Rainer Bruninghaus - Rainer Bruninghaus: Freigeweht

Released in 1981, the debut of the legendary keyboardist from Eberhard Weber�s Colours band and later the Jan Garbarek Group, Freigeweht presented Rainer Bruninghaus as a highly original and idiosyncratic sound sculptor in his own right, accompanied by ECM stalwarts Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn and drummer Jon Christensen as well as oboist Brynjar Hoff. In a review of the album from the year of its release the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung traced Rainer�s influences and minimalist designs back to Steve Reich, calling Bruninghaus �the most imaginative musician to employ minimal art in the realm of jazz. (�) Though he neither uses minimal art as ideology nor as replacement for a rhythm section, but in a more playfully constructive way, as an element that can undergo change.� Jon Christensen adds uncompromising propulsion to Bruninghaus�s lyrical themes, which are evocatively fleshed out by Wheeler and Hoff�s contemplative tones. (The Luminessence edition of Freigeweht arrives in a tip-on gatefold accompanied by new liner notes). �I�ll often work on a sound for hours until I am convinced that all irritating elements have been expelled from it and that it really gels with the underlying musical idea I have in mind. I don�t enjoy one-dimensional sounds � they have to be composite, complex sounds that add up to a harmonious whole. The more complex the technical means available became, the more interesting electronics became for me.� - Rainer Bruninghaus (from the liner notes of the Luminessence edition)