Titok Ferenc Snétberger, Anders Jormin & Joey Baron

• 1Cou Cou02:55
• 2Titok02:20
• 3Kék Kerék04:04
• 4Rambling07:26
• 5Orange Tango05:15
• 6Fairytale05:27
• 7Álom07:09
• 8Leolo05:57
• 9Ease05:28
• 10Renaissance05:23
• 11Clown05:09
• 12Rush01:56
• 13Inference02:16
• Total Runtime01:00:45

Info for Titok

Hungarian guitarist Ferenc Snétberger leads a trio with Swedish bassist Anders Jormin and US drummer Joey Baron in this warm and involving recording, produced by Manfred Eicher in Oslo, and intensely melodic improvisation draws the listener gently into its sound-world. The gracefully flowing guitar (Snétberger has a way of making even complex phrases seem effortless), the enveloping rhythmic undertow, and the highly creative playing from all participants captivate throughout Titok. There is soloistic brilliance here and high-level interplay, and the music takes the time it needs to unfold, breathing very naturally. The compound sound of the trio, with Ferenc’s acoustic nylon-string guitar partnered by bass and drums, is special. Joey Baron shades and colours the music with great subtlety using brushes, sticks and hands, and the rapport between Snétberger and Jormin is evident from the outset, as both guitar and bass explore the contours of Ferenc’s compositions. “The dialogue here between classical guitar and Anders’s way of playing the bass seems to me unique,” observes Ferenc Snétberger. “Anders has a special ‘voicing’, a special way of entering into my music. And, together, he and Joey offer inspirations which are mirrored in my playing. Manfred’s participation was also inspiring – without his ideas, and his choice of pieces and the sequencing of them, the album could not have existed in this form.”

The producer recommended Jormin and Baron for this project and the trio came together to play three concerts in Hungary before the session at Rainbow Studios, where spontaneity was the watchword. The album is framed by music freely created in the moment: the opening piece “Cou Cou”, the title track “Titok” and the three concluding pieces “Clown”, “Rush” and “Inference” are all improvised discoveries. The sense of searching and finding in the opening moments gives way to the clearly etched melody of “Kék Kerék”, a rather beautiful older melody of Ferenc’s. “Rambling” is the first of several pieces written for this trio, the writing leaving space for bass and drums to add their statements. The tenderly phrased “Fairytale” likewise invites Jormin to add countermelodies in the deep end. “Leolo”, dedicated to Ferenc Snétberger’s grandson Leo, begins with nursery rhyme melodic simplicity and develops into elegant chamber music, including a fine section with Jormin’s arco bass…

Ferenc Snétberger’s thoroughly distinctive guitar style has been gradually shaped through the absorption and transformation of many influences. Born in 1957 into a very musical family, Ferenc had classical guitar lessons from age 13, and studied jazz guitar in Budapest. Based in Berlin from 1988, he began to harmonize the full range of his guitaristic interests, from Django Reinhardt and Roma music to Brazilian and other Latin American musics via US jazz and European classical tradition – from the baroque to contemporary composition. “Alom” on the present disc is an adaptation of an old theme referencing Roma music, while “Orange Tango” and “Renaissance” acknowledge their inspirational sources in their titles. Yet none of these pieces sounds “eclectic”, the diverse sources are integrated organically inside Snétberger’s music, and accessed readily through the guitar. (Throughout Titok, Ferenc plays a guitar hand-built to his specifications by the late German luthier Tom Launhardt.)

Titok is the second ECM album by Ferenc Snétberger. It follows the critically-acclaimed In Concert, recorded at Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music (“A beautiful, assured performance” – All About Jazz).

Anders Jormin and Joey Baron have appeared on many ECM records, but Titok marks the first time they have played together on a session for the label (they have periodically crossed paths in live contexts – playing for instance in trio with the late John Taylor). Jormin has made several albums as a leader for ECM, most recently Trees of Light, with singer and fiddler Lena Willemark and koto player Karin Nakagawa. His other discs include Xieyi, In winds, in light, and Ad Lucem. A long-time member of the Bobo Stenson Trio, he also appears on albums with Don Cherry, Charles Lloyd, Tomasz Stanko, Sinikka Langeland and others.

Joey Baron has been John Abercrombie’s drummer of choice for two decades and appears on the Abercrombie Quartet’s newest release Up and Coming. Baron is also currently a member of the trios of Jakob Bro (album: Streams) and Gary Peacock (albums: Now This and the forthcoming Tangents, due this autumn).

Plans for further Snétberger concerts with Jormin and Baron are currently being worked on. Meanwhile, Ferenc also fronts an admirable trio with British bassist Phil Donkin and New York-based Hungarian drummer Ferenc Németh, which recently brought some of the Titok repertoire to Europe’s clubs and concert halls. In October 2017 Ferenc Snétberger will tour in trio with Anders Jormin and Ferenc Németh.

Ferenc Snétberger, guitar
Anders Jormin, double bass
Joey Baron, drums

Recorded and mixed by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio Oslo
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Ferenc Snetberger
Der Gitarrist und Komponist wurde 1957 in Nordungarn als jüngster Sohn einer Musikerfamilie geboren. Schon im Kindesalter war sein Vater, ebenfalls Gitarrist, sein großes Vorbild. Snétberger studierte klassische Musik und Jazzgitarre und ist heute besonders für seine Improvisationskunst und sein die Genregrenzen überschreitendes Spiel bekannt.

