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Reviews / Quotes
Soft Nose
DE STANDAARD, December 2001
UIT HET BOERENBOEK
Het Eric Boeren 4tet inspireert zich schaamteloos op de vroege groep van Ornette Coleman. Daarbij pikt het vooral de lyrische kwaliteit en de lichtvoetigheid van dat ensemble op. Het Boerenboek bevat heel wat nummers van Coleman. De openheid van die composities biedt vele mogelijkheden.
Ook op Soft Nose worden vijf Coleman stukken uitgevoerd. Het kwartet opent met het gelijknamige en plezierige titelnummer Soft Nose. Boeren heeft op cornet een heldere, direct aansprekende toon. Bovendien speelt hij ook mooi met demper zoals op het intrigerende “Ciz”, waarin elke stem een eigen laagje heeft.
De vier musici zijn heel flexibel. Ze gaan aan de haal met motiefjes uit Colemanstukken, stoeien daar wat mee en scheppen een eigen verhaal. Bijna gefluisterde conversaties wisselen af met meer uitgelaten discussies. Moore schittert op altsax en diverse klarinetten. Maar ook de bassist Wilbert de Joode en de onnavolgbare drummer Han Bennink spelen fris en vindingrijk
KVK
...These four musicians are so flexible; they can take fragments out of the compositions, toy with them and create a complete new story......
JAZZMAN, February 2002
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Cornettiste hollandais d’une quarantaine d’années, Eric Boeren s’est fait connaître au sein des orchestres de Sean Bergin, de Guus Janssen, de Paul Termos ou encore avec Available Jelly. Depuis 1994, il étudie en profondeur l’oeuvre d’Ornette Coleman, non pas dans son concept “harmolodique” un peu fumeux, mais à partir de la musique du quartette avec Don Cherry du tournant des années 50-60. Boeren utilise donc la même formule, un quartette régulier depuis quatre ans qui comprend le vétéran Han Bennink, témoin et acteur de l’époque, l’impeccable contrebassiste Wilbert de Joode et Michael Moore, le formidable clarinettiste-saxophoniste américain d’Amsterdam. Dans ces disques précédents Eric Boeren composait des morceaux dans un esprit si colemanien qu’on avait parfois du mal à les identifier les uns des autres. À présent la tendance s’infléchit et les pièces d’Ornette sont moins nombreuses bien qu’essentielles dans l’architecture du disque. Mais Boeren évite tout mimétisme et exploite au mieux un univers musical très riche. On pourrait presque dire qu’il continue à faire “avancer” la musique de Coleman dans une direction que son créateur-instignateur n’a pas suivie rigoureusement. On ne décèle aucune application besogneuse et servile dans le travail de Boeren. Au contraire, on est stupéfait par l’étonnante fraîcheur, la liberté, le naturel, l’enthousiasme, le son et le swing de ce merveilleux quartette.
Jean Buzelin
....One could say that he (Boeren) continues to develop Coleman’s music in a direction the originator never explored so rigourously. One never encounters a worried or a servile moment in Boeren’s work. On the contrary one is stupified by all those fresh tones, the freedom, the natural playing, the enthousiasm, the sound and the swing of this marvellous quartet.
JAZZPODIUM, May 2002
Eric Boeren schlägt mit seinem Quartett Pfade .durch die Jazz-Moderne bis hin zu Ornette Coleman. Neben Kompositionen des Visionärs (“Mr & Mrs People”, “Alpha” und “Eos”) gibt es reichlich eigenes Material (in der Regel von Eric Boeren), aber auch eine kleine Verbeugung vor Eubie Blake (“Memories of You”). Neben dem Bandleader am Kornett überzeugt Michael Moore an Saxophon and Klarinetten mit ebenso phantasievollem wie lässigem Spiel. Wie souverän sie sich mit ihrem ungesteurten Vieren vorwärtsbewegen, das beweisen Boeren und seine Mitstreiter im locker mit der Kompositionen von Coleman und Blake verknüpften Titelstück. Im 18.09 min währenden “Soft Nose” plänkeln die beiden Bläser in kabbeligem Wasser, sicher und einfallsreich getragen vom Bass (Wilbert de Joode) und Drums (Han Bennink).
