Jasmin Graf & Alfred Kallfass and Adrian Davison – Zeitgeist

Reviewd by Kai Horsthemke

 

Despite the superficial connections (first, the bass; second, both are duo recordings, in Davison’s case at least to a certain extent; third, Graf and Kallfass are German, and Zeitgeist is German for ‘spirit of the time’), these are two vastly different albums.

The collection of fairly unusual covers was recorded in Leipzig and features singer Jasmin Graf (in a series of first-takes, according to the sleeve notes) and bass guitarist Alfred Kallfass. While some of these (like Ani Di Franco’s Gratitude, Fairground Attraction’s The Moon is Mine, and Phil Collins’s Another Day in Paradise) are perfectly suited for bass-vox arrangements, others (ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, EWF’s Let’s Groove Tonight, and Chaka Khan’s Sweet Thing) arguably constitute more courageous choices. Nonetheless, the bassist and singer do justice to all of these. Graf’s voice indicates that she is well versed in contemporary R’n’B; yet, she largely avoids the annoying showboating of many of her influences and peers. As does Kallfass – who is more than happy with letting the bass be guided by the structure of the song, rather than making the arrangements into flashy, multi-tracked showcases. The pieces are enticingly short – with very little room here for excess or the extraneous. Immediate favourites are readings of Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles and Cutting Crew’s Died in Your Arms Tonight, with Graf on earthy vocals and Kallfass making excellent use of harmonics. As is Steve Miller’s Fly Like an Eagle, which starts with an explicit funk that was always dormant in the original, but then gives way to a dreamily soaring finale. Two less successful pieces (to my mind at least) are Carl Douglas’s Kung Fu Fighting (which is a brief, rather puzzling oddity here) and Rio Reiser’s Land in Sicht. Graf’s voice sounds too mannered on the latter, and she is prone to a few ‘yeah, yeah’ interjections – which have always irritated me in songs sung in German, whether by Joy Fleming or by Xavier Naidoo. Fortunately, the listener is left with the impression of Joss Stone’s Right to be Wrong, a suitable vehicle for Graf. Kallfass shines throughout, technically as well as with a mature sense of arrangement and structure.

A retrospective of the years 1990 to 1995 in the bassist’s professional career, Zeitgeist features Adrian Davison on bass and Paul Marangoni on drums and percussion, both musicians also handling keyboard duties. Davison’s strength is tapping – which he demonstrates in veritable flurries and cascades of notes. Yet, he also has a keen sense of atmosphere and melody – something that makes Davison’s essentially ‘more-is-more’ approach not only palatable but enjoyable. The bassist’s accuracy and tapping and harmonics technique (all bass parts were recorded ‘live with no overdubs’) are astonishing, and the recording quality is superb. My ‘Anspieltips’ (suggestions for first listening) for this album are Ricochet, Voices and Opus 111-#1.