheint das Innen wieder zum Außen zu werden, oder eben vice versa. Der musikalische Rahmen ist abgesteckt, und die Infragestellung der Hörgewohnheiten wird selbst zur Hörgewohnheit. Willkommen in der Dialektik des Freejazz, eine komplizierte Angelegenheit.
FREISTIL, Gregor Mahnert (Freistil Nr. 65, März/April 2016) (201603), S. 21.

Ra Ra da Boff is another alter ego of Oliver Schwerdt, one that he uses for his collaboration with Axel Dörner (trumpet) and Roger Turner (percussion). Again a combination of players of different generations. Turner started recording in the 70s, Dörner in the 90s. The recording we are now talking of dates from December 18th, 2013, one day after the ‘Tumult’ recording. Their improvisations are of a different nature as on ‘Tumult’. Turner uses no drums, but a lot of percussive instruments and tools. Dörner plays trumpet, using extended techniques. So their improvisations are much about coloring. Very different sounds emerge. Complemented by Ra Ra da Boff playing an electric organ and little instruments. In the first improvisation it is Turner who decides where to go. The patterns and runs he plays are very entertaining. Ra Ra da Boff provides dark and uncomfortable sounds in the background. Dörner makes full use of this range of techniques. A joy to listen to. This is also counts for the other two improvisations. The subtle playing of Dörner and Turner is full of details, little twists, short runs. Ra Ra da Boff adds often long-sustained sounds from his organ. Playing in a way that is not often heard in contexts like these. But it really works. Excellent work!
VITAL WEEKLY, Don Mulder (http://www.vitalweekly.net/1025.html [20160129])

If you have a look at the socio-economic conditions of improvised music you’ll find out that it is mostly an urban phenomenon. Most of the musicians live in metropolitan areas like New York, Chicago, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Krakow or Vienna (to name just a few) because that is where you can find clubs and other musicians to jam with - in other words: a network. However, Axel Dörner (tp), Roger Turner (dr) and Ra Ra da Boff (electric organs, little instruments) try to find out if there is more to it and have named their album after the places they live - London Leipzig Berlin. The question is if these cities also have style-defining features for the process of improvising.
For the first time Roger Turner, one of the main protagonists of the British improvising scene, and Axel Dörner, the most important trumpeter of Berlin’s Echtzeit network, have joined forces here. Dörner’s trumpet is characterized by its formal severity and the attempt to find new, otherworldly sounds, something which can also be said about Turner’s way to play his drum kit. As in many of his collaborations he uses an arsenal of extended materials, and his contributions fizzle, clatter, rattle, scrape or jolt, rather than groove in a classic sense. It’s obvious that there is a huge intersection with Dörner’s vibrating, bubbling and muffled micro-environmental sounds, which creates a lot of high tension.
The glue that keeps these approaches together is Ra Ra da Boff, a pseudonym for Friedrich Kettlitz and Oliver Schwerdt (who enjoys using monikers like Birg Borgenthal or Elan Pauer). Of course the double Ra refers to Sun Ra and indeed it seems like two Sun Ras are sending pulsating signals from out of space that serve as spooky background buzz. Like electro-magnetic textures these organ sounds wobble through the improvisation, especially the bass booms in incredibly low frequencies (you need good speakers to enjoy this). Turner and Dörner sound as if they play in a shipyard, next to huge canvases whipped by a storm.
What appears a test arrangement built on the remnants of Art Brut is, in fact, the exact opposite: a clever creation of calculated differences like condensed drone clusters and tiny sound splinters, with an intensity that swells and ebbs away like bonfires that are kindled by sudden gusts of wind again and again.
This is indeed the soundtrack of cities at night, of the outskirts, the lonely places, industrial areas, tower blocks. If it is the specific sound of London, Leipzig and Berlin is hard to tell. In any case, this is very urban music.
THE FREE JAZZ COLLECTIVE, Martin Schray (http://www.freejazzblog.org/2016/04/axel-dorner-roger-turner-ra-ra-da-boff.html [20160408])