James Bond gave the starting signal for the music festival on Lake Starnberg
Created: 08/08/2022, 12:00 p.m
Group photo before the performance on the terrace of the Seeresidenz Alte Post: "Pure Desmond".
© olive
Six concerts around Lake Starnberg - that's the SeeJazz Festival 2022. James Bond was allowed to fire the starting gun on Saturday evening: in a casually played version of the soundtracks from "Pure Desmond".
The band brought a cinematic atmosphere to the Seeresidenz Seeshaupt.
Seeshaupt
– The lake is definitely Bond-ish,” said band founder and saxophonist Lorenz Hargassner and expanded the idea further: James, who runs across the terrace of the venerable walls, jumps over the railing – that was easy to imagine.
“Pure Desmond” is as smart as Bond is.
However, the quartet delivered the film hits in its own way: Dedicated to cool jazz, there was not exaggerated bombast, but concertante, introverted interpretations.
A polished and solid version of the super agent.
In return, the band took some action from the hero, but at least doubled the coolness.
Famous movie songs picked apart and rearranged
In 2020, guitarist Johann Weiß, an absolute Bond fan, brought up the idea of playing the famous, star-studded film titles.
And as is usual with the four full-blooded musicians, there was discussion, picking and rearranging.
The result is exactly that mixture that offers the audience the catchy melodies as a decoy, in order to then follow the sound experiments and the continuation of the themes à la "Pure Desmond".
The fact that the ensemble works as a real team was clearly noticeable on Saturday.
Read everything about the planned "Forum Humor" at Lake Starnberg here
No wonder, because top-class artists are at work here: saxophonist Hargassner also works as a jazz journalist and lecturer at the University of Music, Theater and Media in Hanover.
Guitarist Weiß has been a professor for popular music at the Musikhochschule Würzburg since 2015, was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize and received several Echo nominations.
Bassist Christian Flohr tours internationally and drummer Sebastian Deufel works as a theater musician at the Frankfurter Schauspielhaus and Thalia Theater Hamburg.
Even more film glamor in the second part
In the quartet this means: Slow tempi, sweeping melodies, space for small but deeply effective solos characterize the concert of the 007 class.
The Bond theme, "From Russia with Love" or "Licence to Kill" developed its own momentum on the cloudy summer evening, the original lead gray became a light grey-pink.
In the foreground was a melancholic emotionality that emphasized the drama much more than the potency.
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In the second part of the concert, too, the splendor of the glamorous world of film wafted over Seeshaupt.
And here, too, the quartet rewrote the script.
It was dedicated to the almost-love story between Paul Desmond and Audrey Hepburn.
Desmond (1924-77) is the "musical father" of the band: he became known through the Dave Brubeck Quartet, through his airy, flowing sound.
What is less well known is that he may have been in love with Hepburn for years and kept trying to catch a glimpse of her.
But nothing more!
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Suddenly speed and clapping effects
In the piece "Audrey" he expressed his unbelievable longing, which on Saturday made one feel the subliminal heat and endless melancholy, comparable to Gershwin's "Summertime".
On the other hand, there was a crisp "Gotta dance" and a "Punch", which delighted the around 60 listeners with speed and clapping effects.
Likewise, the encore, Desmond's "Take Five," pulled the audience out of the contemplative stance.
Maybe that also created the necessary energy to continue to get involved with the Seejazz Festival: until August 13, the program is online at www.seejazz.de.
Freia Olive
