Georg Gräwe, Ernst Reijseger, Gerry Hemingway - Sonic Fiction (hat Art, 1989)

This post is by Dan

Georg Gräwe (p); Ernst Reijseger (vc); Gerry Hemingway (d, perc)

Recorded March 14, 1989

Sonic Fiction is the first of ten albums by this free-improvising trio. Gräwe is German, Reijseger is Dutch, and Hemingway is American. All were born in the 1950s and played significant roles in improvisatory settings throughout Europe. Their most recent recording together is 2014's Concertgebouw Brugge 2014, released in Poland. Continuum (Winter & Winter, 2006) is more readily available.

I am familiar with five of the group's recordings made between 1989 and 2005. All are fascinating adventures that display individual talents and group chemistry. In the absence of any wind instruments, the group sound is percussive. Reijseger's cello is played in many different ways (bowed, plucked, strummed, and thumped). Hemingway also exploits the resources of his massive kit and doubles on vibes, marimba, and what sounds to me like a steel drum. 

As with several of the trio's album, Sonic Fiction was recorded live, this time in a German museum. Of course, even the studio recordings are "live" as there are no charts or advance planning. Each tune does have a "composer" listed, but it's not clear what a composer does in this group. As for the music, Art Lange's booklet notes are insightful: 

"They have found a way to create music unburdened of stereotypes, cliches, and precedents, music that is not dependent upon jazz or classical music for a context, and refers to them only tangentially. This is Improvised New Music, which is free to draw on any source without selling its soul to do so."

The advice I find most helpful for listening to this trio is the obligation to suspend expectations. If you come to this music expecting it to sound like a conventional jazz trio, with the cello replacing the string bass, you will spend the full length of the album confused. But if you accept the artists' methods, you can embark on a fanciful sonic journey where issues of harmony, form, and rhythm become irrelevant. A three-way conversation is difficult to sustain without one voice dominating, but Sonic Fiction displays remarkable balance, and leadership also becomes irrelevant.

Sonic Fiction captures these players at the beginning of their journey. If you get hooked on this one, there are many subsequent albums to discover.