String Thing
Since 2006 I have been a member of the jazz string quartet STRING THING, founded in Hamburg in 1989, which has attracted attention through numerous concerts (China, Japan, Morocco, France, Bulgaria, West Africa, Pakistan with the Goethe Institute, FIFA World Congress Marrakesh, Leverkusen Jazztage, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Bregenz Festival and many more), TV/radio productions (WDR, NDR, BR, RBB and others), CDs and awards.
In 2019, in addition to its 30th anniversary, String Thing also celebrated the premiere of the program "Beauty Of The Essential Detail" with the Cologne saxophonist Roger Hanschel (WDR Jazz Prize 2018) as part of the HÖMMA Jazz Festival Oberhausen. The CD was released in 2020 by MicNic Records.
Information about the program:
From String Thing you can find all CDs and sheet music, dates, photos, videos and audio samples at www.stringthing.de...
I play on these CDs of the quartet:
beauty of the essential detail (2020)
Roger Hanschel (WDR Jazz Prize 2018) has already released two CDs with string quartets (Auryn Quartet, Frankfurt Contemporary Quartet) as a composer and saxophonist. To add another - now jazzy - colour to his collaboration with string quartets, and to complete a trilogy, Hanschel turned to the jazz string quartet String Thing, which is one of the string pioneers in the field of improvised music and groove in Germany and counted members of the Arcado String Trio or the Turtle Island Quartet among its mentors in its founding phase 30 years ago. The string quartet colour is also expanded here by the double bass. In addition to the jazz colour, Roger Hanschel's experience with Indian music also flows into his compositions - for example in the form of tihais (rhythmic patterns that recur three times) and Indian scales interpreted in a harmonious way.
„... In addition, pizzicato syncopations pulsate, legato bows of the united string instruments breathe and the horizon opens up for the blooming, latently dark timbre of Roger Hanschel's alto saxophone. The latter is in itself a warm rain of pure, soulful emotion! So the journey can last forever. But where an endless meditative pull would be conceivable, the interaction between Roger Hanschel and the quartet produces a constant renewal through rapid improvisations, through astonishing combinations of the string lines with the saxophone, especially in the sixteenth note phrases that flash up again and again, which provide a breathtaking, Indian-inspired rhetoric – not infrequently in spectacular "note-for-note" unison parts! The sound culture of the string quartet is also rich, variable and adventurous. String Thing provides antithesis to the modal stringency in Hanschel's saxophone playing – not only when moments of romantic intimacy flood the room or sophisticated symphonic arcs span. In the next moment, however, Roger Hanschel is already on the spot again with an interaction when he fires off the next alarming sixteenth phrase. This exciting continuum does not want to stand still." (Stefan Pieper, JazzZeitung)
Roger Hanschel | Saxophon, Composition
Nicola Kruse | Violin
Ingmar Meissner | Viola
Gunther Tiedemann | Violoncello
Jens Piezunka | Contrabass
MicNic Records 2020, MN 7
Alma Latina (2008)
ALMA LATINA is the first concept album by STRING THING. Initiated by Hajo Hoffmann, who played violin in the quartet between 2004 and 2007 and incorporated many impressions from his adopted home Brazil into his pieces, the gripping and rousing music of Latin America is at the center of the program. The compositions cast very personal views through European glasses on a variety of aspects of Latin American music, which inspired the musicians to take very different approaches. The booklet contains personal comments by the composers on their pieces.
“The compositions are strong, rife with excellent polyrhythmic riffs and bouncy melodies, with many juicy surprises to keep things interesting. Tiedemann and Piezunka don't leave the solos and melodies to the violins, but also tear of some fabulous solos and even take turns playing completely unaccompanied.” Cello City Ink (USA)
Nicola Kruse | Violin
Ingmar Meissner | Violin, Viola
Gunther Tiedemann | Violoncello
Jens Piezunka | Contrabass, Vocals
MicNic Records 2008, MN 6