Reviews : LE POT

VITAL WEEKLY (number 1067, week 4)

LE POT – ZADE
The Swiss ensemble extraordinaire Le Pot debuted in 2014 with ‘She’, an album announced as the first part of a trilogy, indicating these guys operate with a long term view. In 2015 ‘Hera’ followed, and now the third part ‘Zade’ is out. All three productions are released by Everest Records with following crew: Manuel Mengis (trumpet), Hans-Peter Pfammatter (piano, synths, Moog), Manuel Troller (guitar) and Lionel Friedli (percussion). Why a trilogy? I don’t know. What is a trilogy anyway at the bottom? What is the underlying scheme: thesis-antithesis-synthesis...? The mystery of the strange cd-titles is now cleared: She-Hera-Zade, the storyteller in ‘One Thousand and One Nights’. Anyway, this time they choose for an completely acoustic set, recorded in april 2016 in a studio in Lugano. No re-workings this time of compositions like on ‘Hera’ where they did an interpretation of a composition by Britten. Also no obvious jazzy elements like on the first cd ‘She’. So what then? The music on this cd is of a very minimalistic nature. We find ourselves in open, spatial textures, where it is not always easy to detect who is doing what. A very stripped approach like on the intro of the longest piece on the album ‘Open out’. Marked with sparse piano and percussion an immense space is evoked, before the trumpet enters and starts to travel in this space, inviting the piano and percussion to interact and starting a conversation. Most tracks are best defined as sound improvisations of a very narrative kind, like the closing piece ‘Suton’ that has a beautiful line played by the piano in the second part. Also timbre is an important element this time. In ‘Wirrwarr’ they are engaged in the most dynamic piece on this CD. An intense improvisation. Le Pot is absolutely a very interesting combo, and I’m very curious what their next step will be.

DM
http://www.vitalweekly.net/1067.html

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VITAL WEEKLY (number 1005, week 45)

LE POT – HERA
‘Hera’ is the second part of a trilogy that started with the album ‘She’, reviewed in Vital Weekly 968. Swiss combo Le Pot is Manuel Mengis (trumpet, Electronics), Hans-Peter Pfammatter (synths, piano), Manuel Troller (guitar) and Lionel Friedli (drums). Strange, undefinable things happen here. Unexpected changes of dynamics and colouring. Melodies and rhythms that evaporate mysteriously. Yes, they search for unusual ways of structuring a musical work. And they do hit at something, as I found myself completely fascinated throughout. For this album they started from fragments of music by Benjamin Britten: “a melody from ‘Requiem Aeternam’, themes from ‘The Beggars Opera’, a song from ‘A Midsummers Night’s Dream’”. Alas I’m not familiar with these works, so I can’t determine in what way these selections serve as starting points for their exuberant and rich improvisations. Like ‘She’ I experience their music as very spatial, like a jump into the great wide open. That is somehow connected with their interest for sound. But structure is equally important. The music feels very open, but at the same time one senses all their movements are rooted in clear musical concept. The improvisations were recorded during four days of playing in the church of St.Roman. The inevitable church bells we hear in the opening of track 9. Again a very strong statement from this combo. Can’t wait for the third part of this trilogy, if not only for understanding why these choose for the ‘trilogy’-format.

DM
http://www.vitalweekly.net/1005.html

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LOOP.CL (11.2015)

LE POT – HERA
Este es un cuarteto suizo compuesto por Manuel Mengis, trompeta y electrónica, Hans-Peter Pfammatter, en Moog, otros sintetizadores y piano, Manuel Troller, guitarra y Lionel Friedli en batería. Este disco fue grabado durante cuatro días en la iglesia de San Romano, ubicada en lo alto de un cerro en el pueblo de Ran, Suiza. Este cuarteto de música de improvisación hace guiños al avant-garde, al jazz y a las atmósferas ambient (‘Eyrie’) sostenidas por las suaves pulsaciones de la guitarra y las melódicas notas del sintetizador. Si bien Le Pot hace uso de la armónia y también construye espacios abstractos y atonales (‘Flint’). ‘The Gamesters united in friedship ¨/Ungrateful macheath’ es un tema muy bien logrado porque mantiene la tensión y da pie para que el trompetista proponga sus sinuosas notas. ‘Ranunkel un Viola’ mantiene la sutileza de la trompeta y la elegancia con que toca el batero. ‘7 Balads’ despliega texturas consistentes en frotes a la guitarra y balbuceos de la trompeta, ello envuelto en oscuras atmósferas. ‘Now until the break of day’ tiene una estructura pop que funciona bien que le da una nueva dimensión a este álbum, que va desde la improvisación misma a un formato canción.

