Root 70 – Heaps Dub (Nonplace/Inertia)

New Zealand-born jazz musician Hayden Chisholm has played as part of Burnt Friedman’s live formations and recorded with him for several years now. Now Chisholm’s Cologne-based jazz quartet reconstructs and re-records, Hayden’s favourite Friedman selections. Taken from Nu Dub Players, Flanger and solo albums from the last five years the re-interpretations traverse dub, latin and jazz originals – each taken off in new directions by the quartet. What makes Friedman one of my favourite artists is his combination of deadpan humour (carried in musical ideas, track titles and pseudonyms) and his aesthetic journey which has seen him explore the notion of a digital band for the past decade or more. Chisholm’s reinterpretations return the source material to its ‘artificial real’ roots – ‘real jazz’ interpretations of sample arrangements, samples that themselves were employed to reinterpret ‘real’ genres. The highly accomplished quartet of Chisholm, Nils Wogram, Jochen Rueckert and Matt Penmann recorded these tracks live with Burnt Friedman then doing the final mix and edits, drawing each track to exactly 5 minutes long each. Saxophone, clarinet, trombone, double bass and light touch drum work combine with Friedman’s subtle post-production effects, revealing the strength of Friedman (and Atom Heart’s) original compositions even when freed from their digital roots.