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Kind: News, Opinion Music Genre: Avant-garde Categories: Entertainment, Arts, Music Published: December 20, 2009

Das Wörterbuch Limited Dictionary

By DIETRICH MATTHÄUS

Artists have always made mistakes and I guess that makes them artists. Not sure whether this should be treated similarly to ski jumping, where the best and the worst ratings (or albums in this case) are disregarded, and the middle represent his or her real value. If only the top counts, this album does not belong there for either of these artists. Anyway, it is always an anticlimactic surprise to encounter music which in its outset promises, but then doesn't deliver.

Das Wörterbuch (The Dictionary), a duo album by Maria Neckam and Mika Pohjola is an album not on top of what these artists can do. I understand this is very avant-garde, and there's nothing wrong about that. There's also a nice variety of musical characters displayed, from standards to mood music. Neckam's originals are interesting but not one melody is easy to remember. Her lyrics of "Wenn es dunkel wird" are also thoughtful, which is probably the nicest aspect of the album, and appeal to all those who speak German. It seems, though, as if most of this album was more fun for the performers to make than for a listener to enjoy. This is often the case with contemporary jazz musicians, who mainly like to play for each other, but it is not typical for Neckam or Pohjola. Neckam's debut album Crossing and Blending and most of Pohjola's ensemble albums, especially the latest with Steve Wilson, but also those with Miguel Zenon and Chris Cheek are very nice productions, and deserve a lot of praise.

On Das Wörterbuch, the problem could be a lack of direction, and some kind of rootlessness. It tries to find new aspects in the voice-piano collaboration and new ways of playing acoustic piano, but the results go only halfway. It's not a critic's job to try to fix the problems, but I believe a creative drummer or a horn player would have done a lot of improvement and filled the sense of emptiness. Overall, the attempt to make a new style of recording is worth a listen, but would have been better done in a live concert, in a museum or concert matinee, where this program would have been more successful and enjoyed by an audience as a happening.

worterbuch.bluemusicgroup.com

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