Summer, 2010 - JazzReview.Com Review by Dave Wayne (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van HUFFEL Quartet : "Like the Rusted Key"

Like The Rusted Key is one of those recordings that approaches the vast array of musics that have been lumped under the umbrella of modern jazz from a dizzying array of angles using a pretty standard instrumentation. Peter Van Huffel, who hails from Canada but is based in Berlin, is an alto saxophonist with a visceral, muscular approach and a distinctive, full-throated sound. Like many players of his generation, he works with (or leads) several very different groups that cover the musical spectrum from chamber-improv (with vocalist Sophie Tassignon), to frenetic free jazz (with his electric trio, Gorilla Mask). The quartet featured on Like The Rusted Key comes from a more traditional place but offers a broad musical palette, breathing swinging, pulsing life into Van Huffel's seemingly endless wealth of interesting compositional ideas.

'Drift' opens the CD with what sounds at first like a particularly strong offering on the ECM label – a stochastic pinging of damped piano keys, bass harmonics and tiny percussion sounds gives way to a chiming piano figure and Van Huffel's brooding melody. Samuel Rohrer builds a moderate tempo rhythm that isn't quite rock but isn't quite jazz either, and supports Miles Perkin's bass solo perfectly. I really enjoyed the way that Rohrer's playing builds behind Van Huffel's razor-sharp solo, which, in turn benefits from pianist Jesse Stacken's unusual but extremely effective comping. Now, on a typical jazz CD, the remainder of the tunes would be more or less similar in nature. No so on Like The Rusted Key. 'Intro to Beast' is a very angular free improv that quickly gives way to the high-octane excitement of 'Tangent,' a gripping, dynamic, and somewhat unhinged piece that reminded me a bit of some of John Hollenbeck's work with the Claudia Quintet. But Van Huffel and his group play with a wild and wooly energy that contrasts sharply with Hollenbeck's polished, cool efficiency. 'Enghavevej' is quite a bit different as well, sporting a jauntily rocking pulse and a melody that straddles the line between cheery and manic. Stacken's solo here is full of Monk-like wit and derring-do, and Rohrer's drumming is too busy in the best possible way. 'Backward Momentum' is another real stunner – with Rohrer's seemingly random percussion gradually coalescing into an urgent rhythm behind Van Huffel's piquant melody. Stacken has another brilliant solo feature before the tune changes into a dark, visceral post-bop romp.

The rest of Like The Rusted Key is similarly impressive, inspired, and varied. 'Beast I' and 'Beast II,' as 'Intro to Beast' suggests, are free-ish pieces with asymmetric, Ornette-like melodies suspended over Rohrer's slashing cymbals and criss-crossing polyrhythms. 'Beast II” features some really distinctive, and quite beautiful, playing by bassist Miles Perkin. While I am attracted to the energetic aspects of Van Huffel's music, this CD also offers some pretty unusual twists on what some might consider the ballad form. The dark, elegiac 'Excerpt Two' sounds a bit like a Gregorian Chant, with growling arco and softly malleted drums and cymbals providing a diffuse backdrop to the saxophone and piano. 'Atonement' is even darker and more haunting, with a molasses-slow but drop-dead beautiful melody intoned by Van Huffel and Perkin's bowed bass. The CD's most unusual track, however, is 'Melancholic.' Here, Stacken plays a series of isolated piano chords that have approximately 20 seconds of silence intervening. After about three minutes, Van Huffel picks up one note of the chord and extends it a few seconds out into the silence – venturing out farther each time. As Perkin, almost inaudibly, joins Van Huffel, the pattern is disrupted somewhat as the piano, saxophone, and arco bass begin to operate more independently. While this is not the sort of thing you'd want to listen to in a car, the overall effect is pretty sublime, and seems more akin to the work of Morton Feldman than jazz of any stripe.

Like The Rusted Key is a thoroughly engrossing document of a little-known, but flat-out amazing quartet of musicians who play as if their lives – and ours – depended on it. I came away from from this CD both inspired and impressed. Easily one of the most rewarding listening experiences I've had this year. Fresh Sounds, New Talent indeed!

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AUGUST 11, 2010 - FNAC! Client Review : Peter Van Huffel et sa promenade musicale pleine de surprises !

(Click here to visit original page)

De par toutes les critiques déjà écrites pour ses albums précédents, l'arrivée de ce nouvel opus a tout de suite capté mon attention.

Peter Van Huffel (saxophoniste alto, canadien et berlinois d'adoption) est accompagné ici par un très inventif Jesse Stacken (pianiste), Samuel Rohrer (batteur trappu et vivant), et Miles Perkin (bassiste, très porté sur l'archet).
Il faut noter d'entrée la grande inventivité rythmique et mélodique et là, ça m'a vraiment scotché !

On est ici dans un cadre résolument moderne et contemporain sans tomber dans la musique "Free". Les morceaux peuvent être très contemplatifs, voir minimalistes (Melancholic), mais aussi explosifs et rythmés (Enghavevej). Tout ça ne cadre dans aucun genre déterminé et c'est ce qui fait son intérêt. Le seul rattachement que l'on pourrait faire se serait peut-être vers Eric Dolphy.
On se fait une jolie promenade musicale pleine de surprises et de moments très denses dont on se souvient longtemps après.

C'est un cd qui se mérite ! J'entends par là qu'il demande une écoute assez attentive au début. Ce ne sera qu'après plusieurs écoutes qu'il livrera toute sa richesse. Pour moi, c'est le signe d'une très bonne musique...

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JULY 15, 2010 - The Telegram (St. John's Newfoundland) Review by A. Fitzpatrick (Click here to visit original page)

The Peter Van Huffel Quartet (www.petervanhuffel.com) followed Tagaq at the Masonic Temple, showing more boundary-pushing talents.
The quartet includes Peter Van Huffel (alto saxophone), Jesse Stacken (piano), Miles Perkin (upright bass) and Samuel Rohrer (drums). The players come from a mix of locales, from New York to Switzerland, but Berlin-based, Canadian Van Huffel takes the lead and creates the compositions.
Unusual use of instruments was key to their show at the Masonic. Van Huffel pressed his sax keys even as his breath ran out, sending out only the sound of the closing key pads and no sax at all at one point. Stacken was reaching inside the grand piano he played to pluck at the wires. Perkin was leaned over, arms wrapped around his bass or, at times, tapping the strings for a beat. Rohrer was performing a bongo-style snare at one point, scratching at his cymbal with the bottom of his drumstick the next for a high screech.
And just when it started to feel chaotic, all four would pause. Beat. Taka ta tah!
The quartet opened with a trio of album tracks blended together in a special arrangement for their live performance - including the occasionally frenzied "Beast." There was then a brief pause for Van Huffel to address the audience, of about 10 people and the band followed with a smooth piece, opening on just sounds from Stacken's piano.

