Associate Professor of Double Bass and Jazz Studies Hans Sturm has released a new CD titled “A Day in Paris.”
Joining him on the CD are Assistant Professor of Composition Tom Larson, piano, and Sylvain Rabbath, piano.
In the liner notes on the CD, Jazz Journalist Neil Tesser (Grammy Award 2014 and Jazz Journalist Association Lifetime Achievement Award 2015) wrote, “With apologies to Réne Magritte, this is not (exactly) a jazz album.”
“The music on this project is not necessarily clearly definable,” Sturm said. “But created from a variety of influences. For instance, a bowed bass is normally associated with classical music, not jazz. However, I have been working in this area of crossover music—creating music with influences from classical techniques combined with jazz improvisation, contemporary composition and other ethnic and folk references. As a composer and improvising artist, Tom Larson is a perfect partner to help create and explore these rich, varied and unexpected musical landscapes.”
As the title implies, the CD’s 12 tracks were recorded on a single day in Paris in 2012.
“Everything was recorded on a single day,” Sturm said. “In one afternoon, really. Sometimes events line up in a wonderful way that allow you to take a project further than you had anticipated. That was the case here.”
Sturm has worked for almost 20 years with his mentor, François Rabbath. A virtuoso player, Rabbath’s major contribution to bass pedagogy is represented in his six-volume method book, “Nouvelle technique de la contrebasse.” Sturm and Rabbath created two pedagogical DVDs, “The Art of the Bow” and “The Art of the Left Hand.”
“Each project took five years to complete and both feature lecture/demonstrations, live concert footage, interviews and biomechanics animations,” Sturm said. “We had just completed a long day of animation capture for the second DVD, and François was excited to show me something. It was the manuscript for his ‘Concerto #2,’ never before published, that he had originally performed at his Carnegie Hall debut in the mid 1970’s. He had typeset the music, and there was a dedication page with my name on it. This was as moving as you can imagine, having a mentor or someone whom you greatly respect in your field, dedicate a significant work to you. Of course that meant I had to learn the piece.”
Rabbath heard him perform it two times with his son, Sylvain, who is Rabbath’s primary accompanist, in Washington, D.C., in 2010 and in Kansas City in 2011.
“At the reception, after the second performance, he encouraged me to record the piece,” Sturm said. “Incidentally, the piece is a classical work with Middle Eastern influences and improvised cadenza.”
Larson and Sturm were accepted to perform a recital of crossover music they had created at the European BASS2012 Convention in the Royal Copenhagen Opera House.
“Thanks to the flexibility of our Hixson-Lied Travel Grant, we were able to combine the performance at BASS2012 with a Paris recording session, using Paris as our European flight hub,” Sturm said. “The primary goal was to record the Concerto, and, if we had time, to record some of our duo material as well. Fortunately, Sylvain had an excellent connection at Studio Davout, one of the world’s great recording studios, and I was able to book the large orchestra-size room with the nine-foot Fazioli piano. The Concerto went well, and we were able to record more music than is on the CD. It was an amazing experience.”
Paris is a special place for Sturm.
“Paris holds special meaning for me in many ways,” he said. “Beyond my work with Rabbath, I love the culture—food, wine, art. It is also where my 12-year-old son, Wolfgang, was conceived.”
The CD is available through CD Baby (http://go.unl.edu/dsbd). It is also available for download on Amazon (http://go.unl.edu/wpk4) and iTunes (http://go.unl.edu/s4j9).
Sturm said he liked what Chris Spector of Midwest Record said about the CD in his review: “Being the consummate bass player of this time, Sturm will have you guessing whether this is classical, instrumental, jazz or what—but you will like it because it's loaded with beauty, chops and tons of heart. The kind of ear opening stuff that's needed every so often to cleanse the palette, this is unabashed art of the highest order that is not only artful, it's full of the kind of art that'll scare off hipsters and poseurs leaving everyone else to enjoy it as it was meant to be. Hey, some of it doesn't even feel like art."