....How souvereignly these four move forwards, Boeren and his fellow musicians show in the loose-knit compilation that combines the titlesong with compositions by Coleman and Blake. In “Soft Nose” (lasting18.09 min.) the two hornman can paddle in the roaring waters, securely and creatively supported by bass and drums....
CADENCE, June 2002
On “Soft Nose” Eric Boeren tips his cornet to Ornette Coleman, not only on the five Coleman covers, but also in the spirit of the originals, most especially the twice-played title tune. Destpite the preponderance of Boeren tunes, not to mention Eubie Blake’s “Memories Of You” the Coleman renderings are close to the originals. There’s a;so te requisite Euro-folk flavor with implications of marches and polkas and, on the last track, Coleman’s “I Heard It Over The Radio” some delicious cowboy clippety-clop by Bennink. The percussionist is a prime mover on the date and makes me long to hear him playing with Coleman himself.
Boeren’s style clearly owes a debt to Don Cherry. His work is full of blurred runs,, smears. He plays with a round almost trombone-like articulation. Moore’s sprightly play complements the leader’s brass. He favors the E-flat side of the reed equation, from alto sax and down through the clarinets starting with the high E-flat (sounding a fourth higher than the standard B-flat model) down to the alto and further down in the basement with the rarely heard contralto clarinet. By using all E-flat clarinets he achieves a unity of tone from horn to hon giving the illusion it’s all one instrument with an enormous range. His sounds on the highest horn, as demonstrated on “Memories Of You” is particularly striking and true to the character of the instrument.
Similarly “Soft Nose” is true to its source of inspiration and moves the Ornette-ethos into new territory.
David Dupont
DOWNBEAT, June 2002
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Ripsnorting and clean-cut, the flying Dutchmen who are invading the new jazz are musical madcaps who mix cocktails of the logical and surreal with knee-slapping swizzle sticks.
Cornettist Eric Boeren’s 4tet is a multiple-personality band (with two-thirds of Clusone Trio) geared to the growing ranks of smart folks with short attention spans. Ten of the 16 pieces come in under 4:10, but most make complete statements. No big deal in pop music, but such brevity has been rare in jazz since Bird grooved bop on wax 78s. The 4tet’s direct links to Ornette Coleman’s “original” quartet are covering five tunes and capturing the spicy effects of miniature horns and concise forms. Martial touches of dry snare open “Soft Nose”, the front line (Boeren’s dry cornet as toy-like as Don Cherry’s pocket trumpet) squabble and weave on “Mr. & Mrs People” and “As We See Fit”. Whenever bassist Wilbert de Joode enters solo, watch out for skulldulgery: on “Ciz” they quickly challenge you to a match of 4-D chess, and they smear the lines phantamagorically on “Bosch”, where drummer Han Bennink daubs mid-pallette moments of ed Blackwell Nawlins street-beat. Michael Moore’s warm clarinets mute the acidic urgency (and wild intonation) of Ornette’s plastic alto, and the 4tet’s fondness for suites stretches his compactness, yet they still brew teapot tempests. “For Rosa” shows Boeren’s dance band geniality, “charmes” has that stop/start devilment of Coleman’s “Humpty Dumpty” and “Folk Tale”, the horns stretch into humorous self-caricature, while “Swizzle” slips into vaudeville breaks that drop “the other wooden shoe”. Bennink playing swizzle sticks, shifts accents and patterns as fleet as a magician palms silver dollars
Fred Bouchard
Dutch Treats (review of 8 dutch cd’s)
.....Michael Moore also turns up in a crucial supporting role on “Soft Nose”, the third album by cornettist Eric Boeren. As on his previous recordings, Boeren is in thrall of the music made by the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet, integrating five of his compositions here, and making strong stylistic connections with his pithy originals. But beyond the catchy melodoes and the dazzling interplay, this band speaks itsown language. At once telepathic and pleasingly loose, the communication between the horn frontline, drummer Han Bennink and bassist Wilbert de Joode allows the group to employ a playfulness redolent of the ICP; any individual can introduce material from the quartet’s book in midstream, sometimes triggering the others to join in, sometimes overlaying a line from another tune for thrilling juxtapositions. Whatever path they take, the players are always in motion, jotting off terse counterpoint, commenting on a particular phrase or jostling for position.....
Peter Margask: JAZZTIMES, August 2002
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