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JUNE 28, 2010 - Halifax Magazine : Halifax Jazz Festival preview: Peter Van Huffel (by Trevor J. Adams)

The most beautiful thing about the Halifax Jazz Festival (July 9–17) is the way it offers local music fans the chance to experience artists who just wouldn’t perform in the city otherwise. Case in point: Peter Van Huffel, a Canadian-born saxophonist, now based in Berlin. His music is raw, wild and full of crazy improvisations. Here’s one example.

Although Van Huffel is currently touring, we were lucking enough to secure an interview with him. Read on for highlights from our chat.

(Click here for the full interview)

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JUNE 16, 2010 - The Province (Vancouver) Review by Stuart Derdeyn

PETER VAN HUFFEL QUARTET: Like the Rusted Key (Fresh Sound/New Talent)

On his seventh disc, German-based Canadian saxophonist Van Huffel leads his slightly re-jigged quartet through 10 originals. Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer, New York pianist Jesse Stacken and Canuck bassist Miles Perkin (replacing Michael Bates), add feel and flow to every moment on the session too. The opening "Drift," is aptly named, as the group ebbs and flows into a series of flights exploring the pulsing rhythmic centre of the song. For once, it isn't wrong to use angular to describe the staccato structure of "Tangent," where the interplay between Rohrer and Stacken is particularly lively. Throughout, the leader blows hard and heavy, with frequent circular blasts of rising intensity in "Melancholic" that won't let you go. At just over an hour, this is one intense and rewarding session. And exactly where to put the intermission break in a two set show.

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JUNE, 2010 - Jazz 'N More (Switzerland) Review by Jürg Solothurnmann

PETER VAN HUFFEL QUARTET

Like The Rusted Key

Peter Van Huffel (as), Jesse Stacken (p), Miles Perkin (b), Samuel Rohrer (dr)

Fresh Sound FSNT 361/Plainisphare

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Der in Berlin lebende kanadische Altsaxophonist Van Huffel ist ein begabter Melodiker mit einem kernigen Ton. Besonders auffällig ist aber die Weise, wie er mittels klaren Aufgabenverteilungen seine kontrastreichen, profilierten Kompositionen mit den Improvisationsprozessen eng verbindet. Mit seinem neuen kanadisch-amerikanisch schweizerischen Quartett präsentiert er zehn Kompositionen mit klaren Ideen, die Errungenschaften von Postbop, Free und Moderner Klassik assimilieren. Im einleitenden „Drift“ ergeben das lange Thema und die Improvisationen eine grosse dynamische Kurve. Daran schliesst sich – total anders eine funkelnde freie Improvisations-Skizze an. In „Tangent“ wird das spezielle Thema mit repetierten Tönen in schnellem Wechselmetrum mit den Improvisationen verschränkt. „Enghavevej“ jongliert über einem pumpendem Rhythmus mit Dolphy-haft verdrehten weiten Tonsprüngen, worauf statisch das elegische „Excerpt Two“ folgt. Bis zum Schluss gehen Van Huffel die Ideen nie aus, und an der starken Realisierung dieser Aufnahmen hat die engagierte Band einen grossen Anteil. Besonders auffällig der Pianist Stacken, der allerlei Trümpfe im Aermel hat. Es lohnt sich, diese CD zu suchen. JS

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MAY, 2010 - All About Jazz New York Review by Stuart Broomer

Peter Van Huffel Quartet's "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel is a Canadian-born alto saxist who recently settled in Berlin after a six-year period in New York. His new quartet reflects all of those geographic connections, bringing together New York pianist Jesse Stacken, a mainstay of Van Huffel’s New York quintet, Canadian bassist Miles Perkin and the Swiss-born, Berlin-resident drummer Samuel Rohrer. To call Van Huffel a ‘composer’ in the casual parlance of jazz is almost a misnomer. He really composes, almost every piece a tautly structured individual work that provides strong thematic material and impetus for the improvising. The opening “Drift” makes subtle shifts in tonality, working from an initial toy-piano tinkling to cover a spectrum from Far- to Middle East and on. The moody “Melancholic” unfolds with a glacial architecture in which sounds and time are suspended while the closing “Atonement” is at once brooding and radiant, the almost liturgical alto line shot through with the bass’ soaring harmonics. It is music of real power, with Van Huffel’s alto always possessed of a focused clarity, a vision of linear necessity. His sense of compositional form and his intense playing are essentially complementary, their interdependence notable on complex structures like “Backward Momentum”. Stacken’s piano is a source of tremendous momentum, his dense, rhythmically explosive playing sometimes invoking the drive and complexity of early Cecil Taylor. He thrives particularly on the pointillistic “Tangent” and in the “Beast” series that arises throughout the CD and which alternately emphasizes tensile formal structures and free improvisation. Perkin is particularly adept at bowed passages and Rohrer is a complete percussionist, whether driving the group dialogues or creating glittering soundscapes with various metal instruments. The band is every bit the equal of Van Huffel’s compositions, creating its own continuous dialogue and highly developed identity to reshape the music into a complete and collective expression.

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APRIL, 2010 - Jazz Man "CHOC" Review by Franck Bergerot (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet's "Like the Rusted Key"

Philippe Méziat avait attribué un “émoi” à Peter Van Huffell et à la chanteuse belge Sophie Tassignon pour leur “Hufflington” chez Clean Feed. Le nouveau quartette du saxophoniste témoigne du rôle de Berlin comme carrefour et élargit le spectre du jazz new-yorkais tel que représenté sur la collection New Talent. Originaire du Minnesota, Jesse Stacken est à New York un partenaire régulier du trompettiste Kirk Knuffke (également Choc dans ces pages). Samuel Rohrer se fait entendre en Suisse auprès de Malcolm Braff. Miles Perkin s’est fait connaître à Montréal et collabore avec Benoît Delbecq au sein d’un quartette franco-anglo-canadien. Le quartette de Van Huffel s’impose quant à lui par un admirable équilibre entre l’abstraction et la “figuration” mélodique. En ouverture, la ligne claire de Prift déborde progressivement de ses contours par un grossissement du trait qui exalte sa dimension lyrique et son aspiration au débord, tandis que les angularités interrogatives de Tangent superposent ses bégaiements mélodiques à des accents rythmico-harmoniques d’une puissante décontraction. Le saxophone oscille entre des logiques de phrasé évocatrices de Steve Coleman (Enghavevej sur une rythmique bondissante (que ne renierait pas le trio d’Andy Emler) et des expressions plus fauves qui nous rapprocheraient d’une lignée Hemphill- Berne, avec un batteur tenant à la fois de Hank Bennink et de Tom Rainey. Les étirements d’Excerpt Two, les élans rubato de Beast I, le presque rien de Melancholic, la supplique de Beast II, l’inquiétude d’Atonement, l’ascension fiévreuse du saxophone sur Backward Momentum captivent autant par l’indicible sentiment qui nous saisit que par les moyens très organiques que se donnent ces musiciens pour nous étreindre. Les sites et myspace de Peter Van Huffel et Jesse Stacken méritent le détour et nos lecteurs suisses ne manqueront pas d’entendre ce quartette à l’AMR de Genève le 14 mai. k FRANCK BERGEROT