The Swiss quartet composed by Manuel Mengis, trumpet and electronics, Hans-Peter Pfammatter, on Moog and other synths and piano, Manuel Troller, guitar and Lionel Friedli on drums. This album was recorded over four days in the church of San Romano, located atop a hill in the village of Ran, Switzerland. This improvisational music quartet winks to avant-garde, jazz and ambient atmospheres ('Eyrie') held by the soft pulsations of the guitar and synthesizer’s melody notes. While Le Pot makes use of harmony and builds abstract and atonal spaces ('Flint'). 'The Gamesters united in friendship ¨ / Ungrateful MacHeath' is a very well managed because it keeps tension and gives rise the trumpeter to propose his winding notes. 'Ranunkel one Viola' maintains trumpeter’s subtlety and the smart way the drummer plays. '7 Balads' displays textures consisting on rubbing the guitar and trumpeter’s babblings all wrapped in dark atmospheres.
'Now Until the break of day' has a pop structure that works well and gives a new dimension to this album, ranging from improvisation to a song structure.

Guillermo Escudero
http://www.loop.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1205&Itemid=27

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SWISS VIBES (07.09.2015)

LE POT – HERA

“Try out things that are not obvious”
A simple interview with Manuel Mengis of Le Pot turned into a comedy of technology, Skype faltered, then both my landline telephones ran out of battery…twice. No one I asked knew of Le Pot and there was not much information online – it seemed the mystery of this 4-piece band would remain impenetrable. I’d been intrigued since reviewing the first instalment of their trilogy, She-Hera-Zade. It was sparse and tense; lo-fi white noise mingling with indistinguishable instruments, even the trumpet, played by Mengis, was often twisted into animalistic squeals. “We always had a big interest in sounds,” said Manuel (when we managed to speak), “Le Pot is actually a lot of improvised music. One big effect of that is ‘sounds’ – to really try out things that are not obvious, going beyond the normal sound of the instruments.”

“There were things coming together that were really pertinent”
The church of St. Roman in the village of Raron (close to Mengis’ home in Visp) was their recording studio and helped draw out feelings. “It’s a powerful place, a space where there is a lot going on, an energy [‘kraftort’ in German]…There were things coming together that were really pertinent.” Le Pot’s music imagines landscapes that are barren or alien. They use titles such as ‘Hamada’ and ‘Badlands’ meaning dry, eroded earth which they envisage with electric guitar scrapes, lonely trumpet notes and brooding synth drones. Rock, starlight, dusk and distant moons were conjured as I heard tracks like ‘Flint’ and ‘Bubo Bubo’; they seem to hold the natural elements in their hands.
He was unsure whether to follow music or mountaineering
It turns out that mountains have been central to Manuel’s life and at one time he was unsure whether to follow music or mountaineering. The decision was almost forced after an injury, although he’s still a mountain guide. I recently heard about an old book, ‘The Living Mountain’, in which Nan Shepherd writes of her obsessive walks in the Scottish Cairngorms, “One never quite knows the mountain, or oneself in relation to it.” She speaks, not of ‘going up’ a mountain, but ‘going into’ one and in so doing, into herself. As I listened to Hera, its textures and its space drew me in, deeply.

“It’s not that pushing kind of atmosphere, it’s a strong collective”
There is a respect of subtlety and Le Pot seem to revel in holding back so that the played notes gain maximum impact, such as when Lionel Friedli tumbles into a dramatic solo in ‘Ranunkel and Viola’ or his drums eventually sound in ‘Eyrie’. At the end of this track, the quality of touch from Manuel Troller and Hanspeter Pfammatter on guitar and keyboards (respectively) is exquisite. Mengis explains, “I think everybody playing has a lot of experience in improvised music and is not really interested in showing off…everybody has enough experience to see the whole picture and able to feel when its right, it’s not that pushing kind of atmosphere, it’s a strong collective.”

This album is more profound, musically, than She. The press release quotes Benjamin Britten, ‘Music has the beauty of loneliness and pain,’ and I sensed an exposure of emotion in their playing. “If you ask about the personal, yes, there’s a lot of emotion,” said Manuel, “It’s more than just an idea, it’s emotional too.” He spoke of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a starting point. “The melodies with the harmonics are really interesting. It’s not super obstructive – these are melodies you can sing, but it turns into something unpredictable…more complex. I felt really close to that music somehow.”

‘Meanwhile’…resembles a quick Cubist sketch
There are top moments of sequencing, breaking the worthy moodiness, for instance, with the whimsey of ‘Meanwhile’ which resembles a quick Cubist sketch. Mengis explained, “It was a spontaneous improvisation. Something light, no weight, a little bit innocent. The point is, in that recording is contrast between the dark spaces and the obvious melody or something light and easy…[there’s] ambivalence and counterplay between the two things.” The elegant and moving medley of ‘Thus Gamesters United in Friendship/Ungrateful Macheath!’ from the Beggar’s Opera serves a similar purpose.

When I visited New Zealand this year I played a track from She on an Auckland radio station and a listener texted in asking when I was going to play some music. I took this as an enormous compliment to Le Pot. It’s tough to sculpt a distinctive shape in music these days as so much has already been done. I can’t recommend Le Pot enough. Interestingly, despite being in a very different corner of the music spectrum from Im Sinne Der Zeit by the band Klaus Johann Grobe, Hera fills my heart with just as much joy. I’d ask all promotors to consider booking them so that I can see them play live!

Debra Richards
https://swissvibes.org/2015/09/07/hera-by-le-pot/

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CITIZEN JAZZ (15.01.2016)

LE POT – HERA

La nuit d’après, elle reprit sa narration, et dit au sultan des Indes…

Dans la trilogie portant le nom de la troublante Shéhérazade, le trompettiste Manuel Mengis reprend là où il s’était arrêté. Il a laissé de côté toute forme d’orientalisme pour se focaliser sur la pénombre et ses spectres, qui nous envahissent inexorablement. Avec son quartet Le Pot, l’atmosphère de Hera est aussi saturée d’électricité fébrile qu’elle ne l’était avec She. Pourtant le climat semble en perpétuelle mutation. Cela se perçoit à de menus détails : la frappe plus musicale de Lionel Friedli sur le recueilli « Erye » où la trompette se résume à un simple souffle ; le piano concertant de Hans-Peter Pfammater sur « Thus Gamesters United in Friendship/Ungrateful Macheath » tiré de l’Opéra des Gueux de John Gay arrangé par Benjamin Britten. Autant d’ingrédients qui teintent l’album d’un certain mysticisme et placent le piano au cœur des sortilèges en le transformant peu à peu en une sulfureuse machine à rêves. Hera n’était-elle pas elle-même déesse, nom de Zeus ?

Les sons gonflés d’électronique qui jaillissent de toutes parts et la spatialisation perturbante du quartet ne font pourtant pas trembler les vieux murs de l’église Saint-Romain, construite sur les contreforts du tranquille village de Rarogne en Valais. Au contraire, ils confèrent aux cordes aux aguets de Manuel Troller un écho presque solennel qui vient habiller les riffs sanguins de Mengis. Le guitariste s’enivre de tension sans faire parler la poudre, proche du silence parfois, sur le fil d’une rythmique étrange et divergente des percussions coloristes du batteur (« Ranunkel und Viola »). Sur « Raron/Requiem Aeternam », lui aussi imprégné du War Requiem de Britten, ce sont les cloches du vieil édifice religieux [1], plus apaisant que lugubre, qui tintent dans le lointain avant d’être étouffées par la main droite cristalline du pianiste. Il plane un sentiment de demi-sommeil, lorsque les bruits du réel viennent se mêler aux songes et qu’on se tient dans l’embrasure, mi-inquiétante mi exaltante. C’est le propos de « Bubo Bubo » : la trompette balise un brouillard alcalin où des déchirures électriques surgissent d’un maelstrom menaçant.

Le choix de Britten comme source d’inspiration dans cette troublante errance dans les effervescences oniriques peut surprendre, tant les emprunts se retrouvent parfois altérés, transformés par la grande unité du quartet qui semble s’accrocher à chaque son pour bâtir sa propre histoire. Mais dans l’église, le pessimisme plein d’humanité du compositeur déniche une nouvelle vie dans la libre adaptation dans ce rêve synthétique. Les autres morceaux, improvisations signées collectivement par Le Pot, s’imprègnent de l’Anglais dans sa manière d’agencer l’abstraction pour mieux jouer avec l’espace et les images sonores. Elles sont puissantes, et se terminent par ce « Now Until The Break Of Day » tiré du Songe d’une nuit d’été et rempli d’une douceur singulière. Un clin d’oeil aux Contes des Mille et une nuits qui s’étiraient jusqu’au seuil du jour. Nul besoin d’être vizir pour comprendre que Zade, Le dernier volet de cette hallucination électrique, s’annonce déjà très attendu.

Franpi Barriaux
http://www.citizenjazz.com/Le-Pot-3472229.html

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ALL ABOUT JAZZ (20.11.2015)

LE POT – HERA
Secondo capitolo di una trilogia iniziata con She e che si concluderà con l'episodio intitolato Zede, Hera ci presenta un quartetto svizzero molto interessante per visione musicale e approccio interpretativo. Registrata presso la Burgkirche St. Romanus nel villaggio svizzero di Raron, la musica interagisce con la severa architettura della cinquecentesca chiesa. Ne assorbe semplicità, purezza di forme e spiritualità rimandandole all'ascoltatore attraverso un fitto intreccio di richiami a musiche altre (e a Benjamin Britten in modo particolare), di invenzioni melodiche, di sorprese ritmiche, di sonorità non convenzionali.

Difficile pensare che nei primi quattro minuti di "Eyrie" siano all'opera tromba, tastiere, chitarra e batteria proprio perché gli strumenti diventano mezzi espressivi ben oltre i suoni e i ruoli canonici loro normalmente assegnati. Hera prende forma quindi come viaggio dei sensi e dello spirito, come esplorazione dello spazio nella quale pause e silenzi assumono importanza cruciale, le melodie si formano e si dissolvono con estrema naturalezza, ad ogni minima sfumatura viene dato risalto. Nulla di stucchevole o esoterico tutt'altro, la rigorosità delle forme ed una inquietante tensione sotto pelle assicurano presa e dinamismo all'intero lavoro.

