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LDL
Leimgruber - Demierre - Lehn
Urs Leimgruber • soprano saxophone
Jacques Demierre • piano (or spinet)
Thomas Lehn • analogue synthesizer
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about
The trio LDL emerged from the more than three decades working LDP trio (Leimgruber-Demierre-Phillips), which was extended by Thomas Lehn to form the quartet LDP+L. Formative and stylistic elements, which already had been effective characterizing the music of the quartet with Barre Philips, find further stages in the triangular constellation of the LDL trio. They unfold within (and by) the framework of the trios instrumentation and its setup: the juxtaposition of the two keyboard instruments – the acoustic piano and the analogue synthesizer, whose sound signals are coupled with each other in a technically cross-interacting manner – and the anchoring of Urs Leimgruber's soprano saxophone in the center of the sound image.
photo © Tuer7/Uli
Templin
Historically, the genesis of the trio formation has other, more distant roots: on the one hand, the today's trio partners worked together for more than a decade in the sextet SIX – later 6ix – and, on the other, the concert tours of Urs Leimgruber's duos with each of the keyboard players are formative key involvements.
In their new trio collaboration, Leimgruber, Demierre and Lehn distill all these experiences gathered in the various projects, radiating like 'background noise' into their contemporary musical practice.
The result is a highly developed culture of musical improvisation, the basis of which is the fine, supremely sensitive listening to the sound space. And the sound space here encompasses both the musical events of the individual and collective creative processes, as well as the space itself in which the creative act takes place, including its acoustic nature and the audiences' presence and attention co-influencing the quality of the space.
Finally – after a couple of common releases with 6ix and LDP+L , also in duos Leimgruber/Lehn and Leimgruber/Demierre – LDL presented in late April 2024 its first CD release as a trio formation entitled the endless wind on the Swiss label Wide Ear Records.
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discography
in the endless wind
released on April 27, 2024 on Swiss label Wide Ear Records
www.wideearrecords.ch | WER076 | bandcamp | discogs
track listing
1. in (34:09) [1:29 excerpt]
2. the (8:10) [1:23 excerpt]
3. endless (13:10) [1:44 excerpt]
4. wind (6:34) [1:57 excerpt]
LDL
Urs Leimgruber, soprano saxophone
Jacques Demierre, piano
Thomas Lehn, analogue synthesizer & sound processing
Recorded at the Loft Cologne on October 26, 2023 by Stefan Deistler.
Mixed and mastered by Thomas Lehn. Produced by the musicians.
Executive producer Wide Ear Records, Zug, Switzerland.
Cover artwork by Richard Klammer, Gletscher (120 x 150 cm, oil on canvas, 2007, Sammlung Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten), photographed by Ferdinand Neumüller.
Cover design by Velvet Creative Office.
"LDL's alchemical translations of physical and metaphysical phenomena into sound, sculpt an enveloping experience of otherworldliness. ... In The Endless Wind is an exploration of the sonic unknown, where each note and phrase is a step into unfamiliar territory. The trio has crafted an album that may challenge and reward the listener, inviting them to get lost in the enigmatic and ever-shifting audio environment. The production is a testament to the trio's innovative spirit and ability to transform the abstract into a visceral listening experience. "
- Glenn Astarita | All About Jazz
"They can follow this musical expedition sound by sound and become part of the process themselves with their musical imaginations. The sophisticated sound art, the dynamic spectrum and the space architectures on this trio album are unique.
- Pirmin Bossart | Jazz & More
"Leimgruber, Demierre and Lehn create austere and introspective, mysterious and highly immersive textures where the whispering sounds of the soprano sax resonate and sing with the otherworldly, vintage synth and with the touches on the piano keyboard. Often these individual universes gravitate into one magical sonic entity. ... The four improvisations suggest highly imaginative and nuanced sound spaces - musical events of the individual and collective creative processes where every sound counts, and often LDL alternates between disrupting the space with chaotic and stormy dynamics or emptying the space into almost spiritual stillness, as it explores its way into enigmatic sonic transformations and spells."
