The trio Schnell uses the bebop tradition as the starting point (the «archetype» or the «memory basket», as they put it) to investigate speed, stasis and trance. It’s not simply a mechanical process, giving more velocity to the lines played by Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, the same way a 33 rpm record would sound if put to 78 rpm, but to transform the bebop language by pushing the musicians to their limits and forcing them to develop new collective and personal strategies. Pierre Borel, Antonio Borghini and Christian Lillinger, all of them living in Berlin but the first coming from France and the second from Italy, noticed that the improvisational side of bebop stopped to be the core of this jazz tendency when this one became repertoire music – the purpose is now to re-establish that dimension, playing it «on its verge, at high speed, where body memory, intuition and the unconscious are essentials». From their respective backgrounds nothing supposed the emergence of this concept: Borel comes from a dedication to abstract free improvisation with the likes of Axel Dorner, Tetuzi Akiyama and Christoph Kurzmann; Borghini was involved in projects lead by Anthony Braxton, David Murray and, even more far, Mike Patton; and Lillinger found in groups like Grund Amok Amor and Grünen the contexts to give some of the energy of rock to creative jazz. You may get dizzy, but truth is that accelerated bebop is still bebop.

All music by Schnell

Recorded live at “Sowieso” Berlin May 24 – 25 th, 2017 by Ole Brolin | Mixed by Marc Lohr | Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Produced by Schnell | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos