Continuity and Resonance Carl Wittigs Aurora Oktett

• 1 Oktett: I. Präludium 05:17
• 2 Oktett: II: Fuge 05:51
• 3 Oktett: III Scherzo 02:01
• 4 Oktett: IV Intermezzo 04:00
• 5 Oktett: V Finale 03:42
• 6 The Art of Being Empty 05:43
• 7 Waves 03:50
• 8 Fog Walkers 06:27
• 9 Comments 05:29
• Total Runtime 42:20

Info for Continuity and Resonance

This fresh European jazz with a larger band than usual fuses its sources without trying to lecture. Carl Wittig's Aurora Octet touches with the unexpected, it is there as a matter of course as a convincing synthesis of the old and new world.

If jazz wants to retain its vitality, it must constantly renew itself. It cannot be museum music that is simply exhibited. Jazz is a music of individualities that add up to ever new paths into the open. Each generation takes these paths differently.

In his generation, the 29-year-old Leipzig bassist, composer, arranger and bandleader Carl Christian Wittig is a prominent personality. Educated in both jazz and classical music in the Saxon city of Robert Schumann, Zwickau, he is concerned with the sustainable connection between the two genres. He studied in Leipzig and Lucerne. On the way he met Nils Wogram, whose album "Riomar" was the initial spark for him: jazz quartet plus strings. What he heard there went well beyond the traditional albums by Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown or Chet Baker. Soloist before sweet talk, that was far too little for Carl Wittig.

The original idea for the Aurora Octet was born. In 2016 Carl Wittig founded this band, in which he brought improvisation and composition together in a different way. In the Aurora Octet, the string quartet was not just a harmony instrument or a guest from another world. What would it be like if the participants left their respective trained terrain? What would it be like if classically trained string players improvised and jazz musicians followed compositional guidelines more than usual? What would it be like if the sum of the parts created a larger shared cosmos?

Based on these premises, a band has grown in eight years that cannot be categorized in the usual ways. Carl Wittig has investigated, played through and developed what can be made from such a formation: here a classically-staffed jazz quartet with trumpet, saxophone, bass and drums, there a string quartet with two violins, viola and cello. But this here and there should no longer exist for him. In its place should be the question of what can be done with such a formation when the boundaries become blurred.

Sure, it is the same as always. There are role models: Sebastian Sternal's Symphonic Society, Christian Wallumrød or Trygve Seim in the far north. In this special case, they exist to create an octet of complete fusion from all of this, which, after years of joint development, proves with its new album how sustainable and convincing its individual results are.

"Continuity and Resonance" is the second album by this very special formation after "Perspective Suite". And it is astonishing again because the octet, which has remained constant, has become more confident, self-assured and overall more coherent. At the beginning there is a suite by saxophonist Matti Oehl, which follows the classical canon in five movements. Then Carl Wittig adds four pieces like resonances to the classical guidelines. The album is excitingly structured and cleverly conceived. What does it trigger when I let the classical forms work on me? What is it like when I bring American jazz together with my European roots? This is exactly how Carl Wittig fuses the sources of his music, without wanting to overwhelm intellectually.

He gives all members of his band the opportunity to present themselves as soloists. No one uses it for posturing, everyone serves the cause. This is a new understanding of jazz. It is no longer about displaying skills, it is about developing something bigger together. "It's more of a gentle and mild way, which of course also has to include its outbursts and can be loud," Carl Wittig sums up, "that's the way I want to be touched."

This fresh European jazz with a larger band than usual fuses its sources without trying to lecture. It's simply there and convincing. It can be about anger at uninvited know-it-alls, about the ability to be empty as a prerequisite for receptivity, about looking into the fog behind veils, about the waves of sensations or about ever new beginnings after dark nights. This music invites you to forget what's prefabricated. It touches you with the unexpected, it is there as if it were a matter of course as a convincing synthesis of the old and new world.

Carl Wittig's Aurora Okte:
Ada Schwengebecher, violin
Sophia Rasche, violin
Marie Schutrak, violin
Franziska Ludwig, cello
Pascal Klewer, trumpet, flugelhorn
Matti Oehl, alto saxophone
Tom Friedrich, drums
Carl Christian Wittig, double bass

CARL WITTIGS Aurora Oktett
With his Aurora Oktett, Carl Christian Wittig founded an ensemble that moves freely both in jazz and in the classical tradition. The ensemble effortlessly integrates string quartet and jazz quartet. The resulting broad repertoire of timbres and the multifaceted compositions make the Aurora Octet one of the most interesting interdisciplinary ensembles in Germany.

In winter 2022, the ensemble, conducted by Carl Christian Wittig, released its debut album Perspective Suite on nWog Records. The main idea of the current album is to look at life and the problems that come with it from a different perspective. In other words, music that deals with instability and also has moments of consolation.

This album contains no booklet.