"In my opinion, it's one of the most secretive albums of the past decade […]."
- Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg | orynx
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reviews
on CD in the endless wind
[…] In The Endless Wind invites listeners on an introspective journey. Urs Leimgruber's soprano saxophone weaves intricate modalities, while Jacques Demierre's piano adds uncanny layers of texture and emotion. Lehn's analog synthesizer work is nothing short of mesmerizing, creating ghostly soundscapes that ebb and flow like the wind. Each track is named after a word from the album title. Deeply immersive yet endlessly morphing and reimagining itself, the album stands as a strong example of the boundless possibilities of improvised music. LDL's alchemical translations of physical and metaphysical phenomena into sound, sculpt an enveloping experience of otherworldliness.
They open the ethereal proceedings with "In." Designed with alien soundscapes, Leimgruber's high-pitched soprano sax phrasings ride atop Demierre's swirling piano notes, while Lehn's subtle EFX generate a mysterious soundscape, countered by the pianist's resonating manipulations. Moving forward, the saxophonist explores the middle register with coarse dialogues projecting angst. "The" features Leimgruber's yearning lines atop Demierre's tumultuous voicings and Lehn's flickering analogue-synth passages sprawled across the bottom end. Moreover, the trio builds a simple theme followed by moments of stillness.
The final track, "Wind," is created with Leimgruber's creaky extended lines across a sparse sound field, putting the finishing touch on this interesting and thought-provoking album. Leimgruber's saxophone, stretching like a distant echo, blends seamlessly with Demierre's delicate piano caresses and Lehn's ambient whispers, creating a hauntingly beautiful conclusion.
In The Endless Wind is an exploration of the sonic unknown, where each note and phrase is a step into unfamiliar territory. The trio has crafted an album that may challenge and reward the listener, inviting them to get lost in the enigmatic and ever-shifting audio environment. The production is a testament to the trio's innovative spirit and ability to transform the abstract into a visceral listening experience.
- Glenn Astarita | All About Jazz
Completely out of the normal range of his soprano sax, lost in the high notes, the spurious and desperate harmonics made possible by false fingerings and screeching breath, Urs hails his comrades like a shaman of the impossible. With the LDL trio (Leimgruber - Demierre - Lehn), we swim in a delirium where their sibylline sense of dynamics transits through forcible passages where the pianist's violence ferociously crushes his keyboard, saturating the microphone with decibels, while elsewhere we can barely distinguish the scratches on the piano strings from the barely tangible subsonic shifts of the analog synth. […] Definitionism is irrelevant here. His [Jacques Demierre's] intelligent companionship with Urs Leimgruber brings a physical influx of instant poetic sap, and his complicity with Thomas Lehn conjures up a ghostly vision, a volatile, impalpable otherness. After several intensive listens, you'll no doubt be able to place yourself in the right spot. […] I'm not going to determine for you the degree of quality, the level of interest, the consideration of musical achievement; in any case, these artists are renowned for their high-quality work. It's up to you to feel whether this music lives up to your expectations, far from commonplace. In my opinion, it's one of the most secretive albums of the past decade […].
Das Trio mit Jacques Demierre und Thomas Lehn ist eine Fortsetzung des Quartetts, das mit dem Bassisten Barre Phillips die Kunst der freien Improvisation bis ins fast Unhörbare auslotete. Ohne den frei swingenden Zen-Bass von Phillips wird die Musik noch entrückter, vergeistigter, andererseits auch klarer und ungemein transparent. Die drei Musiker bewegen sich konzentriert und wagemutig wie die tollkühnsten Freikletterer in der Wand und legen Routen zurück, die in keiner App verzeichnet sind. Wie sie das schaffen, wie es dort aussieht und wie es sich anfühlt, wie jeder von ihnen genau das Nötige oder Überraschende beiträgt, damit die Musik unter Span-nung bleibt: Das erweist sich nicht nur als Herausforderung, sondern immer wieder auch als ein Genuss für die Hörenden. Klang um Klang können sie dieser musikalischen Expedition folgen und mit ihren musikalischen Imaginationen selber Teil des Prozesses werden. Die ausgefeilte Klangkunst, das dynamische Spektrum und die Space-Architekturen auf diesem Trioalbum sind einzigartig.