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THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010 - Tomajazz Review by Pachi Tapiz (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet's "Like the Rusted Key"

Tras publicar el pasado año en Clean Feed Hufflignon, su proyecto como co-líder con la cantante Sophie Tassignon, el canadiense Peter van Huffel se estrena en Fresh Sound New Talent con su nuevo cuarteto. El resultado, Like the Rusted Key, es un CD más que interesante, que debiera servir para llamar la atención sobre el trabajo de este saxofonista.

Autor de todas las composiciones, en ésta su séptima grabación, sus ideas llegan a buen puerto gracias a la participación de sus compañeros, entre los que destaca el pianista Jesse Stacken. Con poca prisa, sin mucho ruido, grandes sobresaltos o exhibicionismos vacíos, el disco gana en detalles y profundidad con cada escucha. Un buen ejemplo de todo ello es "Drift". Esta composición que abre el disco suavemente, y tarda un par de minutos largos hasta que muestra un gran tema, permite a los músicos lanzarse a realizar unos solos magníficos. Otro tema sobresaliente por su desarrollo sorprendente es "Tangent". Van Huffel corta el solo de Jesse Stacken en su momento álgido lanzando una serie de líneas al saxo incoherentes en apariencia con la música desarrollada por el pianista, pero que de un modo aparentemente natural y sencillo (aunque hay veces en que no hay nada más complicado que la sencillez), se imbrican con él para terminar en una demostración de poderío al alcance de pocos grupos. Un estreno magnífico.

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MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010 - Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet's "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel plays alto sax in his own way, composes interesting frameworks and full-fledged works for his improvisatory quartet and fronts a well-chosen group of instrumentalists who mesh completely with the style Peter sets forth. All this for his second album Like the Rusted Key (Fresh Sound New Talent).

The band consists of Peter, Jesse Stacken, piano, Miles Perkin on the upright, and Samuel Rohrer, drums. Each of the ten pieces on the disc are well conceived and has it's own distinct musical world. They operate in an expanded tonal universe that alternately sets up a kind of modal pulsating groove, or goes flat-out orbital, works out complex rhythmic and melodic cell development, allows space for van Huffel and pianist Stacken to stretch out in free or modal terms, gives plenty of room for group dynamic and interaction, gives out with some free rocking fire, turns in a quiet spacey interlude or two, and kicks out the jams for some total free-energy moments. This is well-paced, thoughtful yet vigorous music. Van Huffel plays as well as he writes and the band is on target for the entire program.

There is no wasted space. Everything counts and nothing sounds tentative. That is a credit to Mr. Van Huffel's clear musical vision and the deft execution given by all involved. Very much recommended.

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March, 2010 - Culture Jazz Review by Thierry Giard (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van HUFFEL Quartet : "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel : un nom à retenir si, comme nous, vous ne connaissez pas encore ce canadien qui réside à Berlin. Encore un saxophoniste alto direz-vous? Certes mais qui a décidé de poursuivre un chemin escarpé en échappant aux références du genre. Ni Ornette ni Steve Coleman, ni Jackie Mc Lean, ni Lee Konitz (cité plus haut) ne peuvent ici être évoqués. C’est à peine si Anthony Braxton serait une influence perceptible dans les déhanchements du phrasé. Tout cela ne peut être qu’un atout pour nos oreilles.

Mais ce qui emporte définitivement l’adhésion à travers ce disque réside dans une parfaite (et rare) cohérence entre les compositions et la vigueur de l’interprétation. Ce quartet a du coffre, il est charpenté, franchement trapu mais il parvient à faire danser une musique qui repose sur une surprenante texture rythmique (Enghavevej par exemple) mais ne refuse pas aussi des moments intimistes, voire minimalistes. Dans un tel contexte, les membres du quartet sont poussés dans leurs retranchements mais prouvent toute leur valeur !

Avec ce nouvel album, le second pour le label Fresh Sound New Talent, Peter Van Huffel offre sa propre vision d’un jazz contemporain sans concessions, libre et joueur tout en restant accessible (car souvent surprenant). Un disque à découvrir patiemment : il ne révèle toutes ses richesses qu’après quelques écoutes. Un signe qui ne trompe pas !

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March 30, 2010 - Step Tempest Review by Richard Kamins (Click here to visit original page)

Like A Rusted Key - Peter Van Huffel Quartet (Fresh Sounds New Talent)

Alto saxophonist/composer Van Huffel, a native of Canada now living in Berlin, Germany, creates music that insinuates its way into your mind. Not outwardly ebullient, the songs move with a purpose. And, this CD, his 3rd with pianist Jesse Stacken and first with the rhythm section of fellow Canadian Miles Perkins (acoustic bass, toys) and Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer. "Drift", the longest track in the program. opens quietly with percussion, the staccato piano behind the handsome melody. Slowly, steadily, the song builds in intensity, the fullness of the alto saxophone rising over the simple piano rhythm. A martial drum beat announces the bass solo and then the leader returns, his introspective phrases reflecting the raga-like lines that bassist Perkin played. The directions that the piece takes reminds this listener of Keith Jarrett's European Quartet from the 1970s (with Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielson and Jon Christensen.) But, this group goes its own way with the intensely-rhythmic "Tangent", moving with an urgency that reflects modern rock and the fire of Cecil Taylor. Pianist Stacken drives through his solo, prodded by the pounding drums and bass. All drop out for the alto sax to move out of time - they return, yet drop away to return again to ratchet up the intensity.

There's plenty of variety, from the Kurt Weill-like melody and circus atmosphere on "Engehavej"(and when the piece opens further, the music lurches then propels forward) to the mysterious, percussion-driven excitement of "Backwards Momentum" - Rohrer moves like a dervish over his kit beneath Stacken's driving solo then really pushes the proceedings when Van Huffel takes over. Silence is a key ingredient of "Melancholic", with the tolling piano chords that slowly lead the piece in until one can notice the light echoing alto and hushed percussion - not much changes save for the intensity of the long notes until the long quiet fade. If one is patient, the work is meditative and calming.

