Conny Bauer (tb), Johannes Bauer (tb), Matthias Bauer (b), Louis Rastig (p)
photo: Anne Silbereisen, Gutzeit-Musik
Conny Bauer on the quartet:
“There was an organizer who wanted to stage a show featuring all three Bauer brothers - Johannes (tb), Matthias (b) and myself. Afterwards we wanted to develop the music further, so we asked Louis, my son, whether he could see himself as pianist in his father’s / uncle’s band. We began rehearsals together and our debut as Bauer 4 took place in 2006 on the 18th birthday of our youngest band member. Louis’s addition brought a pleasurable quality to the music, on the one hand through the percussive, brighter tone of the piano, and on the other through Louis’s youthful freshness.”
With the brothers Bauer and Louis Rastig, Conny Bauer’s son, the tradition of ‘free improvisation’ is experiencing a new form of quality: the opening phase is now over and the interaction between differing musical experiences has begun. This has brought forth music of great lightness and brightness that both freely unfolds, yet is a formal sense absolutely precise.
Johannes Bauer
Johannes Bauer (born 1954 in Halle) began his musical studies in Berlin and even then was playing on groups based around Manfred Schulze. Since 1979 he has been working as a freelance musical improviser. In 1987 he was a founding member of Slawterhaus and since 1988 has been playing duo concerts with brother Conny Bauer. Additionally he is a member of various other ensembles such as the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and Barry Guy’s New Orchestra. In 2004, alongside Thomas Lehn and Jon Rose, Bauer formed Futch as well as becoming a member of Bauer 4. His playing is vigorous, sometimes close to the border of noise, an appealing contrast to that of his brother Conny.
Matthias Bauer
Matthias Bauer (born 1959 in Sonneberg, Thuringia) studied contrabass at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. In 1980 he left the GDR, living until 1988 in Lyon in France, before moving to Cologne and in 1991 returning to Berlin. As an improviser he plays both a solo programme for contrabass and voice as well as with many other members of the free improvisation scene. As a performer he works with, amongst others, the Ensemble United Berlin, Ensemble Mosaik and composers such as Georg Katzer, Helmut Zapf and Helmut Oehring, having written music for the stage as well as creating concepts for improvisational musicians. He has also participated in festivals such as Maerzmusik Berlin, Musica Viva Munich, the Biennale Venice, Nuovaconsonanza Rome, Vienna Modern and Total Music Meeting Berlin, as well as appearing on several CD releases.
Louis Rastig
Louis Rastig, born 1987, is “by far the youngest member of the quartet, who at the tender age of 16 was already improvising with father Conny Bauer and in doing so found a completely individual entry point in to this music. While playing in an acoustic environment with Bauer 4 as a fully-fledged improviser, he also plays an idiosyncratic form of progressive rock with the band Oozing Goo. [...] Astoundingly, given his age, he has proved himself as “consistent” and original within Bauer 4’s musical framework, in other words free of stylistic borrowings from the genre greats.”
Bert Noglik, liner notes to the CD “Family Affairs”, 2007 Jazzwerkstatt
Conny Bauer
Conny Bauer (born 1943 in Halle an der Saale), is one of Europe’s most significant trombonists. Since the start of the 70’s he has been a founding member of numerous groups such as Exis, FEZ, Konrad Bauer Quartet, Bauer Sommer Kowald Trio, Doppelmoppel, Zentralquartett as well as the initiator of the big band Klangprojekt 86 (which later became the Jazzorchester der DDR).
Bauer gave his debut solo trombone concert in 1974. Today, over 35 years later he continues to explore and experiment with this instrument, continually developing new worlds of sound for himself and his audiences.
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“…The four of them speak a common musical language, one developed in a long process, shaped individually but imparted together. The two trombonists with their own individual styles are able complement each other brilliantly…”
Bert Noglik, liner notes to the CD “Family Affairs”, 2007 Jazzwerkstatt
“…It is a communicative game of colours, a mobile-like arc through a simply limitless spectrum of timbres …”
20.11.07, Münchner Merkur, Andreas Pernpeintner
“…A free jazz concert that melds feeling, calculation and the subconscious soul in breathtaking style. The family clan hit full stride in terms of interaction, creating timbral worlds that ever increasingly drew the listener deeper into their labyrinthine depths [...] were indescribably varied and creative. They extended invitations to one another, brushed up against each other for a spell, then exploded vehemently or concluded in a delicate, melancholic caress, all the while never really finished, instead constantly seeking new inexhaustible opportunities for expression…”
20.11.07, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Dr. Bärbel Schäfer
CD -Production
„Family Affairs”
2007, Bauer 4,
Conny Bauer (tb), Johannes Bauer (tb), Matthias Bauer (b), Louis Rastig (p)
