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Review

Matthias Schriefl Shreefpunk

Live: Birmingham Symphony Hall Bar 17/04/2009

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by Ian Mann

April 20, 2009

/ LIVE

An irresistible blend of irreverent humour and musical sophistication from this young band on the move

The young German trumpeter and composer Matthias Schriefl (27) is one of the rising stars of European jazz. Now signed to the prestigious ACT label his regular working band Shreefpunk have produced two remarkable albums; “Shreefpunk Plus Strings (2007) and the brilliant “Live In Koln” (2009). The latter is reviewed elsewhere on this site.

“Live In Koln” features a guest appearance by the great Django Bates and his presence gives an idea of just where Shreefpunk’s music is coming from. Like Bates Schriefl displays a healthy disregard for the “tradition” and he takes great delight in musically “doing things I shouldn’t be doing”. His compositions combine an anarchic sense of humour with a high degree of musical sophistication. It’s an intoxicating mix and one that quickly won over a pleasingly large audience crammed into the bar area at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall.

Remarkably this concert was a free event promoted by Birmingham Jazz in co-operation with ECHO (the European Concert Halls Organisation). Normally ECHO support classical performers and as Birmingham Jazz’s Tony Dudley Evans explained in his introduction this was the first time they had been involved with a jazz group.

This was an early evening performance at 17.30 hours, part of Birmingham Jazz’s popular “Rush Hour Blues” series which normally features local bands. I suspect that most of the audience didn’t know quite what to expect but even those of us who had heard Shreefpunk before were in for a few surprises. The “Live In Koln” album suggested that the band were likely to unleash a barrage of noise and play at rock band volume levels in the style of Acoustic Ladyland or Led Bib. Instead Shreefpunk played at a relatively modest level which allowed the listener to fully appreciate the subtlety and sophistication of the music.

This is not to say that the anarchic element was missing. Schriefl appeared dressed in caricature German shorts and socks and a garish African shirt acquired on a visit to Abidjan (of which more later). He also proved to be an engagingly eccentric interlocutor between tunes with an excellent command of English and a manic sense of humour. A sense of the theatrical purveyed everything he did with his three supremely talented accompanists happy for him to play the part of frontman.

Joining Schriefl on trumpet and flugel were his regular band members Johannes Behr (guitars), Robert Landfermann ( double bass) and Jens Duppe (drums). Schriefl also deployed an array of children’s toys plus glockenspiel and melodica, a fact that suggests that Hermeto Pascoal is another primary influence. Interestingly the use of such toys is also common to their fellow countrymen and ACT artists the Jorg Brinkmann Trio. 

Shreefpunk are a band that like to defy expectation and I, for one was surprised when they opened with a ballad. “Frisch Verwirrt” appears on “Brazilian Motions” a relatively straightforward Brazilian/ballad album cut under Schriefl’s name prior to his tenure with ACT. This proved to be conventionally pretty and showed off the purity of Schriefl’s trumpet tone to perfection. He is a superb technician even though he sometimes deploys that technique for subversive purposes. Solos also came from the excellent Landfermann who was to feature extensively throughout the evening and from Behr on semi acoustic. 

It has become a Shreefpunk tradition for Schriefl to write a tune for every city they play in. A trilogy of such tunes “Wien” “Munchen” and “Rome” appears on the “Live In Koln” album. Tonight we were to hear a collection of other “city” tunes commencing with “Abidjan”,written for the capital of the Ivory Coast and here introduced by Schriefl’s shirt tale. Musically the piece was suitably joyous and unmistakably African in inspiration. Landfermann again demonstrated his abilities as a soloist, Schriefl appeared on ocarina and melodica before unleashing a trumpet solo that ranged from stunning high register playing to vocalised growls all set against the backdrop of Behr’s effects laden guitar. Elsewhere Behr got to solo melodically, almost sounding like Pat Metheny at times and there was an extended feature for the outstanding Duppe. This was exhilarating stuff guaranteed to win over any doubters.