"Like a Rusted Key" is quite the group effort - even though the songs are all composed by Peter Van Huffel, each member of the Quartet is intimately involved in the creation of the music and that intimacy is what shapes the program and makes it work. Stick with it and the rewards are plentiful.

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March 29, 2010 - All About Jazz Review by Raul d'Gama Rose (Click here to visit original page)

Like The Rusted Key
Peter van Huffel Quartet | Fresh Sound New Talent (2010)

The Berlin-based Canadian alto saxophonist, Peter van Huffel may be one of the most intense performers on this instrument. He creates sharp images with his playing, is exceedingly energetic—in sections of music that demand quieter moments his calmness is most elastic and taut—and although he has a tendency to play with broad glissandi almost throughout Like The Rusted Key, he has an inventive sense of rhythm. In this respect he is like Eric Dolphy, who played with a pulse that originated from the inventions of Charlie Parker, but carried the ideas of that genius into a wholly different sphere of consciousness. While Van Huffel may have some ground to cover before he hits the markers that Dolphy did in his lifetime, he may be half way there already.

Like The Rusted Key, the seventh album by Van Huffel, is extremely intelligent, with a repertoire comprising composed themes and a great deal of wonderfully improvised pieces by a quartet that includes saxophonist and pianist, Jesse Stacken, bassist Miles Perkin, and drummer Samuel Rohrer; musicians who seem up to the challenge of Van Huffel's complex musical structures. The saxophonist has a chameleon-like nature when it comes to stretching with his sinewy musical ideas. "Drift," which starts sotto voce, almost hesitatingly develops a strong theme about 3 minutes into the song and features some memorable improvisations from everyone. "Tangent" is characterized by its rhythmic propulsion and a unique modular theme, and even though it stops suddenly en route to its climax for a kind of alto intermezzo that deconstructs the theme completely, the musicians find reserves to regroup and rebuild the momentum of the piece once again.

"Enghavevej" is a joyful piece, full of vim and vigor, especially from Stacken's piano improvisations, while "Excerpt Two" is of a minimalist nature. "Backward Momentum" features some of the finest interplay possible within an environment that is composed. The long and brooding "Melancholic" is centered on slow, almost interminable piano progressions that are both sensitive and light-hearted. "Beast II" is a dark piece full of atmosphere and menace, with a beautifully laid out architecture. Van Huffel's work on this album is startlingly attractive because his compositions are muscular and tough. Moreover, he is a fine stylist when it comes to arranging, always employing voices that are strong and rich, culled from a broad, deep palette of sound. Despite the fact that the music almost always transcends the mainstream with often raw and extravagant improvisations, the close attention that the composer pays to themes and song structures makes it always accessible and easy to fall in with.

Perhaps the only thing missing may be the woody shades and earthy tones of the clarinet, an instrument that Van Huffel also plays exceedingly well. But that may grist for the musician's grinding on another day. And who knows, that may well be the day when this talented artist returns from the rarefied musical regions that this fine album inhabits.

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March, 2010 - Downtown Music Gallery NYC, article by Bruce Lee Gallanter

PETER VAN HUFFEL QUARTET With JESSE STACKEN - Like The Rusted Key (Fresh Sound NT 361; EEC) Peter Van Huffel on alto sax & compositions with Jesse Stacken on piano, Miles Perkins on acoustic bass and Samuel Rohrer on drums. This German saxist Peter Van Huffel's fourth disc as a leader and again he has left us with some engaging music to consider. I was not familiar with the bassist and drummer here, but pianist Jesse Stacken has a fine trio CD on Fresh Sound and a more recent duo CD on Steeplechase. The first piece, "Drift" is the longest and it is appropriately titled. It begins quietly and builds into an elegant somber work with a most hypnotic repeating line, building to a grand conclusion. Jesse erupts at the piano for the short but explosive "Intro to Beast". "Tangent" is tight and intense with some difficult unison lines for the piano & sax. I dig the way this piece stops and starts and is broken into parts that are somehow connected in the overall structure. Each piece has a different slightly skewered structure or strategy. On "Enghavevej" the rhythm team play this goofy herky-jerky line while the sax and piano spin in circles around one another. There is a fine balance between pieces that are laid back and those that erupt with power and tight interaction, sort of like a suite that works its way through different moods. For tunes like "Beast 1" & "Beast 2", Peter's tone is dark and probing like he searching the depths for that inner answer. This is one of those discs that gets better as I spend more time with it, the well-conceived ideas become more apparent with each close listen. Mr. Van Huffel likes to run a couple of lines at once so that the sax & piano and bass & drums criss-cross time and again. You don't hear the subliminal structure until you dig in. If you take the time to dive in beneath the waves, the wonders will be revealed.

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Monday, March 15, 2010 - Free Jazz Review by Stef Gijssels (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet - Like The Rusted Key (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2009) ****

I saw this young quartet perform in less than optimal circumstances, in a pub with over two hundred students totally uninterested in the band performing, probably considering them nothing more than background noise to their chats. The four musicians are Berlin-based Canadian altoist Peter Van Huffel, pianist Jesse Stacken, bassist Miles Perkin and drummer Samuel Rohrer, and all four extremely rich in their skills and versatility. They feel as easily at home in pieces with composed themes as they are on total improvisations. "Drift" starts hesitatingly but evolves into a nice theme and strong improvisations, "Tangent" has a great rhythmic drive, a strong unison theme, allowing for great staccato accentuations, then stopping abruptly for an alto solo intermezzo that tears the piece to pieces, and even if the band re-joins, it does seem to get off the ground again, but of course the great theme builds up momentum again to come to its finale. "Enghavevej" is more joyful, "Excerpt Two" is more minimalist, "Backward Momentum" another beauty of composed interplay, "Melancholic" is driven by the slowest piano chord progression ever heard, making it fun and sensitive at the same time, "Beast II" is dark and menacing. The compositions are strong, the voices rich, the sound pallette broad and deep. This music goes well beyond mainstream because of its sometimes raw delivery, wild improvisations, deconstructionist attitude, but the careful attention to themes, structures and arrangement keep the music relatively accessible. This is clever and intense music.

