Photo: Manfred Rinderspacher
Chris Jarrett & Erwin Ditzner: VARIATIONS for piano and drums
What happens if you take two worldwide working musicians with a strong creative bent, both of whom are renowned for the unusual usage of their respective instruments, and let them perform together as a duo? We are talking about the U.S. American pianist Chris Jarrett, who prefers to reside in Germany and is famous for his overlapping rhythms and overall dynamic playing, and the drummer Erwin Ditzner from Germany's center, who plays drums with a sense of melody and subtle lyricism. Both are fond of spontaneity and live communication, surprises and expressive clarity. But they will also fight on some points and not keep it secret either. Artistic, exciting, and unforgettable.
"Clattering accents on the drum rims, tricky offbeats, pitch-variable speech-percussion sounds, turbulent, turned-on Latin rhythms: this filigree technician brings his improvisations into flow by spinning his yarn with a continuum of musical surprises. Like colorful flotsam, contrasting stylistic traits and genre-echoes pop up and whirl together unexpectedly. These mode-changes are what thrills the audience."
Mannheimer Morgen
"Much of the performance may have been improvised - but, with all the virtuosity, these pieces were carefully controlled artworks in which nothing gets out of hand. Nothing about the music came across as accidental, marginal or merely decorative. ... If he can persevere with this huge effort, the piano may burst into flames."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
