DOT Desk: Lisbeth Quartet, a jazz troupe featuring Charlotte Greve on saxpohone, Manuel Schimedel on piano, Moritz Baumgartner on drums and Igor Spallati on double bass, performed at a concert in Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, recently, reports The Daily Star.
The concert was sponsored by the Goethe Institut.
The band opened with the piece Original Source, an appropriate and well-chosen number. The track started in a slow gliding tempo, welcoming the audience and allowing them to settle down before the performance picks up pace. The piece had no fixed timing, with no set chords, tempo or rhythm. It started slow and developed to a medium tempo groove towards the end, morphing in multiple and diverse ways.The band next rendered saxophonist John Coltrane’s version of Arthur Altman composed piece, On Or Nothing At All.
Rendered in a traditional way in the beginning, Manuel returned to the main melody, improvising and repeating the movement.
The band’s next presentation, Chorale, as the title suggests, is modelled on church music, composed by pianist Manuel Schmiedel. However, it is not based on any traditional fixed form. The pianist started with a long introduction filled with rich improvisations.
Off Minor, a traditional composition by Thelonius Monk, was the next installment in the concert. Unlike classic jazz renditions, the band did not de-construct the composition.
Instead, they faithfully followed Monk’s melody lines towards the beginning and near the end, making rich and diverse improvisations in between the number.