The trio with Jacques Demierre and Thomas Lehn is a continuation of the quartet which, with bassist Barre Phillips, explored the art of free improvisation to the almost inaudible. Without Phillips' free swinging Zen bass, the music becomes even more enraptured, spiritualized, but also clearer and incredibly transparent. The three musicians move with the concentration and daring of the most foolhardy free climbers on the wall, covering routes that are not listed in any app. How they manage this, how it looks and feels there, how each of them contributes exactly what is necessary or surprising to keep the music exciting: This proves to be not only a challenge, but also a pleasure for the listeners. They can follow this musical expedition sound by sound and become part of the process themselves with their musical imaginations. The sophisticated sound art, the dynamic spectrum and the space architectures on this trio album are unique.
- Pirmin Bossart | Jazz & More
The trio LDL - Swiss soprano sax player Urs Leimgruber and pianist Jacques Demierre and German EMS analog synth player and sound processing - emerged from the trio LDP - Leimgruber, Demierre and American double bass master Barre Philips - that worked for twenty years until its last concert in 2021 (Last Concert In Europe (At The Space Lucerne), Jazzwerkstatt, 2022). But the collaboration of Leimgruber, Demierre and Lehn has deeper roots, in the sextet SIX -later called 6ix, in the addition of Lehn to LDP (Willisau, Jazzwerkstatt, 2019), or the duos of Leimgruber with Lehn (Lausanne, For4Ears, 2009) and Demierre (It Forgets About The Snow, Creative Works, 2021).
in the endless wind is the debut album of the LDL trio, recorded at the Loft in Cologne in October 2023. The unique instrumentation - a juxtaposition of two keyboard instruments - the acoustic piano and the vintage analog synth, both technically coupled with each other for mutual sound processing - with the anchoring soprano sax of Urs Leimgruber at the center of the sound image leads to a poetic free improvisation based on deep listening, with trust and confidence, and enjoying the extensive experience of these idiosyncratic improvisations.
The four improvisations suggest highly imaginative and nuanced sound spaces - musical events of the individual and collective creative processes where every sound counts, and often LDL alternates between disrupting the space with chaotic and stormy dynamics or emptying the space into almost spiritual stillness, as it explores its way into enigmatic sonic transformations and spells. Or when LDL uses the space in which the creative act took place, including its acoustic qualities and the space-transforming presence of the audience. Leimgruber, Demierre and Lehn create austere and introspective, mysterious and highly immersive textures where the whispering sounds of the soprano sax resonate and sing with the otherworldly, vintage synth and with the touches on the piano keyboard. Often these individual universes gravitate into one magical sonic entity.
The motto of LDP was stop playing but don’t stop listening, a paraphrase of Henry Threadgill saying: stop playing but don’t stop the music. LDL expands this aesthetics. Listening is a statement, as the action of playing. Because LDL - like LDP - does not listen to something, it listens. Listening is the act and LDL produces listening. And what a masterful, poetic lesson in listening it is.
- by Eyal Hareuveni | freejazzblog
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biographies
Urs Leimgruber | Jacques Demierre | Thomas Lehn
photo © Tuer7/Uli
Templin
^ ^^ Urs Leimgruber (soprano saxophone) one of the contemporary saxophone radicalizers, belongs to the closest circle of contemporary improvised music in Europe. He has performed with his music all over the world. There are not very many saxophonists who have made a name for themselves in the zones of contemporary music and free improvisation. Urs Leimgruber belongs to them. Through new playing techniques and his extended saxophone sound he has contributed significantly to the development of his instrument.
