Knoten by Thomas Heberer & Achim Kaufmann

Ken Waxman, reviewing "Knoten" in the September 2013 edition of "The New York City Jazz Record"

Following a 30-year gestation period, Achim Kaufmann (piano and prepared piano) and Thomas Heberer (trumpet and quarter-tone trumpet) have recorded their first duo disc. This program of high- quality improv was worth the wait but one wishes they had done so sooner. Teenage conservatory roommates and jobbers, Heberer and Kaufmann subsequently established themselves elsewhere.

Today, the NYC-based Heberer is best known as a member of the ICP Orchestra while Kaufmann, now a Berliner, is occupied in many Continental ensembles, most notably with Frank Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode.

With all nine tracks credited to Kaufmann, Heberer or both, the selections are concerned with tryouts and tropes, not story-telling, the players uncovering novel ways to meld or contrast textures and timbres. This is facilitated with extensions available from quarter-tone trumpet and prepared piano. For instance, the piano string stops, strums and plucks gradually insinuate themselves within the jerky narrative of “Mâchoire” after Kaufmann’s methodical note placement angles that way. In reaction, Heberer turns from open-horn note sprays to baby whines and dog yelping simulations without altering the midtempo melody. By mid-session both men put aside their more measured and hesitant byplay for erudite humor. For example, the pianist’s warm voicing on “Großer Onkel” is interrupted by the trumpeter’s razzing lip burbles before the two attain a staccato blend of key clipping and metal buzzing. In a similar fashion, Kaufmann’s comping turns from soothing to jagged on “Ohrschuft”, the better to push Heberer’s legato phrasing into a collaborative theme. Knoten translates as “knots” and the trumpeter’s unfinished phrase at the finale of the closing “Kleimasker” suggests the two are prepared to untangle a few more knots on a future date.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Heberer_(musician)

thomasheberer.com