Kaleidophon Festival 2024 in Austria (2024)

Kaleidophon Festival
(Ulrichsberg, Austria 26-28 April 2024. Report by Oliver Weindling)

Now running for over 30 years, the Kaleidophon festival takes place at the Jazzatelier in the small town of Ulrichsberg in Upper Austria. It is an intimate but welcoming event for free improvised jazz and contemporary music. The venue itself probably fits around 150 and was filled to bursting, especially on the Saturday.

It lies on the edge of the Bohemian forest, just a few miles from the Czech Republic and Germany. There are three bands each night, with Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam as the main focuses for the bands’ origins. Also a good balance between the newer generation, such as Sorbd from Berlin, and more experienced of the “old guard”, such as drummer Willi Kellers, bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall and reeds player Michael Moore, himself perhaps best known here as a member of the ICP Orchestra. And many of the bands are relatively cosmopolitan in terms of the origins of their members, perhaps due, in particular, to the nature of the scenes in Berlin and Amsterdam.

To look at the range of the music, one way is to contrast the extent of form against texture. Most musicians in almost all the groups indeed have something quite adventurous in some of te sounds they get from their instruments.

On the first night, we had two of the groups where there was composition was the core. First, the all-female lineup of Sorbd, a name based on the first letter of the surnames of the members. The pieces were more structured, with writing credits to all the musicians. There were particularly contrapuntal elements to their interplay, especially of Mia Dyberg’s alto saxophone and Edith Steyer, clarinet.

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Meanwhile, Anthropods from Vienna ended the first night. Similar tightness and intensity, but there was more of a sense of lightness and humour in the way that they played. Perhaps this came from Mark Holub, whose introductions were always made with a smile. The four melody instruments – bass clarinet (Susanna Gartmayer), violin (Irene Kepl), tenor sax (Jakob Ginger) and cello (Clemens Sainitzer) – balanced sonic dynamism with imaginative soloing, the drums providing a foundation on which they all could build.

They sandwiched perhaps the most extreme in terms of pure ‘texture’ with the duo of Frantz Loriot on viola and Christian Wolfarth on drums. It was very much a set where there was an exchange of sounds between the two. It had mesmerising elements, though, for me, it could perhaps have been a bit shorter.

The pianists playing at the festival all seemed to have very flowing technical skills. The trio of Jordana Milla (piano), Vinicius Cajado (bass) and Mauricio Takara (drums) got together about a year ago in Berlin, showing what a diverse city this has become, with Milla originally from Barcelona (though now in Salzburg) and the other two from Sao Paolo. They all are able to create fascinating sounds from their instruments beyond what might be expected and a real non-stop energy. Milla was modest to keep her sound balanced with the other two members of the trio. Cajado, a former pupil of Peter Herbert in Vienna/Linz, reminded me, in terms of the range of sounds of his bass, of John Edwards.

We were also fortunate enough to hear two of the great reeds players of the European improvised music scene. Michael Moore on saxophone and clarinet, in trio with the great Gerry Hemingway and Argentinian pianist Nico Chientaroli. Chientaroli at one stage added declaimed vocals, which seemed quite disconcerting, though in fact Argentinian folk lyrics and Spanish translations of Bob Dylan, but, following a more spiritual section, ended with an upbeat unison tune.

Julie Sassoon is better known to us here for her collaborations with Lothar Ohlmeier, in duo, trio and quartet, or her solo programme. So it was fascinating to experience her in a freer form duo with Willi Kellers, himself a former collaborator with the likes of Peter Brötzmann and Alan Tomlinson. Here he was more aligned with her flowing technique, expanding his skittering drums with steel pan and even bird song. Julie Sassoon too added spacey vocal. It proved to be a fitting end to the festival.

But before that duo, Skyhook, from Berlin, was led by Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet. Irrepressible as ever, he was beautifully matched by Olaf Rupp on acoustic guitar and Jan Roder on bass. Rupp, in terms of his ability to carry his sound through the other two, had similarities to the late John Russell.

The wild card instrument for me at the festival was the spinet of Jacques Demierre, in trio with Thomas Lehn on electronics and Urs Leimgruber on soprano sax. He contrasted stroking the instrument like a zither with points where he brought out the true baroque sound.

So quite an intense weekend. Incredibly sociable too, especially in the bar after the nights’ shows. But perhaps the greatest shame though is that the organisers haven’t fully realised what a great new generation of improvisers there is here in London. Let’s hope that we can overcome the barriers and that, in future years, they can be added to a fascinating mix at this festival, which for now seems in great shape.

Many of the concerts can be seen on the YouTube channel “Jazz Explorers”.

LINK: Festival website