Pablo Held Trio,  The Foyer, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 25/10/2013.

The latest performance in the Jazzlines series of free early evening jazz events held in the foyer at Symphony Hall was an intriguing prospect. The Pablo Held Trio is a young group hailing from Cologne, Germany that is also scheduled to appear in a more formal concert setting at the 2013 London Jazz Festival. Led by pianist Held (born 1986) and also featuring bassist Robert Landfermann and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel the trio made their studio début with “Forest Of Oblivion” in 2008 and followed this with “Music” (2010) and their most recent release “Live” (2012), all released on the German Pirouet label. Held has also released “Glow” (2011), a solo album featuring a larger ensemble including both members of the trio. He will follow this with “Elders” which is due to be released on November 23rd 2013. 

I’ll admit that before today’s performance I knew precious little about the band but their inclusion on the LJF programme plus the fact that the piano trio is one of my favourite contexts in which to hear contemporary jazz suggested that this was a performance that could well produce something special - and so it proved. Also I had a memory of Landfermann appearing here four years ago as a member of trumpeter Mathias Schriefl’s brilliant if “crazy” (Landfermann’s word) Shreefpunk quartet.

Like the forthcoming LJF show today’s performance was part of the Rising Stars programme supported by ECHO , the European Concert Halls Organisation, of which Birmingham Town Hall/Symphony Hall is a member. Initially a scheme to highlight the work of talented young classical musicians the Rising Stars has since been extended to include jazz groups. Indeed Schriefl’s performances in 2009 represented ECHO’s first involvement with jazz musicians, pleasingly something that has continued ever since. Musicians selected for the scheme get the opportunity to present their music at concert halls throughout Europe. It’s a good showcase for emerging talents and during the interval Richard Hawley of TH/SH informed us that Birmingham based saxophonist, composer and band-leader Mike Fletcher has been selected for the 2014/15 ECHO rising stars programme. Mike was present in the audience and received a generous round of applause from the early evening crowd. Further information about Mike and his award can be found in our news pages.

Before his group commenced playing Held tried to tell us something about the trio’s working methods. These are perhaps best explained by quoting verbatim from his liner notes on the trio’s live album;
“The idea to record a live album with my trio came up four years ago. At that time, just after my début release “Forest Of Oblivion”, Jonas, Robert and I decided to fundamentally change our approach to live concerts. We chose to abandon all preparatory arrangements. The music was to evolve in the moment, not from preconceived concepts. As a consequence we dispensed with a set list altogether. Since then every night when we enter the stage we don’t know what’s going to happen. We draw from a constantly changing repertoire of about forty pieces in which we emerge ourselves. We de-construct, quote and rejoin individual fragments of different pieces. We could potentially play only two bars of one piece, be it the intro, one particular motif or a harmonic sequence, and then infuse it with the mood of another piece. Our goal is to make compositions sound improvised and, vice versa, make improvisations sound like compositions. On the one hand we engage in a constant improvisatory dialogue with each other, on the other we are composing collectively one big piece that will only exist on the night of the concert. It would be easier to perform a concert where we keep perfecting established material but that way neither our music nor we as musicians would grow. In our quest for new musical forms we have to venture into unknown territories. Our performance as a trio is based on trust and a deep bond. This will give us strength to reach for new horizons”.

Held’s words some up the trio’s methodology perfectly. I had been expecting a relatively straightforward presentation of a number of tunes in a contemporary jazz piano trio context. Instead what we heard were two sets of continuous music, the first lasting around forty minutes, the second around twenty to twenty five. For the attentive listener both pieces were totally immersive, this was a classic case of a group taking its listeners on a journey and drawing its audience into total absorption in its sound world. Interestingly both Landfermann and Burgwinkel were reading sheet music, leader Held was not, an indication that he is edging ever closer towards the world of total improvisation. I assume that for Landfermann and Burgwinkel the “dots” were little more than sign posts along the road. To these ears there was little straight ahead playing of through composed material, this was a highly interactive trio who seemed to be thinking on their feet, each musician fully attuned to the group aesthetic and each playing a vital role in the shaping and structuring of the music.

