Hans Koller Quartet with BCMG

Pianist and composer Hans Koller draws together the worlds of contemporary classical and jazz for the premiere of his new Jazzlines commission written for an ensemble combining his stunning jazz quartet with six virtuosic players from Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Twelve Re-inventions for George Russell combines two theories from two different traditions, realising Koller’s developments in the use of George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Theory – the first theoretical contribution to come from jazz – supported by an approach developed by saxophonist John O’Gallagher, for the use of Twelve-tone theory and the music of Webern in improvisational music.

“I couldn’t believe how his music could be so intensely chromatic, and at the same time so groovy … Russell has a great way of making a whole bunch of wrong notes sound wonderful … only when I viewed Russell’s concept through the lens of a non-jazz theory [Webern] … that things fell into place. Nothing really ever happens in isolation.”

— Hans Koller

Presented as part of Frontiers Festival.