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the temperature dropped again
Arnal & Eichmann
the temperature dropped again
1. swing dribble – pointing north / 2. pendulum/ 3. bermuda triangle boat
trip / 4. half pint / 5. radio set
four french apparitions 6. l’appat / 7. la méduse / 8. l’écureuil
ivrogne / 9. le désir froid
for Benno Trautmann 10. ...durch offene Grenzen
Dietrich Eichmann – piano, Jeff Arnal – drums, percussion
recorded at Hans-Rosbaud-Studio, Baden-Baden, on December 6, 2002
Leo Records 2004
total duration: 62:33
from the booklet:
There is a new generation of musicians with a bright look into the future who
try out everything to create a new music and two of these new inventors are
percussionist Jeff Arnal from New York City and pianist and composer Dietrich
Eichmann from Old Berlin.
Jeff Arnal contributes a unique approach towards sculpting the form, focus,
intensity and dynamic qualities of the music. The broad spectre of his capacity
as an improviser may be underlined by the fact that he frequently shares the
stage in a duet setting with one of the most spontaneous saxophonists of our
time, Charles Gayle.
A musician who seeks the challenge to play with Charles Gayle on the one hand
and Dietrich Eichmann on the other must be a very special character. I hope
to meet Jeff Arnal someday somwhere – the sooner the better!
In the eighties Dietrich Eichmann understood himself as a pure free improviser,
as much as that is possible, of course, before he turned into a composer. Today
he includes ideas he originally developed for his compositions in his playing
which is freely improvised, but out of a different conciousness. He told me
that he could not improvise the way he does today if he had not concentrated
on compositional structures all the time before.
Somehow Dietrich Eichmann works the opposite way of Portuguese flutist Carlos
Bechegas who would choose the better parts of his free improvisations to ‘compose’
concerts and recordings while Dietrich has his compositional skills at hand
while freely improvising. About both situations we could speak as forms of constructed
improvisation.
Im May 2002 Dietrich performed with The Straight Trio at the Improvised and
Otherwise Festival of Sound and Form in Brooklyn, NY. Jeff is co-artistic director
of this annual festival of experimental music, dance and multi-media work. During
this visit the duet had their first musical meeting. At their second meeting
in December of the same year they recorded at Hans-Rosbaud-Studio in Baden-Baden,
Germany. Their wonderful music is entirely improvised although determined by
the compositional ideas of both musicians.
One day Dietrich told me the following: ‘John, you’re almost seventy
and it’s highest time you get serious’, and I replied, ‘You’re
right, Dietrich, let’s produce a CD together’. Of course, there is
another reason, too: Jeff and Dietrich have a lot to offer and it’s right
here for you! - John ‘Sugar Daddy’ Rottiers
Eichmann and Arnal cover a great deal of territory. Their intimacy with their
instruments allows them to bring forth an array of fresh, unpredictable sounds;
the music is alternately dissonant, meditative, industrial, lilting, explosive,
and stark.
In the first suite, “Pendulum” is a particularly lovely piece, simultaneously
lyrical and free, and “Half Pint” works boldly with silence.The highlight
is “Four French Apparitions”; the four songs shimmer with delicacy and
beauty as Eichmann’s rapidly cascading high notes create an otherworldy sparkle
of sound.
They hold to no particular limitations or rules as they work the edge between
music and sound; both are interested in dynamics and the use of space as well
as the orchestral sides of their instruments. A playful element is at work as
well; clearly they enjoy the process. - Florence Wetzel, All About Jazz, New York,
June 2004
This piano and percussion duo offers a solid and imaginative hour of improvisation.
Dietrich Eichmann’s ideas of pacing, dynamic, and cadence inform the proceedings
here, fully articulating the form while playing completely spontaneously.
Likewise, Jeff Arnal, always walks the tightrope, playing instinctively and with
great surprise in knotty dynamic situations. He understands the implicit directive
that the music gives to play around his collaborator as much as through him.
As the pieces unfold, there are wonderful surprises, disconcerting moments, and,
of course, eternal movement through the terrain of jazz, classical, and other
musics that serve as touchstones for their joint creations. - Thom Jurek, All
Music Guide
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