Vincenzo Roggero
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/hera-manuel-mengis-everest-review-by-vincenzo-roggero.php

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SWISS VIBES (15.12.2014)

LE POT – SHE

The system has crashed and we nervously float through a spiral galaxy
Le Pot’s album is the first of a planned trilogy, She–Hera–Zade. After crossing paths in outfits such as Manuel Mengis‘ Gruppe 6, they committed to this project with Mengis on trumpet and electronics, Hans-Peter Pfammatter playing Moog and synthesisers, drummer Lionel Friedli and Manuel Troller on electric guitar. This instalment, She, has thrown off the shackles of melody and musical convention and is driven by atmosphere, environment, feeling. The electronics provide a subtle, post-Apocalyptic white noise; the system has crashed and we nervously float through a spiral galaxy.

This interplay creates expansive landscapes
Ariel Alert sets up the ride with its cacophony of smashing cymbals and firing drum rolls, psyched-out guitar and trumpet, part-quivering, part-soaring. It leads into the track I keep re-playing, Part 1 Desert Whale Song. A sublime sound-piece where the ever-present electronics are so subtle you can’t tell where the instruments stop and they begin. This interplay creates expansive landscapes and mysterious visions: here the band appears as a disorientated submarine in the deepest of pitch-black oceans. The denouement escalates to an animalistic attack of Mengis’ braying brass, distorted guitar and drum blows, that had me on the edge of my seat.

Electronics are the threads invisibly sewing it all together
Throughout the album, the trumpet chatters, squeals, cries in pain but rarely sings – there is a sense of skilful playing and a wilful rejection of tradition, although I could sense echoes of ‘electric Miles’ (Davis). It is perfectly matched by the guitar’s imaginings: from fuzzy strums to almost inaudible bending notes and tripped-out chords. The drumming is a-rhythmical, barging into the argument with its own opinions; sparse and jagged, whilst the synths and electronics are the threads invisibly sewing it all together into a dark collage.

An echoing guitar drives the track off the cliff into freefall
It’s as if their idea is to drag music back in time to primal grunts or break it even further down into fizzing atoms. They are not always successful in this, but what I am taken by is the quartet’s commitment to space in their music; they allow each sound to breathe and exist even when they build to discordant climaxes such as in Part II Phili’s Boat Bursting or Gezinkt Sind Wir Alle. In this piece the instruments intensify their squabbling chatter; bass notes underpinning frantic trumpet squeals and insistent electric loops, before an echoing guitar drives the track off the cliff into freefall. There is almost a sense of post-punk electronica here with keyboards, guitar and drums uniting in a vague melody.

This is what I think should have been developed – a more tangible shape, even if for one track in order to pull the album back from drifting into clever noodling. Having said that, I enjoyed the trip very much and am looking forward to Hera – which the band say will be an acoustic reflection on the motives of the British composer Benjamin Britten. Le Pot are a band we should all be keeping our ears open for.

Debra Richards
https://swissvibes.org/2014/12/15/le-pot-she/

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CITIZEN JAZZ (01.06.2015)

LE POT – SHE
On avait perdu de vue le trompettiste Manuel Mengis, pionnier d’une génération de musiciens suisses qui aiment à mâtiner leur musique de nombreuses influences, de l’électronique au rock, sans jamais l’affadir. Depuis 2013 et la sortie du troisième album de son sextet Gruppe 6, Dulcet Crush, il aura multiplié les collaborations aux lisières de courant musicaux multiples avant de réunir Le Pot. Ce nouveau quartet pousse encore plus loin le goût de Mengis pour les expérimentations, jusqu’à ressembler à un voyage initiatique en compagnie du claviériste Hans-Peter Pfammatter et du guitariste Manuel Troller, deux habitués des ambiances mutantes. Ces derniers animent notamment ensemble le quartet Kasho’gi, auteur du récent AY° sur le label Veto.

Mengis signe avec She le premier volet d’une trilogie en forme de conte à l’atmosphère onirique persistante. Il assume absolument l’aspect alcalin, voire psychédélique du Pot, notamment dans une suite en deux parties s’ouvrant sur la capiteuse « Desert Whale Song ». Le silence se trouble d’abord de bruits blancs et de souffle avant d’enfler et d’exploser dans une superposition étourdissante de craquements électriques issus de la guitare et d’autres bruits étranges répercutés en écho. Les frottements abstraits d’où s’échappe une trompette corrodée par les sourdines et les traitements du son sont même pressés par un tremblement immense qui provient des tréfonds des synthétiseurs de Pfammatter. Tout replonge alors dans un silence inquiet, prêt à tressaillir au moindre cliquetis (« Phili’s Boat Bursting »). On retrouve dans ce quartet le batteur Lionel Friedli qui était déjà un fidèle du Gruppe 6. Son drumming lancinant fait merveille dans ce climat bardé de boucles diverses où il est le garant d’une rythmique attentive. Ainsi, dans « Gezinkt Sind Wir Alle », c’est lui qui forge le savant alliage de limaille incandescente qui semble provenir de tous les instruments alentours ou de leurs avatars.