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March, 2010 - JAZZ SESSION - MARZO 18 : Radio presentation by Gustavo Adolfo Bustamente Mesa, Bogota, Colombia

Peter Van Huffel - "Like the Rusted Key"

La música se nos antoja por su atmósfera rítmica. Y si de jazz se trata, la afirmación cobra más fuerza y convicción, en especial cuando nos referimos a un cuarteto asentado en New York en los últimos años y con el corazón en el centro más convulsionado y alegre del jazz. Peter Van Huffel es un activo saxofonista y compositor que visita con frecuencia los escenarios europeos, especialmente Berlín, con una melodía y textura sin tacha, integrando un sonido tan creativo como evocativo. En la obra que disfrutaremos hoy “ Like The Rusted Key “ , el quehacer convencional de un cuarteto de jazz se rompe, gracias a una especie de ‘desalojo’ sonoro, donde la fuerza rítmica está presente en la mayor parte de la obra. Este es Peter Van Huffel y su quarteto.

“ El arte no proviene de un mundo inteligible, sino de una configuración sensible “ Estas palabras marcan un claro derrotero para apreciar ésta obra como una acalorada y libertaria suite. “ Like The Rusted Key “ es una producción musical donde la acusmática busca desarrollarse a plenitud, como si abriera puertas a nuevos sonidos. Acaso hay todavía algunos sonidos inéditos? Peter Van Huffel trabaja vigorosamente en sus composiciones, con éste, su nuevo cuarteto neoyorkino, conformado por Jesé Stacken (piano), Samuel Rohrer (batería) y Miles Perkin (contrabajo). Cabe destacar que éste saxofonista creó recientemente en Berlín un singular trío de rock y free jazz llamado “GORILLA MASK”, además de interactuar en diferentes escenarios con artistas de todo el mundo.

La expectación del sonido o el ritual hímnico de desgarradura humana. Así nombramos a ésta producción de jazz, que constantemente cabalga el ritmo llevándonos a zonas inesperadas. Los unísonos de saxo y piano desbordan al melodismo y se instalan en el lugar de lo asombroso y ésta es una cualidad que poco se estimula en el ambiente del jazz clásico o convencional. Dice la prensa berlinesa: “ La música de Peter Van Huffel es descriptiva, explora las melodías y los ritmos. La influencia de otros grandes músicos es asumida con sublime expresión. Los colores y la emoción son el resultado de una intención personal. Su enérgica posición musical es vigorosa y sustancial “. Este es Peter Van Huffel con su obra del año 2009 “ Like The Rusted Key “

Los años que pasa entre New York y Berlín le permiten a éste saxofonista canadiense afianzarse con todo su arsenal sonoro caracterizado por su apertura jazzística. El exigente sello barcelonés Fresh Sound y su vertiente ‘New Talent’ lo ha acogido con éste, su primer trabajo para ésta discográfica, sabiendo de su libre expresividad y personalidad, alternando entre el saxo alto y soprano. Si la música es un modo de contemplar las tinieblas, a la manera de Gustav Mahler, al escuchar a Peter Van Huffel contemplamos lo imposible, o lo posible reinventándose continuamente. Las buenas obras del jazz altivan nuestro irrefrenable espíritu.

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March, 2010 - Macao Review by Guillaume Grenard (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel - "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel est un saxophoniste canadien encore méconnu en France, mais qui ne devrait pas le rester longtemps s’il subsiste un peu de méritocratie dans le monde de la musique. (Petite aparté : amis canadiens, envoyez-nous vos bons jazzmen, plutôt que vos horribles chanteuses).

Il a réuni autour de lui pour ce nouveau projet, le pianiste américain Jesse Stacken, le batteur suisse Samuel Rohrer et le contrebassiste canadien Miles Perkin. Tout cela se passe évidemment à Berlin. Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué ?

On pouvait donc dés le départ avoir quelques doutes : des musiciens qui, contraintes géographiques obligent, n’ont pas une pratique commune régulière et un instrumentarium pas très original (le quartet traditionnel de jazz). Ces a priori s’effacent dés les premières minutes d’écoute.

C’est d’abord comme compositeur que l’altiste se distingue. Les thèmes sont longs mais retiennent l’attention à chaque instant ; ils sont élaborés et complexes mais ne tombent jamais dans l’académisme ou la démonstration. Les lignes mélodiques les plus hermétiques deviennent chantantes grâce à l’utilisation de l’unisson. Si l’on devait établir une parenté compositionnelle se serait avec Ornette Coleman (notamment sur The beast). Peter Van Huffel mêle dans son écriture plusieurs esthétiques dîtes savantes (musique contemporaine, recherches sonores post-free) tout en restant attentif à l’énergie qu’apporte la pulsation. Dans des ambiances totalement différentes on appréciera notamment la violence chirurgicale de Tangent (pièce très « Claude Tchamitchian » au passage) et la nostalgie désertique de atonement.

Le son de groupe est cohérent et ne laisse pas deviner la fraîcheur du quartet (seulement quelques mois d’existence lors de l’enregistrement). Les improvisations, toujours habitées, s’enchaînent de manière logique et naturelle. Il n’est pas ici question de juxtapositions de solistes afin de contenter les égos, mais de servir le juste déroulement des pièces. Jesse Stacken s’illustre particulièrement avec des improvisations toujours au plus proche de l’esprit du morceau et un flux énergétique digne de Cecil Taylor (Tangent, Intro the beast). Peter Van Huffel nous prouve avec ce disque que cette vieille « rusted key » qu’est le quartet de jazz peut encore fonctionner pour peu qu’on la manie avec doigté.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 - Something Else! Review by Pico (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel - "Like the Rusted Key" (2010)

In my humble opinion, it's not the improvised (aka "whack") jazz that seems toughest to compose and render, nor is it the more mellifluous but intricate modern jazz. Rather, it's the the kind of jazz that successfully combines both approaches. To me, it's a marvel how a few talented and visionary musicians can be so exploratory and free, and yet leave you with a melody or some sort of a pattern of chords that can remain stuck in your consciousness and sometimes, they're even hummable. That's the real beauty of Ornette Coleman's music and others like William Parker and Henry Threadgill also pull off this neat trick with ease.

Such are the qualities you'll also find in alto saxophonist Peter Van Huffel.

Canadian born but currently residing in Berlin since 2008, Van Huffel first spent about six years in NYC. During his time there he issued a couple of albums, like Silverster Battlefield (2007), that featured his New York-based PVH Quintet. Last summer, Van Huffel assembled a new, international quintet that recorded the sessions from which Like The Rusted Key, released this month, is the result.

Van Huffel's new quartet carries over New York pianist Jesse Stacken from the PVH Quintet, adds fellow Berliner by way of Canada Miles Perkin on acoustic bass and rounds out the foursome with renowned Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer. Though assembled exprssly for this record, the Peter Van Huffel Quartet displays synchronicity and cunning usually only found in combos performing together for several years.

