UWE OBERG TRIO / QUARTET
UWE OBERG piano / GEORG WOLF doublebass / JÖRG FISCHER drums
+ FRANK GRATKOWSKI altosax, clarinets
+ HEINZ SAUER tenor-, sopranosax
CDs:
AFTER ALL Trio + Frank Gratkowski (Konnex Records 2006)
DEDICATED Quartett w Matthias Schubert (Jazz'N'Arts 1603, 2003)
>LO< Trio (Leo Records, LeoLab 030, 1996)
Soundfiles: Starting all Al dente Falling_(CD AFTER ALL)(
Founded in 1994, this trio is one of the rare long-lasting ensembles of improvised music. Starting with free improvisation and originals by Oberg,
the band traveled to various musical terrains - to the music of Monk, Coltrane a.o., also as a quartet with tenorsax-player Matthias Schubert.
Today the band plays with Frank Gratkowski compositions by Oberg and also music associated with the early Paul Bley.
Whatever Oberg plays, he transforms everything into his individual, twinkling and cross-border piano-style. "Oberg is one of the most interesting free pianists of the younger generation." (Michael Rieth, Frankfurter Rundschau)
UWE OBERG *1962, piano since 1970, member of the Kooperative New Jazz (ARTist) Wiesbaden, active since the early 80ies in various fields from conceptual Jazz/New Music to free improvisation, performances with dance/theatre/lyrics, music for silent movies, HumaNoise Congress. LACY POOL (music of Steve Lacy) w CHRISTOF THEWES & MICHAEL GRIENER, trio CUSH w SAADET TÜRKÖZ & PAUL LOVENS, Duo w EVAN PARKER, trio w FRANK PAUL SCHUBERT & GUENTER BABY SOMMER. Cooperation with international musicians e.g. ALFRED HARTH, TONY OXLEY, PETER KOWALD (+), URS LEIMGRUBER, SAADET TÜRKÖZ, HEINZ SAUER, SUBROTO ROY CHOWDHURY, XU FENGXIA, JÜRGEN WUCHNER, SVEN-AKE JOHANSSON, RUDI MAHALL. Numerous CD's.
2007 Jazzprize of the state of Hessen.
GEORG WOLF since 1978 working with various Jazzgroups between mainstream & free, theatremusic, pedagogic work, radio broadcasts, since 1987 focus on improvised music, member of the Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble, 1990 foundation of the GIESSEN IMPROVISERS POOL, numerous concerts with improvised music, resident near Giessen. Working groups: ENSEMBLE SONDARC (6 doublebasses), ENSEMBLE H a.o.
JÖRG FISCHER *1971, drums since 1985, since 1990 focus on improvised music, works also in the aereas Jazz, Rock, New Music, 1993-97 drum-studies with Janusz Stefanski, member of the Kooperative New Jazz (ARTist) Wiesbaden, resident in Wiesbaden.
Trio LURK LAB (w MATTHIAS SCHUBERT & ULI BOETTCHER), plays with CHRISTOF THEWES, PETER BROETZMANN, JÜRGEN WUCHNER, HANS TAMMEN, PHILLIP ZOUBEK; MARC CHARIG a.m.o. CDs
REVIEWSOberg is one of the most interesting free pianists of the younger generation. His just released CD "Dedicated" is exemplary in connecting composition with improvisation... MICHAEL RIETH / FR
The themes are like sandbanks in a constantly self-reflecting flow, the musicians form it with much freedom and a wide-awake perception for each other... FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU
Mainly Oberg on the piano surprised with unusual ideas and a Tayloresk intensity...he sounds like Monk as a
Free-Jazz player...BADISCHE NEUE NACHRICHTEN
An extraordinar adventure for the listener... JAZZPODIUM
Tales of great expression, unnecessary ballast has been thrown over board - refreshing music, that generates pictures in one’s head. Zen can be experienced... NEUE WESTFÄLISCHE ZEITUNG
DAN WARBURTON / THE WIRE, December 2007
Uwe Oberg / After All / KONNEX CD
Recorded in Cologne's Loft in December 2005, After All is the long-awaited (at least where I live) sequel to 1996's fine Leo Lab outing Lo, and once more finds pianist Uwe Oberg in the company of bassist Georg Wolf, drummer Jörg Fischer and, three of the eight tracks, clarinettist extraordinaire Frank Gratkowski.
