read |
|||||||||
read
|
TOOT
^ about 'In TOOT, founded in May 1998, we find the singing legend Phil Minton and the almost one generation younger Axel Dörner, trumpet, and Thomas Lehn, analogue synthesizer - at present two of the most in demand German musicians in the field of contemporary improvised music.' Electroacoustic music in the word by word sense, improvised with a sense for the unequal timelyness of density and emptiness, performed as dialectic of tension and release. Very largely, this micro micro music', writes the Cologne music journalist Felix Klopotek about the music of TOOT, a trio in which the spectacular British vocal artist Phil Minton meets two musicians of the recent generation of the German improvied music scene. Axel Dörner, born 1964, began his musical career with the piano study, before he changed to the trumpet at the beginning of the 90's. Since he moved to Berlin in 1994, he is as one of the most in demand trumpeter in Germany involved in an immense number of most different projects. Rooted in his background of being an interpreting and improvising pianist since many years, since the beginning 90ies Thomas Lehn works in the field of live electronic music using analogue synthesizers from the late sixties, which allow a direct access to the elements of the electronic sound synthesis and an extremely spontaneous interacting. Phil Minton began his artistic career first as trumpeter already in the middle of the 60's in the orchestra of Mike Westbrook, however soon appeared as vocalist and one of the expression-strongest and most famous improvisors of the European scene. Since with the upcoming of Free Jazz in the sixties the musical sound was been expanded among other things into the field noise, the musicians thereby operated also a 'cult of the intensity'. This is not to be found in its original pure form in TOOT, appears however break-through-transcended, as a temporary, needle-eye-expressionistic contrast settings, embedded in the environment of sensitive and fragile creations of sounds of three musicians, whose individual creations of sound merge into one another and thus hardly are to be perceived still as voice, trumpet or synthesizer. Nearly inaudible music streams through the real time-composed textures: air breaths out of a trumpet without forming a tone, and from a mouth, which gives stridulatory, groaning, hissing, howling, bubbling sounds of itself. Minton, the miracle of voice, can immitate each noise of its colleagues, also those 20 Hz tones and other sound substances of Lehns analogue synthesizer, whose electronic sounds are able to bridge the contradiction between technology and nature. Like coincidentally developing rhythms disappear fast again in the nothing. The poetry of this music lies in its fragility.... ^ Discography one | two ^ ![]() one released March 2nd, 2005 on Norwegian label SOFA www.sofamusic.no/album/toot | sofa 518 | discogs | bandcamp track listing 1. AR? (31:18) 2. EL? (4:23) 3. AH? (6:16) 4. MA? (12:41) All tracks recorded by Thomas Lehn, edited and mastered by Axel Dörner and Thomas Lehn. Track 1 recorded on November 13th, 2003 at Jazz D'Or Festival, Auditorium du Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg, France. Track 2 & 3 recorded on January 23rd, 2003 at Grasland, Haarlem, The Netherlands. Track 4 recorded on January 25th, 2003, OCCII, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Cover design by Håkon Kornstad. liner notes by Sven-Åke Johansson : I'm just reading «Maigret und der geheimnisvolle Kapitän» (Les Portes des Brumes, 1931), the plot is set somewhere out on the Breton coast, Quistreham or so; a sluice, gloomy rusty steamers, and a sailor's pub almost steadily veiled by fog; the characters of the drama communicate and find their ways by sounds which become plastic by the steady dampness; the visibility is poor. Sometimes the beam of the lighthouse rotates shortly into the world of sounds, uncapable to bring light into the drama! Does Dorner's, Minton's and Lehn's «TOOT» perhaps mean the scarcely perceptible foghorn far out off the mole? They find their ways (almost) without help from any means of the repertoire of the «music's language», sometimes groping forward cautiously, but then - with knowledge of and familiarity with the other's soundsigns - again find a firmly closed common direction in the «dark». Great spaces are forming, expanses in the music, distances by means of various volumes, perceptible, firmly determinable smaller spaces by means of reverbaration! After a while of listening the picture of a small foggy seaport is appearing, a plastic space with corners and angles, heights and rotten dangerous gangplanks - a sharply drawn story, full of suspense. (English translation by Wulf Teichmann) ^ ![]() two released in 2008 on British label another timbre www.anothertimbre.com/toottwo.html | at14 | discogs | bandcamp track listing 1. ling (26:52) 2. klagen (27:22) Track 1 recorded June 15th 2008 at Stadtbücherei, Esslingen, Germany. Track 2 recorded May 24th 2005 at Künstlerhaus/Innenhofkultur, Klagenfurt, Austria. All