That nimbleness these guys possess is required for Van Huffel's unique, often unpredictable compositions. "Tangent" shows this off the best. Stacken and Van Huffell play a rapid main melodic line that is harmonized by Stacken's left hand and Perkin's bass, and Perkins along with Rohrer's drums provide a counter-rhythm, too. Already this is an elaborate piece that wonderfully falls together like a well oiled machine when smack dab in the middle of it Van Huffel breaks it up with a quick succession of notes, signaling the band to shift into free-form improvisation that manages to maintain a tenuous link to the first half of the song. The theme finally returns in the last thirty seconds before an abrupt ending. It's artsy but so what? It's got swagger by the bushels.

"Drift" develops much more slowly, eventually settling down into a groove, and that's when Perkins emerges. Typically I struggle to get through bass solos, even really good ones, but the one Perkin drops in the middle of "Drift" demands attention for it's deeply lyrical stance that maintains a steadfastly rhythmic sensibility, blending right into the song instead of clashing against it. Almost imperceptibly, the tempo quickens afterwards, and Van Huffel probes a harmony that emerged along the way.

"Enghavevej" is charged by the rhythmically insistent march; Stacken solos with that in mind using mostly full chords before making way gradually to Rohrer's propulsive drum solo. By contrast, the duo performed "Melancholic" is a minimalist piece, whereby Stacken introduces a chord at uneven intervals and Huffel harmonizes over it, sometimes even introducing a new chord right before or at the same time as Stacken. Rohrer's unconventional percussion provides the bedrock for "Backward Momentum," the same piece where Van Huffel blows an extended, impassioned solo with long notes punctuated by ascending and descending phrasing.

The most "out" pieces are the three beastly ones: "Intro To Beast", "Beast I" and "Beast II," which Van Huffel dispersed throughout the record. I like this strategy, as they are all discreet ideas even as they are interconnected, deserving to be digested individually. Stacken tosses out some Cecil Taylor ruminations on "Intro," joined by Perkins' bowed bass and Rohrer's drums. Rohrer in turn ushers in "Beast I," setting up an obstacle course of rhythmic cones that Van Huffel and Stacken slalom around in three minutes flat. "Beast II" is the most fully developed composition of the trio, with Perkin's bowed bass laying down a dark, brooding vibe that Van Huffel, Rohrer and Stacken build upon in a harmolodic way.

Peter Van Huffel is the mastermind behind Like The Rusted Key, but much of the mastery found on this record comes from the contributions of four like-minded individuals who flesh out Van Huffel's abstract visions into shapes and sounds, converting sheet music into distinct personalities. After all, that delicate dance between modern jazz and out jazz can't be done in a vacuum.

Like The Rusted Key comes to us through Fresh Sound New Talent Records. Visit Van Huffel' websites at petervanhuffel.com or at MySpace.

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 - Jacques Prouvost Review: Peter Van Huffel Quartet Live at L'Archiduc, Brussels
(Click here to visit original page)

Le saxophoniste Peter Van Huffel (que Jean-Marc s’était fait un plaisir de nous présenter sur Jazz à Berlin) est né au Canada, a fait une longue halte à New York et habite maintenant Berlin. Peter a plus d’un lien avec la Belgique puisque son grand-père était originaire de Sint-Niklaas (ha, vous vous disiez aussi que ‘Van Huffel’, ça ne sonnait pas vraiment canadien…) et il partage maintenant la vie de Sophie Tassignon.

Avec son tout nouveau quartette, il était de passage à Bruxelles dimanche 21, à l’Archiduc pour présenter son dernier CD, «Like The Rusted Key», publié chez Fresh Sound.

Bien qu’ils se connaissent depuis longtemps, le groupe s’est formé très récemment. Quelques jours seulement avant l’enregistrement du disque. Le résultat est pourtant d’une cohésion indubitable. Au piano Jesse Stacken (un des piliers de la jeune scène New Yorkaise), à la contrebasse le canadien Miles Perkin (qu’on a entendu aux côtés de Benoît Delbecq ou Lhasa) et à la batterie le suisse Samuel Rohrer (qui joue avec Malcolm Braff, Wolfert Brederode, etc.). Belle brochette, non ?

Le groupe ne fait pas de concession et la musique est délivrée avec conviction et énergie.

«Beast 1 & 2» est un long morceau progressif, qui repose sur des lignes harmoniques lâches et espacées, laissant au temps le soin de construire sa petite histoire. Cependant, rien n’est lent, rien n’est tiré en longueur, les idées s’enchaînent, entre fureur et relâchement.

«The Drift» s’articule autrement. Ici, c’est l’ostinato, un motif répété et obsédant joué par le pianiste Jesse Stacken, qui permet au contrebassiste ou au saxophoniste de développer des improvisations charnues ou tranchantes.

Il y a un lyrisme bancal dans la musique de Van Huffel, une certaine fragilité qui côtoie un esprit parfois un peu tourmenté (le mystérieux «Atonement», par exemple). Cette idée est sans doute accentuée par certaines lignes de contrebasse jouées à l’archet. Miles Perkin n’hésite pas à «détourner» ainsi son instrument en bloquant les cordes ou en faisant glisser brutalement une fine baguette entre celles-ci («Backward Momentum»).

Le quartette joue aussi beaucoup sur les sons étouffés et retenus. Avant de lâcher un groove intense, Rohrer crée des ambiances sourdes, des climats capiteux, rehaussés du cliquetis des petites clochettes ou des mini cymbales, Ce son mat fait ainsi briller plus encore les attaques fougueuses du sax.

Peter Van Huffel garde pourtant toujours une voix assez claire et pure. On y trouve même parfois chez lui un certain «velouté» dans le phrasé. Même lorsqu’il part dans des envolées plus incisives, nerveuses, voire agressives. On y décèle peut-être l’énergie et la franchise d’un Chris Potter mêlées au discours complexe d’un Steve Coleman.

Le jeu de Jesse Stacken est, quant à lui, assez percussif sans pour autant manquer de lyrisme. Il fait sonner le piano sans fioriture ni maniérisme. Cela gronde parfois avant de revenir dans une veine plus souple.

Parfois bruitiste, presque déstructurée et toujours très ouverte, la musique trouve toujours une résolution mélodique. C’est comme si dans le désordre d’une pièce, on y découvrait soudainement une vieille photo de post-boppers. C’est énergique, intense et palpitant à souhait.

Le Peter Van Huffel Quartet propose un jazz résolument moderne, à l’énergie contrôlée, qui sait faire varier les tensions et mélanger les couleurs. Ça fait du bien, et l’on était content qu’il soit venu nous faire partager tout ça à Bruxelles. Maintenant, on attend son retour avec impatience.

