MICHAEL THIEKE UNUNUNIUM

Luca Venitucci(accordion, prepared piano) Derek Shirley(doublebass) Eric Schaefer(drums) Michael Thieke(alto clarinet, alto saxophon, clarinet,zither)

CD: Where shall I fly not to be sad, my dear? charhizma/2006

„Surprises abound throughout this album.... All in all, Unununium is a magnificent piece of work by four musicians at the height of their powers in a vibrant new music scene documented by an essential label.“ Dan Warburton, PARISTRANSATLANTIC (F) 04/2006 „The music is full of humor, pleasantly (un)pretentious and poetic, which make this a very sympathetic quartet. The best thing you can do is to surprise yourself with this cd. It is worth it.“ Dolf Mulder, VITAL WEEKLY (NL) 03/2006 „Tasteful and inventive on the highest level.“ Mario Gamba, ALIAS (IL MANIFESTO) (I) 05/2006 „Music with a genre-spanning vibrance.“ asb, DE:BUG (D) 05/2006 „An excellent record!“ Acapulco Rodriguez, WFMU (USA) 03/2006 „One of the most intriguing reed players around today shows his compositional wisdom through a systematic deployment of sparse elements in rather ample structures...Even in the most suggestive inventions, coherent delicacies prevail over abstruse difficulty, keeping the comprehension degree at an accessible level while yielding a lyricism whose exhalations pervade the whole album. Not necessarily in dramatic fashion, Unununium present some unusual perspectives without overly trespassing the borders; this CD is probably the best showcase of Thieke's universe until now.“ Massimo Ricci, TOUCHING EXTREMES (I) 04/2006 „This music doesn‘t clamour for attention, but it succeeds on its own discreet terms and there‘s plenty to sustain interest.“ Julian Cowley, THE WIRE (UK) 04/2006 „What characterizes saxophonist/clarinetist Michael Thieke’s music throughout this thoroughly engaging CD is its bristling intelligence. Each piece is the result of a penetrating gaze at the possibilities inherent in the musical seeds found in the compositions themselves... Unununium reveals an imaginative world filled with surprising locales and intriguing inhabitants. That Thieke recorded one of the most intimate, best sounding jazz CDs in recent memory himself is further evidence of his impressive talents. Highly recommended.“ Glen Hall, EXCLAIM (CAN) 06/2006 Rich and warm music is what drew me into the Thieke universe. His new quartet Unununium presses many of the same buttons his others collaborations have in the past..., the quartet employs a style of minimum output with the maximum bang. The pieces are wildly pensive and stylistically calm. ...Perhaps the most jazzy of all Charhizma records released so far and perhaps one of the most delicate one of them all. Tom Sekowski, GAZ-ETA (PL) 04/2006 „A tasteful CD of surreal jazz. „ Stefano I. Bianchi, BLOW UP (I) 06/2006

