On November 21st, I was fortunate enough to listen to a relatively unknown Jazz group - The Thomas Siffling Trio from Germany. Brought to Indian by the Goethe Institute, the Trio is performing in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
The group consist of Thomas Siffling, the trumpeter, Jens Loh on the Bass, and Markus Faller on the drums. Most of the songs are written and composed by Thomas.
The trio is supposed to be the first in the world to mix acoustic Jazz with electronic groove music, whatever that is.
They seem to have released only two albums till now - One is called kitchen Music and the other is called Cruisen.
Thomas is a disciple of Miles Davis, but weaves a music that is slightly different from the usual Jazz. More modern? Maybe, but I would say more peppy. The Trio attempts using different instruments such as the Cayon (an African Drum), a double bass with electronic amplification, etc,
The Trip performed at the Music Academy at Chennai. The Academy has recently been redone by Bose and I was very worried about the quality of sound. Fortunately the sound was good with no echoes, no screeching noises, and you could hear every note, even those played at very low volumes.
The Trio played the following numbers.
1. One Hand Clapping.
This was a kind of soulful music with the trumpet caressing your ears with soft notes. Jens accompanied with very low frequency sounds on the bass. Markus used a medium sized drum that he held between his knees and used just his hands for drumming. He was actually softly slapping the drum with both hands creating very soft notes.
2. Kitchen Music
This is from their first album, and is a fast number.
3. Jazz is Like Ginger.
Thomas seems to have a fascination for food. I believe sometime ago he went across to a number of chefs in Germany and asked them what Jazz reminds them of. The answer was Ginger! So he went a wrote this number.
4. Good Vibes
This was a short and only drumming solo. Was not as chest thumping as I was expecting. Did Markus wantonly play soft notes, or was the Bose system not able to amplify the drums well nor handle the low frequencies needed?
5. Eleventh of March
On 11/03/2008 Thomas lost his first serious girl friend. This number was a tribute to her. Like One Hand Clapping, this was also slow and attempted to project his loss.
6. Lazy Morning
A sort of Western version of Hindustani Morning Raga, this number was again soothing.
7. Come Together (Beatles)
This was a number that perked up the whole crowd and got them all clapping to the tune. Thomas first played the opening notes at a speed that was slightly slower than the original number. Jens gave a wonderful rendition of the guitar notes with his bass played at extremely low frequency. After just a little while, Thomas literally trumpeted the song and also did a little dancing on the stage. Markus also joined in with his drum, and got the whole audience clapping in joy.
8. Steps in Time.
Just like the title, Thomas played this with short bursts from the trumpet to a main tune set by Jens on his bass. This was ended with a delightful rhythm set by Markus on the drums.
If you are a Jazz lover, you owe yourself a listen to the Trio. They are really good.
Please visit
thomas siffling official homepage for more details.
Cheers
It is next best thing to watch a movie live. The sound effects and orchestrisation is great.