A+

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2010 - The Stash Dauber Review by Ken Shimamoto (Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet's "Like the Rusted Key"

Peter Van Huffel is a Canadian alto saxophonist, formerly based in NYC and now in Berlin. He's got his fingers in a number of pies: his own quartet, a collaboration with Belgian vocalist Sophie Tassignon, and an "angry jazz" trio called Gorilla Mask. His new quartet release, Like the Rusted Key, just dropped on Fresh Sound Records.

Van Huffel's most stellar collaborator in the new quartet is pianist Jesse Stacken, a leader in his own right. Together, the two men intertwine their sounds as effectively as David S. Ware and Matthew Shipp did in Ware's great quartet. Both are nuanced players with varied tonal palettes. They let things unfold slowly on the opening "Drift" before revealing a penchant for rhythmic density on "Tangent," a piece that veers into '60s "energy music" midway through via Van Huffel's use of multiphonics. Relentless drummer Samuel Rohrer stays with them every step of the way.

"Enghavevej" has some angular melodic lines that aren't exactly Monkian or Dolphic, although reminiscent of both precursors, while "Backward Momentum" employs prog rock-like dynamics. The closing triptych of "Melancholic," "Beast II," and "Atonement" is contemplative, spacious, and somber, the last tune featuring lovely unison statements by Van Huffel's alto and Miles Perkin's arco bass. Like Fieldwork's Door, the PVH Quartet's Like the Rusted Key is a cerebral outing that's not without its visceral moments. It's a worthy showcase for a group that's forging a strong identity.

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LES ANCÊTRES - Live Review: Peter Van Huffel Quartet at L'Archiduc, Brussels (February 21, 2010) by Michel Preumont
(Click here to visit original page)

Peter Van Huffel Quartet à l'Archiduc à Bruxelles, le 21 février 2010
Mail de Sophie Tassignon:'Michel, va voir Peter Van Huffel à l'Archiduc ce dimanche, son quartet est fantastique'!
Avanti pour une séance Sunday Jazz at 5 PM (Round about Five), rue Antoine Dansaert, dans le plus bel établissement Art Deco de Bruxelles, ouvert en 1937 par Madame Alice.

Peter Van Huffel Quartet achève a European tour de présentation de son dernier CD 'Like the Rusted Key'. Cette tournée l'a conduit en Allemagne et République Tchèque et, devait s'achever le soir-même par un second concert en nos accueillantes contrées, in 't Stuk ( Leuven). Wie is die Peter Van Huffel? Un cycliste? Tu confonds avec Wim, zatlap! Si Peter a un patronyme bien de chez nous, le brave garçon a vu le jour au Canada. Zijn vader n'est pas originaire de Huffel, il a quitté Sint-Niklaas à l'âge de quatorze ans et, kleine Peter n'a jamais entendu le dialecte du pays de Waas du côté de Kingston, Canada.

Un diplôme de la Manhattan School of Music en poche, il patauge joyeusement dans la scène avant-garde de la Big Apple (un groupe: Animal Forum, puis un quintet à son nom) . Des voyages vers ses roots en Europe, rencontre avec Sophie Tassignon, Cupidon est dans le coin, on s'installe à Berlin. Discographie: quatre CD's sous son nom, un effort avec l'élue de son coeur 'Hufflignon', une plaque avec Animal Forum, une collaboration pour un nouveau musical score d'un film de Buster Keaton,et une participation au CD 'Unbind' avec le groupe 'The Suite Unraveling' de Lily Maase...

Son sax ne se repose jamais! Il prend du Viagra? T'es trop con, gars!
Les complices sur le Cd et chez le prince: au piano, from New- York: Jesse Stakken! Une pointure dans la Nouvelle-Angoulême. A la contrebasse: Miles Perkin, le second Canadien du combo. Miles est également actif dans le milieu de la danse (Isabelle Van Grimde) et a joué avec la regrettée Lhasa de Sela,ou Bob Brookmeyer , Joe Grass... Aux drums, l'Helvète, Samuel Rohrer:Samuel Blaser Trio, Aroma, Wolfert Brederode Quartet...

17h30, on attaque!
'Enghavevej' ça doit être du Danois!
Un jazz d'inspiration classique, sans être linéaire, d'où sont éliminées toutes formes d'exhibition individualiste. L'accent est mis sur la mélodie, qui doit permettre à ton esprit de divaguer et ainsi de créer des représentations picturales diverses. Le sax alto lyrique te verra composer, cérébralement, une toile poétique: un champ de coquelicots balayé par une douce brise sous un ciel nacré. Le piano léger t'invitera à voltiger de fleur en fleur. Pendant dix minutes, tu quittes ton enveloppe corporelle pour te transformer en papillon, ivre de lumière et de parfums. 'The Beast' sur l'album Beast 1 et Beast 2, sur scène nous aurons droit aux deux plages réunies. Un piano en sourdine, la bête sommeille. Un décor sylvestre offert par le batteur et la contrebasse effleurée par un archet. Le sax, aux aguets, entre en action. Un cauchemar secoue l'animal, le piano s'agite.De violents remous dans le sous-bois, une présence ennemie?

Retour à la quiétude passagère.Mais bien vite, contrebasse et percussions te replongent dans l'inquiétude, le rêve prend des tonalités lancinantes.
Tension, silence, passion, torpeur...toute une palette d'émotions! 'Drift' entamé par une séance bruitages. Jesse tripote les entrailles du clavicorde, Samuel secoue quelques quolifichets vaudou, Peter se la joue Steve Coleman..A spontaneous composition? Deux notes de piano sont répétées à l'infini. Le ton monte, tu crois reconnaître la structure du Boléro de Ravel, le sax se promène, puis divague, le mouvement est lancé. Une base rythmique en ciment Portland. Courte pause pour Adolphe, à toi Miles: un solo précieux! Coucou, me revoilà, souffle le Dinantais et on est reparti pour un final racé.
'Excerpt Two' Sombre, romantique, une tapisserie espagnole, époque mauresque, proche du Concerto d'Aranjuez. La dernière du set ' 'Tangent' . Une pièce agitée, un piano cascade, une rythmique torrent. Du water jazz non pollué. Soudain on freine le débit des eaux, danger d'inondation? Le sax délire en solo, avant que l'ingénieur en hydraulique ne réouvre les vannes. Les flots jaillissant en trombes!

Un grand moment.
Pause Carlsberg!