tracks recorded, mixed and mastered by Thomas Lehn. Cover photo by Axel Dörner. Thanks to Renate Luxemburger, Stadtbücherei Esslingen and Raimund Spöck. ^ ^^ ^ Reviews TOOT consists of three improv stalwarts – vocalist Phil Minton, trumpeter Axel Dörner and analogue synthesizer wiz Thomas Lehn. Unique tooters all, together they find common ground by colliding at full tilt, backing off and taking another run at each other. These bursts of activity, initiated by a trumpet rasp, synth wave, or hiccup and squeal, congeal into vignettes that blossom or simply evaporate – outrageous dreamlike accidents that annoy or tickle the ear. Yet there are moments when, bolstered by spitfire synth squalls and vaporous brass, Minton's wheezes and groans evoke a near Shakespearean portrait of flawed, vexed humanity. - The Wire All three gentleman belong to the absolute finest in improvised in Europe, having played with almost anyone on the scene. The four captured live moments here show these qualities very well. Each piece is a highly dynamic affair, ranging from the subtle moments with lots of silence (which seem to be in a majority here) to more louder and upfront outbursts of energy. Certainly not 'easy' stuff, since whatever they do is beyond any form of traditional playing and requiresd ones full attention. But it will be rewarded by the beauty of it requires. - Frans de Waard | Vital Weekly ^ Links Phil Minton www.philminton.co.uk Axel Dörner www.axeldoerner.org Thomas Lehn www.thomaslehn.com ^ Downloads Press photos ![]() ![]() ![]() ^ ^ tour dates upcoming | past concerts ^ ^^ upcoming concerts Friday 23rd - Friday 30th October 2026 TOOT with Phil Minton (voice), Axel Doerner (trumpet) and Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer) Fri. October 23, – open – Sat. October 24, – open – Sun. October 25, – open – Mon. October 26, – open – Tue. October 27, Zürich @ Das Institut Wed. October 28, – open – Thu. October 29, – open – Fri. October 30, Wiesbaden @ art.ist (tbc) Please contact us for booking. ^ ^^ past concerts 2012 Sat. March 3, Berlin @ exploratorium 2010 Thu. July 8, Kongsberg @ Energi Moella / Kongsberg Jazzfestival 2009 Fri. October 23, Kopenhagen @ Sun. October 18, Poitiers @ Jazz a Poitiers / Planetarium Fri. January 30, Basel @ Gare du Nord / Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel Wed. January 28, Schorndorf @ Club Manufaktur 2008 Sun. November 30, Colchester @ Arts Centre Sat. November 29, Reading @ Sunrise Fri. November 28, London @ Cafe Oto Thu. November 27, Bristol @ Cube Cinema Wed. November 26, Dartington @ College Of Arts Sun. June 15, Esslingen @ Kutschersaal 2007 Sun. December 9, Leipzig @ naTo Sat. December 8, Cologne @ Galerie Rachelhaferkamp Fri. December 7, Heidelberg @ Deutsch-amerikanisches Institut Sat. December 1, Tours @ Le Petit Faucheux / Festival Total Meeting Fri. November 30, Le Havre @ Thu. November 29, Amsterdam @ STEIM Wed. November 28, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires Thu. May 10, Cologne @ Stadtgarten (with Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble) 2006 Sat. October 14, Gothenburg @ Atalante / Levande Musik Fri. October 13, Stockholm @ Cafe Agueli Thu. October 12, Malmoe @ Panora / FRIM Syd Wed. October 11, Umeå @ Studion, Umeå Folkets Hus Tue. October 10, Vaesterås @ CuLTUREN / Nya Perspektiv Festival Sun. October 8, Liverpool @ St Brides Church / Frakture Festtival Wed. August 30, Baden-Baden @ SWR Funkhaus Mainz Sun. May 28, Cologne @ Kulturbunker 2005 Sun. June 12, Stommeln @ Alte Kirche St. Martin Sat. April 16, Warsaw @ Klub Chlodna 25 Thu. March 24, Klagenfurt @ Cafe im Kuenstlerhaus / Verein Innenhofkultur Wed. March 23, Bratislava @ A4 / Soundbridges Festival Tue. March 22, Wien @ Fluc Mensa Mon. March 21, Venice @ Teatro Fondamenta Nuove Sun. March 20, Geneva @ Festival Archipel Fri. March 18, Tarcento/Udine @ Hybrida Thu. March 17, Enna @ Grottacalda Club / Curva Minore Wed. March 16, Palermo @ Candelai / Curva Minore Wed. March 9, St. Louis @ Christman Studio Tue. March 8, Denver @ Denver University Tue. March 8, Denver @ Dulcinea's 100th Monkey Mon. March 7, Colorado Springs @ Smokebrush Gallery Sat. February 26, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie Fri. February 25, St. Johann in Tirol @ Alte Gerberei 2004 Mon. May 24, Novi Sad @ InterzonE Festival 2003 Thu. November 13, Strasbourg @ Jazz D´Or Festival Sat. January 25, Amsterdam @ OCCII Fri. January 24, Nijmegen @ Extrapool Thu. January 23, Haarlem @ Grasland Studio Wed. January 22, Tilburg @ Paradox 2002 Sun. January 27, Karlsruhe @ Badischer Kunstverein Sat. January 26, Weikersheim @ Club W 71 Fri. January 25, Nantes @ Pannonica Wed. January 23, Montreuil @ Instants Chavires 2001 Sun. December 2, Bremen @ Galerie Katrin Rabus Fri. February 2, Berlin @ Kule 2000 Sat. July 22, Nickelsdorf @ Jazzgalerie / Festival Konfrontationen Sun. July 16, Berlin @ Pappelallee house concert 1999 Wed. November 24, Berlin @ Die Küche 1998 Tue. May 5, Cologne @ kamue studio ^ updated on October 16, 2025 |
||||||||