Les rhizomes de Mengis sont multiples et, ici, volontairement mixés ; s’il s’agit d’un Pot, c’est qu’on y verse tous les ingrédients pour mieux profiter du brassage. Bien sûr, le clin d’œil très appuyé au Miles Davis électrique d’On The Corner cueille l’auditeur dès « Ariel Alert ». Son penchant pour les strates sonores et le fourmillement est cousin, mais il s’est frotté à d’autres sons urbains. Cela va au-delà de cet référence au jazz des années 70 que l’on savait déjà constitutive de l’univers de Mengis au sein de son Gruppe 6 ; avec Le Pot, se croise tour à tour le spectre des boucles minimalistes de Steve Reich et des univers fébriles empruntés à des musiciens électroniques comme Aphex Twin ou Autechre (« Me, Mo and Mu »). Ce qui pourrait n’être qu’un gigantesque fourre-tout chaotique bénéficie d’un remarquable sens de la narration. Il transforme She en grisante hallucination.

Après ce premier volet, Mengis et ses comparses feront paraître Hera, forme plus acoustique qui s’inspirera du compositeur Benjamin Britten. On a hâte d’entendre ce Zade, dernier volet d’une histoire accrocheuse qui séduira ceux qui aiment s’abandonner dans les tourbillons bruitistes et s’affranchir des chapelles stylistiques sans renier l’exigence. Souhaitons qu’il ne faille pas attendre mille et une nuits.

Franpi Barriaux
http://www.citizenjazz.com/Le-Pot.html

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VITAL WEEKLY (number 968, week 6)

LE POT – SHE
With Le Pot we are in Bern, Switzerland. A quartet consisting of Manuel Mengis (trumpet, electronics), Hans-Peter Pfammatter (keyboards, electronics), Manuel Troller (guitar, electronics) and Lionel Friedl (drums). All four of them Swiss musicians whose paths have crossed on many occasions in the past: Friedl and Pfammatter started Scope. Friedl also played with Manuel Mengis Gruppe 6. With Le Pot they make a new, ambitious step. ‘She’ is the first part of the trilogy ‘She-Hera-Zade’, they plan to realize in the future. Le Pot is a very adventurous combo. They deal in noisy sound-oriented improvisations. Spacial constructions that come from group improvisation. Sometimes with a beat, but most of the time they abstract from rhythm too. A trumpet in a spaced out electric context always makes one think of Miles Davis, which is the case here in a track like ‘Tartarugas Dream’. Trumpet player Mengis is the most jazz-oriented improviser of the four. Just listen to his solo halfway ‘ICCL’. But in total their music is far more radical, and abstracts from any common vocabulary. Their eruptions of loud, seemingly chaotic interplay, could also be associated with the energy of rock music. Luckily they are embedded in passages that allow some rest and time for recovery. So well-balanced excursions it are, although sometimes a bit too open for my taste. But there is always to be enjoyed a very concentrated playing and one feels a sense of direction that wells up from the subconscious of these players. Great record from an interesting project.

DM
http://www.vitalweekly.net/968.html

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KULTURMAGAZIN (Februar 2015)

HEISSER TOPF
Energetisch vom ersten Moment an, rollt, schiebt, rumort und fliesst die Musik von Le Pot durch unwegsame Gebiete mit herrlichen Aussichtspunkten und verborgenen Schönheiten. Die Trompete von Manuel Mengis gibt mit ihren explosiven Melodien das Signallicht, Manuel Troller (Gitarre) und Hans-Peter Pfammatter (Synths) generieren die elektrisch-elektronischen
Topografien des Sounds, Schlagzeuger Lionel Friedli legt mit seiner Intensität die rhythmische Spur. Le Pot ist eine top besetzte Band. Die vier Musiker sind ehemalige Absolventen der
Jazzhochschule Luzern und gehören zu den Innovatoren der zeitgenössischen Jazz-Rock-Noise-Elektro-Szene. Sie schaffen auch mit Le Pot eine grenzensprengende Musik voller Überraschungen. Ein Soundtrack, der einen reinzieht in den
Puls der Zeit.

Pirmin Bossart

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DER BUND (18.12.2014)

Synergie der Sinneseindrücke
Im Sound-Dschungel: das Experimental-Electronic-Quartett Le Pot.
Le Pot produzieren Sounds mit hohem Nerd-Faktor.

