Max Nagl Ensemble

Gangsta parade in the Anninger wilderness

Max Nagl carries out his plan of one-word titles for his pieces with iron consistency. “Parade”, “Bausch”, Anninger”, “Wildnis”, “Cargo”, “Gangsta” etc.

And there's one more thing he pulls off remarkably: the cultivated proliferation of styles, listened to with the ears of someone rooted in jazz, which, under strict scrutiny, lead an unmistakable, colorful life of their own. Now it was time again to call for the “Once In A Club Year” concert. To begin, the collective celebrated an enjoyable hint of a mariachi parade. The piece could be called “Sombrero” or “Clavo”. It's not known exactly. The exuberant joy of playing that pervaded the entire performance was immediately unleashed. What followed was a kind of Eisler/Weill cocktail in a drinkable mixture. Suddenly Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone were discussing Fellinian floods of images. Then there was jubilant circus music - paraphrases that Willem Breuker or Hannes Zerbe couldn't have staged better. A bit of klezmerism. Brass musical furor with a special Upper Austrian touch and a little “Manhattan Rock” choleric were also a must. Now it is determined by Nagl's musical ability and understanding, his openness on all sides, why the aggregate state and architecture of the music, so eloquent and relevant in terms of content, touch the cognitive and emotional levels in equal measure - brain with egg. With that strange, humorous stubbornness, seriously founded, Nagl assembles all the characteristic set pieces and borrowings into his sound worlds. There, in sophisticated, labyrinthine arrangements, bizarre harmonic turns, rich polyphony in a dense texture, contrapuntal vocal lines in the dialogue of the string and wind instruments, changes of tempo in the frenzy of joy. Key point: the flexible, eloquent melodies. Grounded on the basis of rhythmic straightforwardness, which allows for tricky “fillings” here and there. As a crescendo of tension. There is no question in Nagl's concept that there is room for improvisational individual enthusiasm. In large format, this free space is subject to focused dimensions. Since this also applies to the piece length. Features were intended for all musicians. Characterized by classical intonation, blues-soaked, anthemic soulfulness, elegant yet heated jazz phrasing, electronic glissandi, magical drumming and personal dialect. Nagl knows how to use this for the complexity of his music with big ears. Ingenuity and originality were present in every moment.

Bottom line: the finest chromatic-diatonic madness based on first-class compositional competence. MAXimalist. (Hannes Schweiger, about the concert from January 2022)

Program and cast

Max Nagl: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone saxophone
Pamelia Stickney: theremin
Joanna Lewis, Anne Harvey-Nagl: violin
Clemens Salesny: alto, tenor saxophone
Martin Eberle: trumpet
Phil Yaeger: trombone
Clemens Wenger: keyboards
Gregor Aufmesser: bass
Herbert Pirker: drums