- Pirmin Bossart
Concerts and recordings as soloist and in the trio Urs Leimgruber-Jacques Demierre-Barre Phillips, 6ix; Jacques Demierre, Okkyung Lee, Roger Turner, Thomas Lehn, Dorothea Schürch, as well as with Joëlle Léandre, Marilyn Crispell, Fritz Hauser, Fred Frith, Steve Lacy, Keith Rowe, Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, John Tchicai, Gerry Hemingway and others in Europe, Canada, USA and Japan.
Co-founder of the electric jazz freemusic group OM in the seventies.
His music is documented on various labels including ECM, HatArt, Intakt, Jazzwerkstatt, Leo, Creative Works, PSI. Art prize winner of the city of Lucerne 2003.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urs_Leimgruber
photo © Tuer7/Uli
Templin
^ ^^ Jacques Demierre
Jacques Demierre is a pianist, composer and improviser. Whether acoustic or electroacoustic, respectful of the frames of traditional writing or freely improvised, his experimentations can be music just as well as sound poetry and sound interventions in situ. They are nonetheless all moved by the same search for awareness of sound.
Author of numerous pieces for ensemble or voice, the composer Demierre also readily explores the evocative force of the most quotidian noises. While expanding the sound possibilities offered by the piano instrument, Jacques Demierre explores ways in which it approaches the field of language. His critical reflection develops a highly transversal and “interdisciplinary” conception of music, which has brought him to work with a number of musicians from very diverse backgrounds.
Solo or group projects – as composer, pianist or vocal performer -, in Europe, United States, South America, Russia, Japan, Canada, alternate between concerts and sound performances, audio pieces, collaborative performances, site-specific installations.
Intense and continued activity for several years in duo with Vincent Barras in the field of sound poetry and frequent collaborations with Chris Mann, Caroline Bergvall, L’Encyclopédie de la parole, Christian Kesten, Katalin Ladik.
Interdisciplinary projects with choreographers Noemi Lapzeson, Cindy van Acker, Foofwa d’Immobilité.
As a pianist, collaborations with Barre Philips, Urs Leimgruber, Thomas Lehn, Axel Dörner, Jonas Kocher, Christian Marclay, Martial Solal, Radu Malfatti, Joëlle Léandre, Fritz Hauser, Andrea Parkins, Sainkho Namtchylak, Lou Mallozzi, Urs Blöchlinger, Irene Schweizer, Hans Koch, Isabelle Duthoit, John Butcher, Brandon Labelle, Jason Kahn, Charlotte Hug, Butch Morris, Roger Turner, Okkyung Lee, Peter Evans, Carlos Zingaro, Gunter Müller, Jaap Blonk, Barry Guy, Lucas Niggli, Sylvie Courvoisier, Hann Bennink, Rhodri Davis, Martin Schütz, Paul Lovens, Doro Schürch, Phil Minton, Elliott Sharp,…-
Co-founder with Philippe Albera and Vincent Barras of the Contrechamps Review and Editions, dedicated to the music of the XXth and XXIrst centuries, Jacques Demierre is the 2007 laureate of the Ville de Genève Music Award and laureate of the Swiss Music Prize 2018.
His work is published by Tzadik, Héros-Limite, Psi, Victo, jazzwerkstatt, Leo, Plainisphare, Creative Sources, INSUB., Intakt, Bocian Records, bardem, Unit Record, stv/ams, and his scores are available from SME/EMS.
www.jacquesdemierre.com
photo © Tuer7/Uli
Templin
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^^ Thomas Lehn
has been one of the most innovative and successful musical personalities in the field of electroacoustic music in the practices of improvisation and composition for years. He was trained as a sound engineer and pianist at the music academies in Detmold and Cologne from 1979 to 1987. As a pianist, he was active in both classical chamber music and jazz ensembles throughout the 1980s. Gradually a shift took place in both of the musical practices he has always pursued, interpretation and improvisation: expanding from traditional to contemporary musics. The analogue synthesizer re-entered his musical life during the early 1990ies and soon the EMS Synthi AKS became his second main instrument.