Sein Repertoire ist inspiriert von der Roma-Tradition seiner Heimat, der brasilianischen Musik und dem Flamenco ebenso wie von der klassischen Gitarre und dem Jazz. Er hat zahlreiche Alben unter eigenem Namen veröffentlicht und eine Reihe weiterer als Ko-Leader und Sideman. Seine Konzertreisen führten ihn durch ganz Europa, Japan, Korea, Indien, Vietnam und die USA.

1995 komponierte er das Concerto für Gitarre und Orchester "IN MEMORY FOR MY PEOPLE" anlässlich des 50. Jahrestages der Beendigung des Holocaust, welches er seinem Volk widmete. Das Konzert, inspiriert von Melodien der Gypsy-Tradition, ist eine kraftvolle Stellungnahme gegen menschliches Leid und wurde vom Komponisten selbst mit Kammerorchestern in Ungarn, Italien und Deutschland aufgeführt, 2007 auch im New Yorker Hauptquartier der Vereinten Nationen anlässlich des Internationalen Holocaust-Gedenktags.

Als Solist führte er neben eigenen Komposionen auch Luciano Berios Sequenza XI (per chitarra sola) auf, mit Orchester hat Snétberger Konzerte von Vivaldi, Rodrigo und John McLaughlin interpretiert.

Snétberger schrieb Musik für Film und Theater.

Im Jahr 2002 wurde Ferenc Snétberger Ehrenbürger seiner Geburtsstadt und erhielt zwei Jahre später den ungarischen Verdienstorden. 2005 wurde ihm in Budapest der Franz-Liszt-Preis zuerkannt, 2014 wurde ihm der Kossuth - Preis verliehen.

Im Jahr 2004 gründete Snétberger sein neues Trio mit dem legendären norwegischen Bassisten Arild Andersen und dem in Norwegen ansässigen italienischen Drummer/Perkussionisten Paolo Vinaccia. Mit natürlicher Leichtigkeit und auf höchstem Niveau verschmilzt dieses Trio ausgewählte Kompositionen, technisches Können, improvisierenden Drive und musikalische Fantasie. Dessen Album "Nomad" erschien im Herbst 2005 und wurde von Publikum und Presse enthusiastisch aufgenommen.

Die kongeniale Zusammenarbeit mit Markus Stockhausenbegann 1999 bei der Einspielung von "Landscapes" für die CD "For My People" von Ferenc Snétberger . In den drei Kompositionen für Gitarre und Trompete finden die beiden Musiker auf Anhieb zu einer gemeinsamen Sprache und dokumentieren auf verblüffende Weise ihre gemeinsame Könnerschaft.

„Leicht und gleichzeitig voller Melancholie kommen sie daher - und vermitteln das Gefühl, als hätten sich diese beiden Instrumentalisten irgendwann zwangsläufig treffen müssen, um diese Musik das Licht der Welt erblicken zu lassen. Nach dem Anhören kann man nicht anders als hoffen, dass diese Kollaboration fortgesetzt wird“, schrieb Ralf von der Kellen im Fachmagazin "Intro" über die Zusammenarbeit.

Nach acht Jahren, in denen sich die künstlerische Arbeit von Ferenc Snétberger und Markus Stockhausen immer wieder gegenseitig befruchtete, bietet das Album "Streams" endlich und erstmalig Gelegenheit, die Weiterentwicklung auf einer gemeinsamen Duo-CD in Augen- und Ohrenschein zu nehmen.

Ferenc Snetberger
Born in 1957 in northern Hungary, guitarist/composer Ferenc Snétberger was the youngest son of a family of musicians. Early on his father, a guitar player also, became his role model. Snétberger studied classical music and jazz guitar. Today he is best known for his art of improvising and his crossing of stylistic borders. His music is inspired by the Roma tradition of his home country, Brazilian music and flamenco as well as classical guitar playing and jazz. He made numerous albums as a leader, co-leader and sideman and has toured all over Europe as well as Japan, Korea, India and the United States.

In 1995 he composed his Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, "In Memory of My People", on the occasion the fiftieth year following the end of the holocaust. Inspired by melodies of the gypsy tradition, the concerto is a powerful statement against human suffering. It has been performed by the composer himself with chamber orchestras in Hungary, Italy and Germany and also at the New York UN headquarters (International Holocaust Memorial Day, 2007).

Ferenc Snétberger performed Luciano Berios Sequenza XI (for solo guitar) as well as concertos with orchestra by Vivaldi, Rodrigo, and John McLaughlin. He also wrote music for film and theater. In 2002 Snétberger was appointed freeman of his birth town and two years later received the Hungarian Order of Merit. In 2005 he was awarded the Liszt Ferenc Prize in Budapest, 2013 the Prima Díj, 2014 the Kossuth Díj.

In 2004 Snétberger founded his new trio with legendary Norwegian bass player Arild Andersen and Norway-based Italian drummer/percussionist Paolo Vinaccia. With natural ease and on the highest level the three of them bring together choice compositions, technical skills, improvisational drive and musical fantasy. Released in fall 2005, their debut album "Nomad" was greeted with enthusiasm by critics and listeners.

Snétbergers cooperation with Markus Stockhausen started in 1999 with "Landscapes", a duo suite recorded for Snétbergers album "For My People". In three movements the musicians immediately create a language of their own showing their talents in an amazing way. "They come along lightly and yet filled with melancholy - and they give the impression that one day they simply had to meet in order to make this music happen. You cant help but hope this cooperation will be continued soon," Ralf v.d. Kellen wrote in Intro magazine. Eight years later during which Snétberger and Stockhausen have further been stimulating each other artistically, their duo album "Streams" finally proves their development.

2016 will be the release of Snétbergers new solo ablum IN CONCERT at the german label ecm records (www.ecmrecords.com )

Booklet for Titok