“Regen” (“Rain”) drawn from the “Live In Koln” record quietened things down again with it’s after hours feel initially purveyed by Schriefl on flugel before he reverted to the trumpet. Behr’s electric guitar shadings also added greatly to the melancholy atmospherics of the piece.

“Wien” from the “Koln” album was inspired by the food of that city, specifically wiener schnitzel. Schriefl involved his audience in the intro getting them to name foods associated with Vienna. The guy who came up with schnitzel went home with a free CD! Musically the tune also referenced Vienna with it’s skewed waltzes and cod circus music setting these against Behr’s powerful riffing.

Schriefl’s melodica doodling featured alongside his trumpet contributions and Landfermann once again soloed fluently.

“Wien” marked the beginning of a sequence of “city tunes”. “Ants In Stockholm” featured Behr’s solo guitar intro and Schriefl’s flugel horn.

“Birthday Party In Athens” was introduced by Schriefl’s account of a night spent in a Greek jail which may or may not have been apocryphal. In any event the music was suitably light hearted, full of quirky changes and time signatures. Initially introduced by Landfermann’s bass it also saw the band belting out unabashed rock rhythms. Schriefl has declared himself to “have no fear of simplicity and no fear of complexity”. He certainly demonstrated this during the course of this remarkable concert. In his case “punk” is an attitude rather than a musical style.

For the next tune Schriefl distributed sheet music amongst the group for the first time. This was to be the tune he had written specifically for this performance. “Robert In Birmingham” turned out to be a feature for Landfermann. His dark arco bass, the sound mutated by the use of a foot pedal was the thread running throughout the tune. Schriefl used a cup mute to conjure up wah wah trumpet effects like a 21st Century Bubber Miley. Once again the band deployed rock rhythms, possibly a nod in the direction of Birmingham’s own Black Sabbath as one audience member later suggested.

Some of the riffs sounded a bit too sophisticated for the Sabs to me but they were the kind of thing King Crimson might have been proud of.

After another word from Tony Dudley Evans the group closed with the set piece “Aua!”, an exclamation of pain. This juxtaposed cod New Orleans sounds from Schriefl on muted flugel horn, daft vocalisations from Schriefl and Duppe and sudden punk like squalls with Schriefl rushing into the audience. All very silly but highly entertaining and great fun. These guys have the advanced techniques to make musical humour work effectively. You can’t take liberties with music unless you can play it in the first place. 

Shreefpunk is undoubtedly the trumpeter’s band but the contribution of the others is vital to their success as a group. They may be happy for Schriefl to clown around and take the limelight but there is real musical intelligence at work here. Schriefl is a virtuoso trumpeter and a talented composer, but Behr, the quiet man of the group is a highly effective foil. His riffing and chording is in many ways the backbone of the band and he is also an effective soloist. The extravagantly bearded Landfermann is an imaginative and fluent soloist but he also handles the complex rhythms and quick fire changes of Schriefl’s music with aplomb. Duppe is a crisp, intelligent drummer and percussionist capable of delicate, atmospheric playing as well as really slamming out the rhythms. Flexible and adaptable, I was really impressed with his playing.

Amazingly this was only Shreefpunk’s second UK appearance. They appeared in London at Frederick’s (I think) a couple of years ago but surely the time is right for another London visit. I’m sure they’d go down a storm at The Vortex and an appearance at a festival like Cheltenham would also be good for them (2010 maybe Mr D-E). 

As the title of their “city tunes” suggest Shreefpunk is a band that is constantly evolving, always on the move. Much of tonight’s material was as yet unrecorded and I think it’s fair to say that with Shreefpunk every concert is unique. This is a young,exciting and highly talented band that deserve to command the respect of an international jazz audience. They certainly have the required ability and imagination and Schriefl’s live presence should certainly help to get them noticed. The only danger is that the overtly theatrical nature of his performances may, in some eyes detract from the music. I hope not as this is one of the most promising young bands I’ve seen in a long time and their sense of fun is infectious. Hopefully a bright future awaits for Schriefl and his colleagues.

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