As a synthesizer interpreter – live and in studio – he has realized works by Éliane Radigue, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Bogusław Schaeffer and Zbigniew Karkowski, among others. He was soloist in the world premiere of Peter Jakober's dort with Klangforum Wien at musikprotokoll festival and in the CD recording of Christopher Fox's Topophony with the WDR Symphony Orchestra.
He is founding member of the ensemble]h[iatus, which dedicates itself since 2006 to contemporary improvisation and interpretation, and had premierred commissioned works by Vinko Globokar, Anthony Pateras, Jennifer Walshe, Jürg Frey a.m.o. .
He demonstrates continuity in longstanding activities in ensembles such as Konk Pack, Toot, Thermal, MIMEO, speak easy or duos with Marcus Schmickler, Tiziana Bertoncini and Gerry Hemingway. More recent are trios with John Butcher the pianists John Tilbury and Matthew Shipp, Soundbridges with Ken Vandermark, Matthias Muche and Martin Blume, and electrovoX with Ute Wassermann and Richard Scott. Brand new collaborations are the Companion Species with Jennifer Walshe and the duo with dieb13.
Concert tours have taken him throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and the USA. His artistic work is documented on about 100 recordings.
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audio / video
LDL excerpt (3:39)
LDL excerpt (5:13)
audio and video recorded live by Stefan Deistler on October 26, 2023 at Loft, Cologne
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downloads
press photos
with piano:
© Uli Templin 300dpi
/ 9079 x 3856px / 8.9MB / narrow 
© Uli Templin 300dpi / 17759 x 3928px / 13.4.9MB / wide-blur
with spinet:
@ Thom Gallie | GALLIEALLEY 72dpi / 7372 x 1674px / 2.1MB 
@ Petra Cvelbar/Peter Gannushkin/Urs Schmid 300dpi/7800x2230px/1.4MB 
@ Uli Templin 300dpi / 4212 x 1323px / 881 KB technical rider
with piano: LDL_techrider_stageplan_with-piano.pdf
with spinet: LDL_techrider_stageplan_with-spinet.pdf
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upcoming dates
Thu. May 8, Zürich @ Walcheturm
Fri. May 9, Lucerne @ Mullbau
Sat. May 10, Geneva @ AMR
Sun. May 18, Locarno @ Spazio Elle
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© by Norbert Lehn
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past dates
Wed. May 22, Duisburg @ Die Säule
Tue. May 21, Essen @ Rabbit Hole Theater
Sat. May 18, Schorndorf @ Manufaktur
Sun. April 28, Ulrichsberg @ Kaleidophon Festival
Tue. April 2, Zürich @ Misterioso / Das Institut
with kind support by Pro Helvetia
Sun. 24 March 2024, Zug @ Kunsthaus Zug
performance on the occasion of the exhibition Frederick Kiesler at Kunsthaus Zug
featuring Jacques Demierre on spinet & harmonium, and as guest Alex Huber (percussion)
Thu. 26 October 2023, Cologne @ Loft
Tue. 24 October 2023, Schwerin @ Schleswig-Holstein-Haus / jazzwerkstatt
Fri. 20 - Sun. 22 Oct. 2023, Masterclass Improvisation @ Musikakademie Rheinsberg
Sun. 11 September 2022, Peitz/DE @ Peitz 59 / Lausitz Festival
Fri. 10 & Sun 12 June 2022, Berlin @ exploratorium berlin
Fri. 4 - Sun. 6 June 2021, Palermo @ Curva Minore
Thu. 29 November 2018, Zuerich @ Walcheturm / IOIC Stummfilm-Festival
Sun. 4 September 2016, Budapest @ MU Theatre / Újbuda Jazz Festival
LPD+L 2017 @
Jazzfestival Willisau
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updated on October 14, 2024