Wo sind wir hier bloss gelandet? Im Maschinenraum eines Raumschiffs? In Dantes Inferno? In einem Chatroom für Aliens? In einer Konferenz für Klingonen-Musik? Das schweizerische Experimental-Electronic-Quartett Le Pot produziert Sounds mit einem hohen Nerd-Faktor, die gleichermassen verschrecken und bezirzen. Le Pot ist gewissermassen die musikalische Antwort auf die abgründigen Bildwelten von H. R. Giger: eher schaurig als schön, manchmal aber auch schaurig schön.

Le Pot: Das sind der Elektro-Trompeter Manuel Mengis (Gruppe 6, Hicsuntleones), der Elektro-Gitarrist Manuel Troller (Schnellertollermeier), der Synthesizer-Spezialist Hans-Peter Pfammatter (Scope, Lila) und der Schlagzeuger Lionel Friedli (Lucien Dubuis Trio, Christy Doran’s New Bag). Wir haben es also mit vier ausgewiesenen Nonkonformisten zu tun, die gerne in Terra incognita vorstossen – manchmal verfolgen sie dabei Wege weiter, die von Miles Davis, Nils Petter Molvær, Eivind Aarset oder Koch-Schütz-Studer vorgespurt worden sind.

Zusätzlich wartet man dieses Mal mit einer interessanten konzeptionellen Idee auf: Das Album «She» ist nämlich der Auftakt zu einer Trilogie, die mit «Hera» und «Zade» fortgeführt werden wird (mit mindestens 1001 Klängen). Während «She» über eine offene Free-Impro-Dramaturgie verfügt und ganz klar von elektronisch verfremdeten Sounds geprägt wird, ist «Hera» als akustische Auseinandersetzung mit Motiven aus dem Œuvre des britischen Komponisten Benjamin Britten geplant. Das Drehbuch für Teil 3 ist noch nicht geschrieben.

Mit dem Botanischen Garten hat sich die Band einen ungewöhnlichen, aber passenden Konzertort ausgesucht: Das Publikum kann in einem Pflanzen-Dschungel mit spezieller Geruchsatmosphäre in einen bizarren Sound-Dschungel eintauchen. Wetten, dass es dabei zu einer suggestiven Synergie der Sinneseindrücke kommen wird?

Tom Gsteiger

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KULTURTIPP (03/2015 vom 22. Januar 2015)

Magische Spitzen
Mit dem Quartett Le Pot rückt der Walliser Trompeter Manuel Mengis (Leader der Gruppe 6) endgültig ins freie Post-Jazz-Territorium vor. «She» ist der erste Teil der geplanten Album-Trilogie «She-Hera-Zade». Der Auftakt hat in seiner Genre sprengenden Radikalität eine magische Note. Man hört so tumultöse wie sublime Klangbilder, in denen das Quartett durch faszinierende Sound-Konglomerate navigiert und die Trompete melodische Spitzen setzt.

Pirmin Bossart

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HIS VOICE (01.2016)

LE POT – HERA
Na 4 dny se uchýlil švýcarský improvizační kvartet Le Pot do kostela Sv. Romana v malém městečku Raron v Alpách, aby zde nahrál své album Hera. Tento mladý kvartet balancující na pomezí freejazzu, volné improvizace i komponované hudby tvořený trumpetistou Manuelem Mengisem, pianistou a klávesistou Hansem - Peterem Pfammatterem, bubeníkem Lionelem Friedlim a kytaristou Manuelem Trollerem si svým svébytným přístupem k improvizaci i trefnými odkazy k tradicí vážné hudby odvážně razí vlastní cestu improvizační hudební scénou.
„All music by Le Pot except by Benjamin Britten and John Gay“, tak zní neortodoxní poznámka nacházející se na druhé straně obálky cd. Le Pot se totiž odhodlali na tento druhý díl trilogie započatý deskou She zařadit několik svévolných parafrází na témata známých, až kanonických hudebních děl, Žebrácké opery Johna Gaye a Válečného rekviem Benjamina Brittena. Spojení Gaye a Brittena tu není náhodné, Britten totiž Žebráckou operu nastudoval, harmonicky rozvedl a doplnil o několik písní.