Contact: Michael Thieke , Knaackstr 1, 10405 , Germany tel ++49/(0)30/4429231 , mobil ++49/(0)177/4318438 , e-mail: [email protected] http://www.michael-thieke.de Michael Thieke (clarinet, alto clarinet, alto saxophone, zither, composition) born in Düsseldorf/Germany, lives in Berlin and Rome. Michael Thieke is currently involved in a number of active projects which focus on diverse and contrasting facets of his musical interest. They reach from outer jazz areas, free jazz, totally composed material to projects with the concentration on the silent noises and sounds. Among his favorite Projects are: Nickendes Perlgras (with Michael Anderson tp, Eric Schaefer dr), Schwimmer (with Alessandro Bosetti ss, Sabine Vogel fl, Michael Griener dr), The International Nothing (with Kai Fagaschinski cl+ guests), Hotelgäste (with Derek Shirley b, Dave Bennett g), Michael Thieke Unununium (with Luca Venitucci acc/p, Eric Schaefer dr, Derek Shirley b), Dok Wallach (music written by C. Mingus, with Daniel Erdmann ts, Johannes Fink b, Heinrich Köbberling dr), Rupp/Thieke/Jennessen (with Olaf Rupp g, Uli Jennessen dr), TGW (with Christian Weber b, Michael Griener dr), Gebhard Ullmann The Clarinet Trio (with Gebhard Ullmann, Jürgen Kupke). Recordings of his projects are released on the labels charhizma, leo records, JazzHausMusik, creative sources, schöner hören and konnex. In the course of the years Michael Thieke cooperated with a lot of musicians like Axel Dörner, Joe Williamson, Jim Black, Steve Lacy, John Schröder, Rudi Mahall, Christian Wolfarth, Manuel Mota or Michele Rabbia, made tours all over Europe, participated in numerous radio productions, worked together with contemporary and choreographers and played at Festivals such as Lisbon (P), Brugge (B), Münster (D), Lausanne (CH), Hamburg (D), Konstanz (D), Groningen (NL), Lodi (I), Frankfurt/a.M. (D). http://www.michael-thieke.de Luca Venitucci (accordion, prepared piano) born in Rome/, lives in Rome. Luca Venitucci started from the end of the eighties to take part to the activities of the improvised music scene in Italy and Europe, and during the next decade he did meet and played with a large number of musicians, among which Mike Cooper, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, Thomas Lehn, Axel Dorner, , John Butcher, Mario Schiano, Alessandro Bosetti, Michael Renkel, Alexander Caric. In 1995 he is a co-founder, together with Fabrizio Spera, Elio Martusciello and Maurizio Martusciello, of the electroacoustical improvising group Ossatura, with whom made a large number of concerts and participated to festivals in Italy, Europe and Canada. From 1996 to 2002 has been part of Zeitkratzer ensemble, with whom he did performed and recorded contemporary music partitures (Cage, Glass, Stockhausen, LaMonte Young, James Tenney) and made original projects and collaborations with several experimental musicians and such as Butch Morris, Carsten Nicolai,Keith Rowe, Masami Akita, Mario Bertoncini, Phill Niblock, Radu Malfatti, Thierry Thaemelitz, Lee Ranaldo. In 2001 he realised together with Ulrich Krieger the transcription and arrangement of an ensemble version of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, performed by Zeitkratzer together with the author at MaerzMusik contemporary music festival in Berlin. Luca Venitucci is also part of multimedia project Arturo, of Mondo Ra, an Italian improvisers orchestra devoted to the music of Sun Ra. He took part to projects by Bruno Tommaso, Jon Rose, Boris Kovac, Giorgio Battistelli, Luigi Cinque, Massimo Coen, and made collaborations with actress Federica Santoro, Travirovesce dance company, writers Jonathan Coe and Vito Riviello, and poetist Lidia Riviello. he did performede as a soloist in several international events, such as Zugenschlag festival in Podewil Berlin, and Literature festival of Rome (2002). selected discography: Ossatura: Dentro (ReR, 1998), Verso (ReR, 2003). Circadiana: Clangori (Leo Lab, 1999). Zeitkratzer: SonX , (Timescraper, 1998), Xtensions (Timescraper, 1998), SoundinX (Timescraper, 1998), Noise (Larm) (Tourette, 2001). Marcus ,Schmickler: Param (Selektion, 2001). Massimo Coen: Live Portrait (Multirifrazione, 2002). Mario Schiano: Supposing That (Splash, 2002). John Duncan: Fresh (2002). Terre Thaemelitz: Superbonus Eric Schaefer (drums) born in Franfurt a..M./Germany, lives in Berlin. Studied contemporary music with Christoph Caskl, then jazz among others with Jerry Granelli, Steve Davis,composition lessons with James Knapp, Maria Schneider. Concerts and/or recordings with Carlos Bica Azul (withFrank Möbus g), Nickendes Perlgras , Eric Schaefer Demontage (with Daniel Erdmann, Johannes Fink, Michael Anderson, Michael Thieke),Johnny LaMarama (with Kalle Kalima and Chris Dahlgrehn), Das Rosa Rauschen (with John Schroeder, Felix Wahnschaffe, Oliver Potratz); Ed Schuller , Herb Robertson , Gebhard Ullmann , David Moss. productions for the german radio stations BR and DeutschlandRadio. He played on Festivals in Porto, Lissabon, Hamburg, Montreal, Vilnius, Copenhagen, Den Haag, Jazz Baltica Salzau, Frankfurt and Essen. Will MontgomeryThe Wire 7/2004: „His playing is wide open, taking up and discarding idioms easily and including kit work, bowed scrapes and delicate bell play. .... ‚percussion‘ doesn‘t begin to describe the expansiveness of the music.“ selected discography:Nickendes Perlgras „Die hintere Vase“ Jazzhausmusik/Köln 2000; Demontage „Demontage“ Jazzhausmusik/ Köln 2002, Johnny LaMarama „Johnny LaMarama“ MetaRecords/Berlin 2003; Das rosa Rauschen „II“ Konnex/Berlin 2003; Carsten Daerr Trio „Purple Cool Car Sleep“ Traumton/Berlin 2003; Berlin Drums Absinth/Berlin 2004; (em) „call it (em)“ ACT/München 2005, Eric Schaefer Demontage „cut+paste poetry“ schöner hören/2005 Derek Shirley (bass) born in Ottawa/Canada, lives in Berlin. Derek Shirley was born in Ottawa/Canada and lived in Montreal, performing and touring extensively through canada and america with such bands as Zebradonk and the Woodchoppers Association. In 2001 he moved to Berlin and since then he participates in numerous projects between improvised music, noise rock and jazz, among them the bands Hotelgäste (with Dave Bennett, Michael Thieke- CD at Schraum), Paul Brodys Tango Toy, Coal Oven, Silk Convertor, Alfred France and the Experimental-Noise-Band Monno (with Antoine Chessex, Gilles Aubry, Marc Fantini- CD at Conspiracy Records). He played with David Moss, Michael Griener, Mathias Bauer, Chris Dahlgren, Tony Buck and others.