Artist: Rafael Baier

Date of Release: 31/08/2005

Catalogue no: AS188

Label: Altrisuoni

Price: £12

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Track Listing

The music on this debut CD of the Rafael Baier Quartet was written during a six-month stay of its leader in the city of Prague in the summer of 2004. Mysterious sonic traces of long walks passed the grave of Franz Kafka, whose novel „die Verwandlung“ gave the CD its title. According to the novels protagonist who one day awakes as a bug the tunes carry the names of today’s most influencial bugs-computer viruses. Stories of a city between it’s comunist past and it’s future in the European Union, reflections of a foreign language and a foreign lifestyle from a crawler’s point of view.

The compositions on „metamorphosis“ mix the spacey sounds and the energetic beats of today’s electronic music with the improvisational liberties and complex forms of jazz. Rafael Baier’s writing is very much inspired by the works of Esbjörn Svensson, Erik Truffaz and Bugge Wesseltoft.

The international quartet includes Christian Gall (Rhodes, piano) from Munich and Jörg Mikula (drums) from Vienna who were classmates of Rafael Baier (soprano, tenor saxophone, flute, samples) during his studies at Berklee College of Music. Claudio Strebel (bass) and the guests Willy Kotoun (percussion), Anemone Gonon (berimbao) and Christoph Keller „THE BONTEMPI FIVE“ (turntables) joined the band recently.

Reviews

30/05/2008 Marcel Benedikt, Aargauer Zeitung

In a preview to the release of “metamorphosis”, Marcel Benedikt writes in the Aargauer Zeitung: „ The international quartet of Rafael Baier is a true discovery in the area of contemporary jazz. The quartet itself went through a metamorphosis during the seven years of it’s existence. Founded as a mainstream jazz quartet it soon started to include folk elements. On it’s leader’s initiative they now shifted gears towards electronic music. The result is a vibrant modern sound, a spacey atmosphere over driving beats. A real discovery. Don’t’ miss it!“