The tenor-bass duets of Bob Anram and Philip Baumgarten are full of close communication, spontaneity, melodic development, and a cool fire. While based in bebop and cool jazz, the musicians are not shy to stretch themselves in freer explorations and they manage to be both subtle and unpredictable at the same time. This is stimulating and fun music.-Scott Yanow, Author of ten books including Bebop and The Jazz Singers
Muziekpodia Review
Simplicity is an asset for a musician
It’s old American grooving jazz from a contemporary source: Philip Baumgarten and Bob Anram. For students of the bass and saxophone, this should be a welcome CD. ‘Don’t look up’ for instance is a sax lesson in how to play grooving licks on the saxophone. It is followed by the easy, warm ‘Blues for Dee’.
Philip demonstrates how to play bass with his sober and natural approach. He directs and improvises, is creative and decidedly not lazy. He has a full, fleshy tone. It sounds like he’s playing in a small jazz club with a wooden floor.
These men are fully concentrated and you can hear they’re full of life. This is their world, this is the music they study. These masters play the kind of notes that form understandable melodies. They seem to dance to each other’s music in their thinking. Their oneness becomes visible, as an old masterpiece does when it is restored.
The titles of the pieces are great, like ‘Trane Dance’, ‘Google’n The Frog’, and ‘Maja’, the only piece by Philip Baumgarten. It is simple and artful. The other compositions are by Bob Anram.
Philip’s encounter with American Bob Anram is a huge success. Steve Pagano, owner of the Spock Studio, thinks so to and he is enthusiastic about this event. Hence this recording.
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The tenor-bass duets of Bob Anram and Philip Baumgarten are full of close communication, spontaneity, melodic development, and a cool fire. While based in bebop and cool jazz, the musicians are not shy to stretch themselves in freer explorations and they manage to be both subtle and unpredictable at the same time. This is stimulating and fun music.-Scott Yanow, Author of ten books including Bebop and The Jazz Singers
Muziekpodia Review
Simplicity is an asset for a musician
It’s old American grooving jazz from a contemporary source: Philip Baumgarten and Bob Anram. For students of the bass and saxophone, this should be a welcome CD. ‘Don’t look up’ for instance is a sax lesson in how to play grooving licks on the saxophone. It is followed by the easy, warm ‘Blues for Dee’.
Philip demonstrates how to play bass with his sober and natural approach. He directs and improvises, is creative and decidedly not lazy. He has a full, fleshy tone. It sounds like he’s playing in a small jazz club with a wooden floor.
These men are fully concentrated and you can hear they’re full of life. This is their world, this is the music they study. These masters play the kind of notes that form understandable melodies. They seem to dance to each other’s music in their thinking. Their oneness becomes visible, as an old masterpiece does when it is restored.
The titles of the pieces are great, like ‘Trane Dance’, ‘Google’n The Frog’, and ‘Maja’, the only piece by Philip Baumgarten. It is simple and artful. The other compositions are by Bob Anram.
Philip’s encounter with American Bob Anram is a huge success. Steve Pagano, owner of the Spock Studio, thinks so to and he is enthusiastic about this event. Hence this recording.
The jazzflits review:
Bob Anram on tenor saxophone and Philip Baumgarten on double bass.
Two musicians who meet each other, unpack and tune their instruments and start
to play. Playing without knowing what will happen, without having agreed
upon a plan and without preconceived arrangements. Steve Pagano writes: 'The
interesting thing about the session you are listening to, is that it was
recorded within five minutes of Bob and Philip meeting face to face for the
first time. The music was unrehearsed, spontaneous, and for me, is symbolic
of the essence of great jazz.' The special way this encounter came about is
by no means a guarantee for a good result of course. You need talented
musicians for that who are prepared to, as Bob Anram says so pointedly,
'breathe in tandem'. Then what you get is an unparalleled result that keeps
you listening in depth from the beginning till the end. In the tradition of
Bebop and Cool Jazz we hear six duets and two solo pieces ('Maja' by
Baumgarten and 'Don't look up' by Anram), played with drive, tightness and
played lyrically and passionately. The special thing about this recording is
that you get the feeling the musicians are playing in your sitting room,
that you can literally hear them breathing as a tandem. 'The hurricane
Session 2008' is a classic, timeless and very inspiring example of
everything Jazz should be about. Or of the art of improvisation, that
unveils the mystery of music, while continuing it at the same time.
Frank Huser, Jazzflits
Jazzism Review
Bob Anram and Philip Baumgarten: chances are you've never heard of them.
Anram plays tenor sax and Baumgarten upright bass. Who cooks up the idea to
fill a complete CD with such a duo, without drums or piano, with such
unknown musicians? Add to this the fact that the whole project started
within five minutes, the musicians didn't rehearse at all and this CD is
filled with a spontaneous improvisation of about 40 minutes, in which we
hear vaguely known harmonies and blues. These seem to be ingredients for a
miserable product, but the contrary is true. This is an absolutely stunning
CD with beautiful music, that has been magnificently recorded. Anram is a
New Yorker who has been influenced by Bud Freeman and has his light touch,
but who sounds much more modern with his lighter vibrato, and who adds a
portion of Rollins to his playing. Baumgarten is a bass player with fingers
of steel, who makes every note he plays sound transparent and resonating.
After some research I found out he's from New York, but lives in Groningen.
The music of this CD is intense, spontaneous, creative and original, and not
boring for a second, as if the two musicians were melted into one body. Who
is going to make this duo play on the Dutch podia?
De bassist 09/09 Review
Two men come together in a recording studio. They've never met before, but they have great respect for each other. After a short conversation they start to play and within five minutes something special happens. It must be the dream of every recording engineer - but a nightmare at the same time: the spontaneity and power of the moment must be recorded instantaneously! Steve Pagano Jr. and Sr. had the difficult task of recording this music as quickly as they could and luckily they were in time to catch the magic.
But this is about the players: tenor saxophone player Bob Anram invited Dutch Philip Baumgarten to come to New York and while Hurricane Hannah blew over the city, Anram tried to transform that hurricane into a cool breeze. The basis of this CD is cool jazz and bebop, but these gentlemen look in every corner to see if they can find a way that leads to more. Sometimes they find that way with surprising results, sometimes they explore a delicious groove for a while, and sometimes this CD sounds like a master class in saxophone playing, with Anram playing complicated melodies. But always the music sounds like it's happening right next to you. The recording is beautiful and clear, and the CD has been mastered so expertly that it sounds as if Philip and Bob are standing in your living room.
The CD has been out for some time now and reactions from all over the world are pouring in. People are starting to say this is a classic recording and we agree totally, for this is a beautiful CD of jazz as it should be.
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