Úvodní atmosférický počin s názvem Eyrie nás hned od počátku vábí jemně kvílivou trubkou, ambientně roztaženou kytarou, bicími se silným dozvukem kostelního prostoru a znepokojivým ostinátním ambientním motivem syntezátoru. Hned druhá skladba Flint však podniká sebeironický útok na tuto iluzorní představu hudby pomocí různých glitchů a dalších „nevítaných“ hostů stylizované a konvenční hudby. Ovšem ani třetí skladba Thus gamesters united in friendship/ Ungrateful macheath neuzavře referenční rámec, ve kterém se zbytek alba bude pohybovat. Ba naopak, odkazem na barokní Žebráckou operu z roku 1728 ho rozšíří o několik staletí. Zprvu přitakávající si zpěvné melodie piana a trumpety se v ní postupně rozplynou do roztáhlých tónů, na které záhy naváže průrazný rockový beat a nezbedná, zkreslená trubka ve stylu libanonského trumpetisty Ibrahima Maaloufa. Název skladby Hamada/Requiem aeternam zase poukazuje na inspiraci první větou Brittenova Válečného rekviem. Tu v menších obměnách zaslechneme na albu ještě jednou v poslední skladbě Raron/Requiem aeternam, jež tentokrát poslouží jako startovací rampa k celkově hudebně úspornější i ukázněnější improvizaci. Le Pot všem dokážou podnítit i vizuální představivost. Skladba Badlands svým narůstajícím zvukovým napětím skutečně navozuje pocit, jako byste právě pronikali na nehostinné území. Hey se zase naopak nese v gardu volné improvizace; fragmentované projevy jednotlivých nástrojů zde vytvářejí nápadité harmonické i rytmické pnutí.
Oproti prvnímu dílu trilogie s názvem She vyniká album Hera větší plasticitou a onou postmoderní zálibou v prolínání zdánlivě nesouvisejících hudebních projevů. Síla hudby Le Pot totiž tkví právě v kladení konvečních melodií do kontrastu se zvukovým experimentováním a freejazzovou improvizační syrovostí. Nezbývá tedy něž se těšit na desku Zade, která celou trilogii završí.

Martin Lauer
https://www.hisvoice.cz/cz/articles/detail/2862

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CULTURE JAZZ (FR)

LE POT – HERA
Ce quartet suisse intitulé « Le Pot » nous avait proposé son album « She » en février dernier (lire ici !). Voici la suite quelques mois plus tard, Hera, nouvelle pierre blanche dans un parcours essentiellement basé sur l’improvisation. De la musique vivante et mouvante surtout pas banale

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THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD (06.01.2016)

BEST NEW RELEASES (2015)

*Charles Lloyd - Wild Man Dance (Blue Note)
*Jack DeJohnette - Made in Chicago (ECM)
*Mary Halvorson - Meltframe (Firehouse 12)
*Matthew Shipp Trio - The Conduct of Jazz (Thirsty Ear)
*Kamasi Washington - The Epic (Brainfeeder)
*David Chesky Jazz in the New Harmonic - Primal Scream (Chesky)
*Scott Dubois - Winter Light (ACT Music)
*Larry Ochs - The Fictive Five (Tzadik)
*Howard Alden - Guitar Solo (K2B2)
*Le Pot (Manuel Mengis/Hans-Peter Pfammatter/Manuel Troller/Lionel Friedli) - Hera (Everest)

Laurence Donohue-Greene, Managing Editor (The New York City Jazz Record)

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THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD (06.01.2016)

LE POT – HERA
Hera, recorded for the Bern’s Everest Records, is the second installment of a fairytale trilogy by Le Pot, a Swiss quartet of trumpeter/electronicist Manuel Mengis, keyboardist Hans-Peter Pfammatter, guitarist Manuel Troller and drummer Lionel Friedli, all veterans of Mengis’ Gruppe 6. After a four-day sojourn at the ancient hilltop church of St. Roman overlooking the historic hamlet of Raron, the group emerged with an extended suite of collective improvisations based on motifs gleaned from the music of Benjamin Britten. Acoustic elements—open trumpet, piano, hand percussion, even the church’s carillon tolling nine o’clock in the background of a piece inspired by Britten’s “Requiem Aeternam” — readily blend with an almost constant wash of processed electronica, making it difficult to distinguish guitar from synthesizer or glissandoing gongs from echoing trumpet. Hypnotic and scarifying, it suggests a macabre soundtrack.

Tom Greenland
http://www.nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201602.pdf

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ALL ABOUT JAZZ ITALY (20.11.2015)

Vincenzo Roggero

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SCRIVERE DI JAZZ (01.11.2015)

LE POT – HERA
E' stata la chiesa di St. Romanus a Ranus, in Svizzera, l'esclusiva location scelta dal quartetto elvetico Le Pot per le sedute di registrazione di questo loro recentissimo cd. Manuel Mengis alla tromba ed elettroniche, Hans-Peter Pfammatter ai sintetizzatori, Lionel Friedli alla batteria e Manuel Troller alla chitarra hanno impiegato quattro giorni per dare vita a questa loro produzione in bilico fra jazz, avanguardia, tecno e ambient music. Ma c'è anche un preciso riferimento, in stretta relazione con la loro espressività, ed la musica di Benjamin Britten nel cui repertorio i quattro hanno pescato alcune composizioni che qui hanno sviluppato secondo il loro layout espressivo affiancandole ad altre da loro stessi firmate e privilegiando in entrambi i casi l'improvvisazione. Ed cosi che il percorso, costellato di ben undici episodi, si rivela già dall'iniziale “Eyrie” denso di mistero. I suoni sembrano trascendere la realtà, moltiplicarsi, frammentarsi in una frenetica rincorsa verso l'indefinito. Le sonorità sintetiche e l'intenso flusso ritmico di “Flint” preludono ad un breve episodio caratterizzato da un fraseggio armonico di Mengis alla tromba: è l'intro di “Thus Gamesters United in Friendship/Ungrateful Macheath!” che poi andra ad evolversi in svariate mutazioni sia ritmiche che sonore. Poi l'atmosfera sembra acquietarsi con i rarefatti umori di “Hamada/Requiem Aeternam” e i minimalismi narrativi di “Ranunkel und Viola” con la tromba di Mengis protagonista, qui come in tutto l'album, con una vocalità variamente modulata e fortemente espressiva che lascia spazio nel finale al ritmo quasi tribale di Friedli alla batteria. Arriva in successione, inaspettato con “Meanwhile” traccia n.8, un eloquio di free bop claunesco e ironico mentre “Now Until The Break of Day” con il suo riff ostinato ed elementare chiude con leggerezza un album intriso di imprevedibilità e ricercatezza.

