The Béla B. Affair - on CD, as well as on all common (and some less common) streaming platforms

CD Liner Notes (by the German jazz critic and impresario Bert Noglik):

Different and diverging experiences merge in the music of this trio, something new emerges, from a synthesis of styles, and in the process of improvisation. Martina Weidner, classically trained viola player, rooted in the music of the modern era, meets Ernst Deuker, whose name, since the late seventies, has been closely related to the advent of punk, new wave, and alternative pop music. The trio is complet-ed by Theo Joergensmann, one of the pioneers of European improvised music rooted in jazz. Different generations meet, but what counts isthe shared mindset, spirit and approach to music. 

In the process, Bartók’s music is  not just a template that is supposed to be interpreted, but rather a source of inspiration for the creative adaption of a musical heritage that has not lost its visionary character. Bartók explored and laid open the deeper layers and elementary power of Hungarian folk or peasant music, he conserved it and integrated elements of it into his own music. He conceived this way of composing in the spirit of traditional music to be the most creative way of its adaption. 

And in a way, the trio follows this Bartókian approach by referring to
his music through the experiences of contemporary musicians. Thus, quasi automatically, the mental distance is bridged between archaic and modern sounds, between modern classical and contemporary music; be it by improvising on Bartók’s themes or by extrapolating them with own musical material. In the rich fund of compositions that Bartók left behind there are innumerable possible starting points for the musical fantasy – from the complex uneven rhythms that ’swing’ in their own way, to the tense and
dissonant harmonies or the bucolic-sentimental melodies, which, mysteriously, seem to be related to the Blues – not so much to its sound, but rather to its mood.

With its expressivity, the trio breaks the conventional mould of chamber music, not least in its special instrumentation. Viola and clarinet, preferred also by Bartók, are, so to speak, doubly connoted – as instruments that can be found in folk as well as in classical concert music.

While the bass clarinet has had its fixed place in jazz since Eric Dolphy, the contrabass clarinet retains its a special status to this day. Ernst Deuker, once co-founder and bassist of the German cult band ‘Ideal’, has played it since the 80’s, and today, remarkably, it is even his main instrument. Having originally played the electric bass, he decided to switch to this huge horn, after attending a concert by jazz tubist, and occasionally also contrabass clarinettist, Howard Johnson. 

In this trio, Martina Weidner, who performed Béla Bartók’s concerto for viola and orchestra on stage, as well as Dimitri Shostakovich’s sonata for violaand piano, transforms her playing from classical music to improvisation in a poised and competent fashion. 

And Theo Joergensmann, here on alto clarinet, contributes his experiences with clarinet ensembles that span decades, from his participation in the early legendary ‘Clarinet Summits’ to the present. In this breadth of sounds, traditions and affinities, the trio ‘The Béla B Affair’ develops its current music, conceiving Bartók’s work as a challenge, and, in the most positive meaning of the word, a provocation – not an occasional flirtation, but a genuine love affair, with unmistakable passion.