Set deux!
Toujours les compostions de Peter sur 'Like the rusted key'!
Two pieces back to back ' Backward Momentum' et 'Atonement', amorcées par an experiment in sound: clochettes alpines, upright bass battue au drumstick, sax acrobate avant de voir pointer le piano. Un petit tour sur le continent noir, quelques ellipses post-bop élaboré, un travail titanesque de Herr Perkin et la plage prend des colorations cinématographiques: 'Le Grand Pardon', soundtrack Peter Van Huffel. Nous sommes proches de l'univers de Maria Schneider et de son 'Sky Blue' , mais au lieu des 425 musiciens de la belle Maria, tu as un quartette magique. Next one is a new title:'Gest', du free audacieux avec la Suisse sous les spotlights. On termine ce concert par une pièce signée par Jesse Stakken, 'Face'!
Une ballade mélancolique finissant en rock abrupt. Un piano frénétique et les copains, piqués par le même insecte, au diapason.
Du Hieronomus Bosch jazz apocalyptique.

Grande performance, les CD's se vendent bien, merci!
Leuven, here we come!

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PNP vom 19.02.2010 (Live in Passau, Germany - February 17th, 2010) (Click here to visit original page)

Schlangenbeschwörer

Peter van Huffel Quartet fasziniert im Passauer Jazzclub

Die Musiker kommen so ruhig und konzentriert auf die Bühne, dass sich die gespannte Stille auf das Publikum überträgt. Miles Perkin beginnt mit einem Stöckchen die Saiten seines Kontrabasses in Schwingung zu bringen. Schlagzeuger Samuel Rohrer untermalt die zarten Klänge mit leisem Gerassel. Dazu lässt Jesse Stacken helle Töne aus dem Klavier tropfen, bis Peter van Huffel sein ungewöhnlich warmes und sonores Altsaxofon einstimmt. Er gestaltet die Luftsäule seines Horns wie ein Schlangenbeschwörer, dazu erklingen Trommelschläge wie aus einem asiatischen Tempel.

Ein hektisches Piano-Thema leitet das nächste Stück ein, wird mit aufgeregten Schlagzeugrhytmen unterlegt und von einem Hummelflug am Saxofon begleitet. Später schwingen vor einer vielfarbigen Geräuschkulisse überdehnte Bass-Bogenstriche und tönen Walgesänge aus dem Saxofon. So zaubern die vier Musiker unterschiedlichste Klanggemälde. Auch andere Konzepte lassen sie hören, etwa nervösen Freejazz. Doch am meisten faszinieren die atmosphärischen, durchinszenierten Kompositionen, für die selbst der Schlagzeuger Noten braucht.

Von klassischer Musik eigentlich weit entfernt, weckt die Dramaturgie der Stücke doch Assoziationen zu einem Klassikkonzert. So ihr spannungsreicher Aufbau in unterschiedlichen Tempi und Stimmungslagen. Oder langsame, feierliche Einleitungen am Klavier. Als Jesse Stacken ein derartiges Intro auf lang ausklingende Akkorde reduziert, zelebriert wie Strophen eines Gebetes, und van Huffel ebenso bedächtig harmonische Töne dazwischensetzt, entspinnt sich eines der aufregendsten Stücke des Abends. Es umspannt Momente der Stille mit aufwallender Symphonie.

Die Zugabe der hochsensiblen Musiker gipfelt in einem traumhaft schönen Synchronflug von gestrichenem Kontrabass und Saxofon. Huffel sagt anschließend, er sei ihnen noch nie so gelungen wie in der angenehmen Atmosphäre des Jazzkellers im Passauer Café Museum.
Gabriele Blachnik.

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PNP CD-KRITIK: Peter van Huffel Quartett - morgen live in Passau (16.02.10) (Click here to visit original page)

Anti-olympische Spiele

Während in Kanada nach Rekorden bei Geschwindigkeit und Weite gejagt wird, kehrt der kanadische Saxofonist Peter van Huffel das olympische Credo um auf seiner neuen Quartett-CD „Like The Rusted Key“. Über zehn Minuten nimmt er sich etwa Zeit, um in der Nummer „Drift“ in eine stets intensiver werdende Anderswelt zu driften. Nicht Virtuosität führt dorthin, sondern Klarheit im Ton, Finesse Timing und Feingespür im Arrangement. Pianist Jesse Stacken beherrscht alles zwischen Klassik und Konfusion, Bassist Miles Perkin und Drummer Samuel Rohrer komprimieren den Klang: nicht höher und weiter, dichter ist hier das Ziel. - rmr

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MONDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2010 - Touching Extremes Review by Massimo Ricci (Click here to visit original page)

PETER VAN HUFFEL QUARTET – Like The Rusted Key
Fresh Sound New Talent

The music of Canadian saxophonist Peter Van Huffel does not ask to be loved at a first sight. On the contrary, the approach with the many-sided look typical of his compositions initially tends to throw the listener in a state of suspicion about the directions that might be investigated and, in due course, taken by its creator. But after a few listens the precise scope of Van Huffel’s creativity becomes evident, each of the ingredients meant to be there for a reason. The sum of these motivations is what attributes a specific individuality to the final outcome: Like The Rusted Key – recorded in the summer of 2009 at Cologne’s Loft Studios – appears as an interesting demonstration of the axiom according to which revolutions are not always necessary to make a statement worthy of consideration in nowadays’ jazz.

As previously hinted, the tracks span across an ample gamut of moods and intentions. Besides the leader’s alto sax - a voice that appears elegantly tantalizing more than impulsively edgy - the main presence is that of Jesse Stacken, whose pianism is acutely complementary to Van Huffel’s thematic sketches and, just occasionally, slightly biting improvisations. The mix of liquidness and synchronized dissection of otherwise reasonably regular materials – not infrequently tending to resemble certain pages of the ECM book, think Rainer Brüninghaus – is the factor that determines a rise in our level of interest. Elegiac paragraphs and nervous harmonic transactions are both faces of the same coin. Bassist Miles Perkin and drummer Samuel Rohrer seem to strengthen a kinship within the quartet, figuring as an accurate rhythm section when the moment is right but also actively contributing to the contrapuntal grain via expert splashing of percussive hues and lenitive arco passages that depict an unsuspected nonconforming romanticism.

Amidst all of this, the track that stands out is “Melancholic”: caressing silence in between rarefied single chords left to resonate for a while, giving time to the musicians to prepare their next move, allowing us to concentrate without a necessity of anticipating what will follow. The piece is emblematic of the quartet’s responsiveness, also visible in erratic episodes such as the dissonantly energetic “Enghavevej”. Ultimately, this ability in jumping queues, avoiding strict definitions and immediately defining the object of a particular tune is the winning card of this unpretentiously intelligent CD.

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