"Ravel" | Trio with Rainer Böhm & Patrice Héral
Dieter Ilg has been one of the most influential voices in European jazz for years. His international reputation is based on his electrifying vitality, intelligent curiosity, technical brilliance and sensitive devotion to the moment. This has resulted in three ECHO Jazz Awards. The awards are also thanks to his two great colleagues, pianist Rainer Böhm and percussionist Patrice Héral, with whom Ilg has formed his outstanding trio for years. For years, the double bassist has also endeavored to combine jazz with European melodies. Various productions with folk song arrangements were followed by work with composers of Western art music: Verdi, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach ... and now Ravel. The new program and the album of the same name contain ingenious, sensual arrangements and the finest improvisations on the works of Maurice Ravel.
It is not surprising that Ilg would end up with Maurice Ravel at some point, as his artistic approach is entirely impressionistic. "I am interested in what happens between me and the object," Claude Monet once said about his painting. This also applies to Ilg's creative process, as the musical templates are the trigger for his own sensations, which are processed into new soundscapes: "I don't act according to a plan and don't want to simply reproduce anything, but rather create something of my own with the masters 'in mind'." The pieces that Ilg selects for this have to "jump out at him", as he says himself. How is completely open: It can be a melody, a rhythmic figure, a chord sequence or even a mood that creates an attraction: "Listen and decide in the moment" is Ilg's motto, in the process of composing but above all in the trio improvisations, which create an atmosphere of the moment.
