Rebecca Trescher Tentet: Experts in Beautiful Jazz at Augsburg Jazz Summer
The sound of the cello hums, the harp chirps, the flute whispers: Is this already, is this still jazz? Reporting on Rebecca Trescher and her tentet cannot work without a reference to classical music and classical modern music. It starts with the music stands, where the accordion-style editions often require the highest concentration – and it doesn’t stop at the instruments used, such as the cello, harp, and flute. While these instruments are present in jazz, they are not its main voices. Not even the clarinet, which practically stands at the center of this highly serious evening at the Rosenpavillon in the Botanical Garden – despite Benny Goodman, despite Woody Herman. And certainly not the bass clarinet, on which Rebecca Trescher, bandleader and composer, opens and closes the performance. The concert lasted for almost two hours without a break. But these two hours were filled with musical substance.
Rebecca Trescher’s compositions are not loud, fast, or fiery. They do not incite swing, drive, or groove that make listeners tap their feet or snap their fingers. They are not loud, fast, or fiery. They do not aim to overwhelm with effects and ego excitement. The potentially rough or gritty aspects of jazz are largely foreign to them – as is the overtly extroverted.
So the question arises: Is this already, is this still jazz? Yes, this is jazz. Reflecting on the proven, well-received methods of music history. Following the elimination process above, a sketch of strong characteristic features must follow: Rebecca Trescher’s works generally unfold gently, contemplatively.
Primarily, they focus on the collective intellect and its interaction with all aspects; they are sophisticated and intricate; the transparent chamber music sound is part of a frequently restrained, introspective way of making music. In short, Rebecca Trescher writes „composer jazz,“ refined, cultured, and wise. In the house of Father Jazz, there are many rooms. One for the members of the Academy of Beautiful Jazz.
Enchanting, atmospheric jazz in the Botanical Garden
However, it is important to prevent a possible misunderstanding. That this might be a paper-based, formal type of jazz. It is certainly not. The proof lies in the two most beautiful pieces of this evening, untouched by drizzle and light rain. They were called „Hidden in the Forest“ and „Night,“ works from the older CD production „Paris Cycle“ and the latest Trescher recording „Character Pieces,“ which were the focus of the concert.
„Hidden in the Forest“ almost sounds like a chorale, at least a mysteriously dark, homophonically led passage of the wind instruments at the forefront of the Tentet. This leads to one of Rebecca Trescher’s poignant, intense clarinet solos, which can be described as „hypnotic“ and „incantatory,“ especially when they sound winding and oriental like in „High Altitude Air.“
And „Night“ is a magical, atmospheric piece, introduced by the harp, fantasizing as beautifully as the 19th and early 20th centuries could have. Anton Mangold, also a multi-instrumentalist, becomes romantic… To later hand it over to Julian Hesse and his trumpet, blown into the darkness with wonderfully patinated, veiled tones. Roland Neffe, the vibraphonist, laid the nucleus, the cell and nerve center for this composition „Night“ – just as for the CD „Character Pieces,“ each of the nine collaborators brought in a sketched egg cell for Rebecca Trescher, from which she created fully developed works almost symphonic in scale. Enchanting.
In Augsburg, Rebecca Trescher also echoes Bach
It is not surprising that there are references to music history. Whether it is Impressionism with its exquisitely chosen color palette, parallel melodic lines like in Ravel’s Bolero, the cello (Juri Kannheiser) showing its knowledge of Bach and his viol music in an intermezzo, the organ-like vibrations or patterns reminiscent of Minimal Music: all of these elements are intricately woven into the oeuvre of composer Trescher, born and educated in Reutlingen in 1986 – with occasional nods to free jazz, nature music with „wind noises“ from the wind instruments, and the arranging skills of Gil Evans peeking around the corner.
The fact that a smart woman leads a group of skilled men remains uncommented at this point…