The constant ebb and flow of the music was fascinating, the changes of colour, texture and dynamics occurring fleetingly but with the music still retaining an overall sense of structure and coherence. There was enough melody here for the casual listener to get a handle on, this wasn’t a squeaky, scary free jazz experience but a tightly controlled performance within a clearly defined group aesthetic.

I’ve written before of the apparent paradox between “tightness” and “looseness” in jazz ensembles, most recently about a performance by pianist Liam Noble’s Brother Face group at The Hive Arts Centre in Shrewsbury. Here the paradox appeared in a different form, the Held trio is a working group who have performed together regularly over the course of the last four years, hence they’re tight enough to be fully aware of each others’ playing and of each others’ individual strengths, loose enough to trust each other implicitly and to allow the music to shape its own direction. 

Individually the three members of the trio are excellent musicians. Held is an undemonstrative pianist who leads subtly, shaping the performance, and occasionally settling into a Jarrett like flow while emitting the occasional ecstatic cry of affirmation. Landfermann is a wonderfully flexible bassist with a huge tone and a highly accomplished technique both with and without the bow. His use of arco was particularly effective and added an important extra dimension to the group’s sound. Indeed it was remarkable just how many varieties of colours, textures, timbres and dynamics the group conjured from just three instruments -  for an essentially acoustic trio the sound palette was extraordinarily wide. Also essential to this process was Burgwinkel, a real colourist at the drums who has clearly mastered the influences of Paul Motian, Jon Christensen et al. Using a variety of sticks, brushes, mallets, bare hands and the occasional piece of percussive exotica he was constantly   accenting and colouring the music, occasionally dropping out but never switching off (absorbing duo episodes between various combinations of instruments were a further distinguishing characteristic of the music). His use of bowed cymbals was a particularly distinctive aspect of his playing but like the rest of his contribution it was totally in keeping with the music. There was little conventional jazz soloing and even the occasional use of extended techniques was for emotional and aesthetic impact rather than mere effect. Individually the Pablo Held Trio are highly accomplished musicians/technicians but the music they create collectively is greater than the sum of its parts.

I’d also like to congratulate the TH/SH sound engineer who made the trio sound really good in the difficult environment of a large public space. The separation between the instruments was excellent and each note, beat and nuance was clearly delineated, if you listened intently you could hear everything. As at the free gig in the same space by Mick Coady’s Synergy a couple of weeks ago the behaviour of the audience was again impeccable. The two extended pieces didn’t necessarily represent the easiest of listening experiences but most of the audience seemed to find their way into the music and positively enjoy it. Even those who left early did so discreetly and undemonstratively.
Well done again Birmingham.

After the gig I spoke to the band members and purchased a copy of their live album (a rare event for me these days bearing in mind how much music I get sent). The album was recorded live in Switzerland and is a good snapshot of where the group is now and is an excellent souvenir of the Pablo Held Trio live experience. It works well at home too and is a thoroughly convincing artistic statement. Interestingly it consists of one long piece (sixteen minutes) and five shorter ones implying that the group don’t always do Necks style epics as a matter of course. They’re very different to the Australian trio in any case, more obviously jazz and not so consciously influenced by minimalism and the avant garde. At times Landfermann’s extensive use of the bow and Burgwinkel’s colourful, idiosyncratic drumming style caused me to compare the group with the Bobo Stenson Trio but the Held trio are different again and have developed a style that is very much their own. They have earned the right to be considered among Europe’s leading contemporary jazz piano trios.

This was about as good a performance as you could get in a public space. I suspect that the London appearance in a more formal concert setting may be better still. The Pablo Held Trio play at the new Milton Court Concert Hall at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on Wednesday 20th November at 7.30 pm. Tickets £10.00 plus booking fee. See the London Jazz festival website
http://www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk for further details.

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