Double bassist Christian Weber is fast becoming one of the most interesting players on the European elektroacoustic Improv scene. Although he's a good free improvisor, he seems to prefer to work with predetermined structures, albeit ones that are either hidden or very discreet. In that respect, he's group work on the obscurely titled 3 Suits & A Violin bears strong comparison with that of Euro fellow travellers such as Polwechsel and Radian. Mersault (of which Weber is a member), Efzeg and Trapist also to work in similar areas. The quintet that Weber put together for this 2002 studio session involve Hans Koch, Martin Siewert, cellist Michael Moser and percussionist Christian Wolfarth.
Between them, they produce a music full of unexpected dynamic shifts and resonances. There is, here and there, but most obviously on 'Pony Music', a hint as to the origins of this kind of music-

making: AMM, especially during thegroup's first incarnation, when saxophonist Lou Gare was a member. But the players in Weber's group know how to make the sounds breathe rather better than AMM did then, something that I suspect is largely attributable to Morton Feldman's influence on a generation of improvisers post-1990.This is heard best on the CD's final piece, 'Lone Star', especially during its closing moments; though it's there too in the preceding tracks, clearly discernible no matter how dense the music becomes. Weber's bass playing is less noise-orientated than on his recent Osaka Solo (3"CD issued in a dinky DVD case); here his arco drones are rich and lustrous, and when he drops individual notes in to the mix they detonate like honey bombs.


Brian Marley