Frames Johannes Metzger Quartett

• 1 Frames 05:24
• 2 Fallen Flowers 06:12
• 3 City Echoes 05:45
• 4 Innermost Mindset 06:50
• 5 Raw Trails 05:39
• 6 Surrounded 04:14
• 7 Interlude 01:26
• 8 Perspectives 04:22
• 9 Departure 06:10
• 10 Home 05:46
• 11 Outro 02:05
• Total Runtime 53:53

Info for Frames

A dense sound, but always transparent...and the balance of the atmosphere is amazing. Music like an amber, in whose light-darkened inner life figures are enclosed who led a completely different existence times ago.

If you wanted to translate friendship into music, it would have to sound something like the album "Frames" by the Berlin drummer Johannes Metzger. In fact, the busy drummer is connected with guitarist Morten Duun Aarup, saxophonist Marc Doffey and bassist Fabian Timm by a long, close and ultimately audible friendship. All four musicians are active on many levels in the Berlin music scene (Morten Duun Aarup currently on outpost in New York), but found their common starting point during their studies at the Jazz Institute Berlin. This shared path led not only to similar musical obsessions, but - much more important for this record - to affinity in essence.

The recordings for "Frames" were made in November 2020, immediately before the complete shutdown. Surprisingly, the anticipation of what was inevitably coming did not lead to creative panic, but to equanimity, serenity and an intimate merging. Metzger describes the session as a beautiful conclusion together before everything went dark again. And so light became and becomes on the album.

Actually, the material for the album was supposed to manifest itself on a tour in March 2020, but like so many other tour plans, it was cancelled due to corona. Johannes Metzger, however, is a steadfast positivist who knows how to make a virtue out of every necessity. He didn't throw in the towel, but said to himself: Now more than ever! He felt motivated to refine the material even further and to calculate for the studio with all the more sense of proportion what could not be found on stage. But this does not detract from the liveliness of the recording, because all four musicians throw themselves into the songs with all their musicality and their complete love of life. "Because of the lack of concerts, we hadn't seen each other for longer than planned," Metzger recalls. "That had the advantage, despite all the problems associated with it, that we knew each other well, but in the meantime each of us had picked up a lot of new things with which we could surprise each other. This happened not only on a playful level, but also on a personal level."

The balance of the atmosphere is all the more amazing because the four musicians staked out a wide spectrum of characters. This is most evident in Aarup and Doffey. The guitarist rests within himself, almost never speaks, is stoicism made human. Wherever he appears, he is the calm pole. In contrast, the saxophonist is a symbol of extroversion who always seems to be in three places at the same time in one and the same moment. Metzger and Timm stake out different positions between these two poles. It was precisely this broad horizon of character images and timbres that Metzger had in mind when he designed the basic mood for the album. It speaks for his psychological skills as a composer and bandleader that the calculation worked out perfectly. Within the framework of the compositions, all four musicians throw balls to each other. Doffey plays very guitaristically at times, while Aarup catches ideas from the saxophone on the guitar. Timm and Metzger act very symbiotically, so that each of them can enjoy great freedom. Metzger himself drums so melodically that his drums sometimes seem to transform into a piano. When listening, one not only feels the joy of playing together, but also the happiness of listening to each other.

The sound of the album is dense but transparent. Sometimes one feels reminded of an amber, in whose light-darkened inner life figures are enclosed that led a completely different existence ages ago. One believes one can hear through the pieces and yet remains trapped in them. None of the four musicians play their narrative against the wall, but doors, windows, portals and hatches are created everywhere, inviting you to slip through. In this way, one can always find access to each of the songs from a new perspective.

The album's pieces themselves are relatively simple and comprehensible in order to allow the greatest possible playful freedom in dealing with the material. "That's where the name Frames comes from," Metzger confirms. "The pieces provide a framework within which you can carry the compositions relatively freely and light-heartedly." At the centre of each song is the song itself. As self-evident as that may sound, it is still the exception in jazz. Metzger, Aarup, Doffey and Timm already enjoy soloing, but refrain from exhibitionist soloing and always remain recognisably within the framework in the sense of the album motto.

"Frames" is a home game. Four musicians who have already told each other almost everything and yet filter out exactly those things in their music that they don't yet know about each other. Getting involved in this talk is a benefit for every listener.

Marc Doffey, saxophone, clarinet
Morten Duun Aarup, guitar
Fabian Timm, bass
Johannes Metzger, drums

Johannes Metzger
(1994) ist ein in Berlin lebender Schlagzeuger und Komponist.

Schon als Kind kam er früh mit Musik in Berührung und entdeckte schließlich das Schlagzeug für sich. Nach dem Abitur studierte er Jazzschlagzeug bei Heinz Lichius an der Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover. 2015 zog er nach Berlin, um sein Studium am renommierten Jazz Institut Berlin fortzusetzen, an dem er u.a. Unterricht bei John Hollenbeck, Jim Black, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Eric Schaefer, Oliver Steidle und Heinrich Köbberling hatte.

Als gefragter Schlagzeuger ist er sowohl live in verschiedenen Ensembles in Deutschland und Europa, als auch auf mehreren Albumproduktionen zu hören. So spielte er Konzerte mit u.a. Peter Weniger, Judy Niemack, Marc Muellbauer, Iganz Dinné, Malter Schiller, Hendrik Wallsdorf.Mit dem Fynn Großmann Quintett gewann er 2017 den Münchner Jazzpreis und den Hannover Jazzpreis. Außerdem war die Band 2017 Finalist des Jungen Deutschen Jazzpreis.

Mit der Band Die Therapie gewann er 2018 den 2. Preis des Sparda Jazz Award und war Finalist des Biberacher Jazzpreises und 2019 des Future Sounds Wettbewerbs der Leverkusener Jazztage. Mit dem Nordsnø Ensemble ist er Preisträger des Jazzpreises „Jazz Hoch im Kurs“. Mit dem Hans Anselm Quintettgewann er 2019 den Future Sounds Wettbewerb der Leverkusener Jazztage.

Er erhielt Stipendien vom Berliner Senat, dem Musikfonds, dem Schloss Rheinsberg und der Yehudi Menuhin Stiftung.

Mit seiner Band Johannes Metzger Quartett nahm er im November 2020 sein Debutalbum als Bandleader auf, was 2021 erscheinen wird.

This album contains no booklet.