1 - (the musician)
db's approach to the piano is quite unique. Clearly settled in the field of free improvisation and therefore somewhere under the label of «jazz», db's playing owes much to classical and rock music. Modern avantgarde composers such as Skrijabin, Schönberg and Xenakis were in the focus of his classical piano studies in Winterthur and Bern. On the other hand db is deeply rooted in the music he grew up with, namely the broad range of the rock music of the 70ies. Today, he's continuing his early rock experiences for example playing Hammond organ on stage with John Cale. As an improviser and interpreter he is best known as keyboarder of the Avantcore Trio «Steamboat Switzerland».
2 - (the performance setting)
db's solo performances are the result of a long ripening process. After innumberable concerts in various formations with composed and improvised music, db's concentrating his encompassing musical background on one instrument, the piano. But Blum would not be Blum, if he wasn't to transgress these limits: The sound of the piano is recorded with guitar pick-ups, amplified and sent immediately back into the room via Leslie loud speakers. Blum enlarges the polyphony even more when he uses the legendary Korg analog synthesizer.
3 - (the music)
The main ingredients of the musical process are pulsating patterns, whom B stretches onto long sound arcs, overlapping them and never interrupting their development. The sound layers and patterns undergo manifold processes, their shape being constantely altered, changed and reshaped. Surprisingly there are no postmodern thoughts in the background, but a strong feeling of continuity. Or if you are in need of a label: Blum's music is guided by a minimalistic impressionism, in which everything is kept in movement by the anarchical freedom of improvisation.
listen to one of the extracts
from the CD «firstcut»
soon