Giuseppe Mavilla
http://scriveredijazz.blogspot.ch/2015/11/hera.html

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CULTURE JAZZ (04.02.2015)

Pile des 46 disques de février 2015.
Les nouveautés du mois et quelques retardataires...

LE POT – SHE
Trompette dans la main droite, toute une kyrielle d’outils électroniques à portée de ma main gauche, Manuel Mengis assemble une matière sonore mouvante et plutôt sombre avec ses trois complices unis dans un même « Pot ». Nous avions eu l’occasion d’entrer dans l’univers du trompettiste suisse avec « The Pond » en 2008 où l’on trouvait le même Lionel Friedli à la batterie. Une démarche musicale exigeante qu’on pourra trouver « expérimentale » mais qui ne manque pas d’intérêt.

Thierry Giard
http://www.culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article2614#lepot

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BAD ALCHEMY MAGAZIN (BA 84/15)

LE POT – SHE
Die vier, die sich hier zusammen getan haben für etwas, das insgesamt mal eine Trilogie namens She-Hera- Zade werden soll, sind exemplarisch für ein Phänomen. Nämlich dass eine relativ überschau- bare Szene wie die der Schweizer NowJazz-Macher bei aller Verschulung und Inzucht mit einem Variantenreichtum aufwartet, der erstaunen macht. Die hier am Werk sind, allesamt so um die 40 rum, haben logischerweise auch schon allerhand Schweiß gemeinsam vergossen: Der Walliser Trompeter Manuel Mengis hat in seiner Gruppe 6 den Bieler Lionel Friedli an den Drums sitzen, der seine Erfahrungen mit Christy Doran und Lucien Dubuis einbringt. Von Fat Son her kennt Mengis den Gitarristen Manuel Troller, der sich auch schon in David Meier's Hunter-Gatherer hervorgetan hat. Der Soundwizard Hans-Peter Pfammatter schließ- lich hat jahrelang Christy Doran's New Bag mit Spielwitz gefüllt. Was gebeutelt wird, ist nicht immer neu, der Hund aber ist toll und bunt. Auch hier wird gleich mal Sturmwarnung gegeben, Ariel- Alarm ('Ariel Alert'), und damit ein elektrisierender Zauber beschworen, der die Schweizer Boden- ständigkeit ins Paradoxe und gar Oxymorone verrückt. Freilich folgt dem mit 'Desert Whale Song' eine Durststrecke, bei der man über ein gähnend ödes Sandmeer driftet, bis verzerrtes Gebläse und treibendes Geklopfe die surrealen Schlingen zerreißen. Aber nur, um bei 'Phili's Boat Bursting' erneut in treibsandzähe Rossbreiten zu geraten, zu flickernder Percussion und gepressten Trompeten- lauten. Bis doch noch ein frischer Rückenwind für eine Steigerung ins Wilde und Chaotische sorgt. Hat man sich danach neu sortiert, steckt man im Bewusstsein einer Schildkröte ('Tartarugas Dream'), die träumt, Miles Davis zu sein und heimlich, still und leise einen Weg nach Mu zu finden ('Me, Mo and Mu'), jenes versunkene Traum- land im Stillen Ozean. War nicht Corto Maltese vor seinem Aufbruch nach Mu zuletzt bei den Helve- tiern gewesen? 'Gezinkt sind wir alle' spielt den Dark-Magus-Joker und braust unter vollen Segeln dahin. Wofür 'ICCL' steht? I couldn't care less, solange Le Pot so schön seltsame Trompeten- und Gitarrenhieroglyphen zu pulsierender Minimal Electronica krakelt und dann sogar einen synthie- schaum- und gitarrennoisegekrönten Drive pflügt. Beim finalen 'Hier, oder am anderen Ende' fängt das Echolot nur noch ein Dröhnen aus der Tiefe ein, the deep nook, where once ...

http://www.badalchemy.de/download/badalchemy_84.pdf