Like his fellow German free improvising pianist and occasional Gratkowski sparring partner Georg Graewe, Oberg's influences run far and wide, but the traces that remain - the bittersweet harmony of Paul Bley and Ran Blake, the motivic intricacy of Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill (a fine solo piano to whom can be streamed from Oberg's website, by the way) - have been carefully assimilated into a fluid, often florid style all his own.
He's got the ideal rhythm section to support him too, Fischer's drumming is sensitive and pointillistic without being flashy, and Wolf provides solid harmonic grounding with a full, round tone and a melodic thrust that's dynamic and determined but never brash and aggressive. Gratkowski sitting in is the icing on the cake - Oberg is in his element with another instrument in the mid- and high registers to bounce his musical ideas off, and does so at lightning speed. "Al Dente" is as crisp and tasty as its title implies. But the more introspective trio ballad that precedes it, "Loose All", is no less impressive, as Oberg, Wolf and Fischer tease and fold lines and shapes gently around each other with grace and space to spare. This is supple, intricate, accomplished European contemporary jazz of the highest order. DAN WARBURTON
CADENCE / New York / February 2004
Five of the pieces carry dedications to other musicians, and the fact, that the dedicatees - Bley, Feldman, Coltrane, Braxton, Weston - are such a varied lot, gives clues to the intriguing nature of the music. There is a fascinating root system at work in these performances, one that gives an impression of a tremendous depth, and a striking degree of creativity. A distinctly European tree, its bark contains that indefinable, ironic sense found in much german art. Its branche, however, reference both American and European improvised music, gnarling them up in ways that sets this particular quartet apart from the rest of the herd.
The quietly compelling theme of the Braxton tribute opener casts a wide-intervalled theme, typical of his subject, in an unusually warm harmonic environment. This draws the listener in deeply, even more when Oberg's piano spirals around the tense melody in Cecil Taylor-ish pulsations. Saxophonist Schubert, who counts Gunter Hampel, Simon Nabatov and Mark Feldman among his playmates, digs deep in a robust, Chicagoan tenor tradition for this track, and contorts the "After The Rain" theme in true free-Jazzer fashion on this track. Drummer Jörg Fischer has an acute ear for texture, and an easy-rolling approach for rhythm that's reminiscent of the casual brilliance of a Jim Black, or a Paul Lovens.
The Feldman dedication is more late 1960's Art Ensemble Of Chicago than Feldman to these ears, but is well-done nonethless.
MASSIMO RICCI, TOUCHING EXTREMES / ROME / September 2006
Uwe Oberg is a talented pianist with a limpid, comprehensible phrasing that puts him at ease in the most different settings. The rhythm section mixes youth and experience, as drummer Fischer and bassist Wolf - two refined instrumentalists with class to spare - have worked both in more "mainstream" situations (including rock) and in company of high calibers such as Cecil Taylor and John Butcher. The trio is helped in three tracks by the inquisitive clarinet of Frank Gratkowski, who adds spice and a whole set of alternative directions to the music. Eight segments (plus a short ghost track) that show a lot: brilliant technique, maturity and an absolute respect of jazz roots are put at the service of a bright-minded improvisation, characterized by a sensitive interplay which exalts the inspired counterpoint generated by these fascinating combinations. We can also enjoy several segments where the single instrumental voices are left alone or barely surrounded by a "presence", like if ancient spirits oversaw the activities of their worshippers while they prepare a ceremony; "Falling" is a good example in that sense. This CD is a pleasing introduction to the best of what contemporary European jazz has to offer these days.