BROM – Beierbach / Roder / Marien
A Night And 43 Seconds (TMR 014)
Alexander Beierbach – tenor saxophone
Jan Roder – bass
Christian Marien – drums
01 – A Night And 43 Seconds / It´s In The Trees / Let My Shadow Reign And Choose (15:59)
02 – Glimmer (05:01)
03 – Lacy Layers (06:40)
04 – Mysterious West / A Retrograde Supreme / Pendelnd (15:02)
05 – Triadic Trial / Nimbostratus (06:09)
06 – Sepia (05:45)
total time: 54:39
all compositions by Alexander Beierbach
recorded June 2023 by Tito Knapp at Studio Zentrifuge
mixed by Alexis Baskind
mastered by Olaf Rupp
design by Kurz Gestaltung
artwork by Alexander Beierbach
produced by Brom – Beierbach / Roder / Marien
The Recording Of This Music Was Supported By The Berlin Senate Department For Culture And Europe.
© and ℗ 2024 Tiger Moon Records, TMR 014
LC – 37384
CD / Digisleeve
release date: June 28, 2024
BROM – Beierbach / Roder / Marien
Alexander Beierbach – tenor saxophone
Jan Roder – bass
Christian Marien – drums
Whether in concert, in rehearsal or in the studio, the Berlin trio BROM is at work together – comparable to a collective artist’s workshop where the three of them are busy modeling or carving a sculpture. Tenor saxophonist Alexander Beierbach, double bassist Jan Roder and drummer Christian Marien have been playing together in this band for almost 15 years. In numerous concerts they have developed their own unique way of combining composed and improvised music.
The open compositions of Alexander Beierbach form the starting points for a wide variety of musical tableaux. Composed parts and free improvisations constantly meet anew in changing combinations; they overlap and are reassembled in a different context – the same material can appear in the light of the many diverse moods and styles. New free spaces open up in the compositions and clear structures emerge in the free improvisations. Each concert follows its own logic, and a different, collectively designed sculpture is created each night.
The development of this playing concept can now be retraced on three CDs. The debut album there, released in 2013 on gligg-records, was followed in 2018 by Cardboard Sea on the musicians’ own label Tiger Moon Records. Also on Tiger Moon Records the members of BROM have now released their latest CD: A Night and 43 Seconds.
Press reviews on the CD A Night and 43 Seconds
Freistil #114 – July 2024 – Christoph Haunschmid
“This is brilliant playing at eye level, intimate exchange of ideas, concentrated sounds that never neglect the sensual listening experience.”
JazzPodium – August 2024 – Michael Bossong
“The great tenor tradition of modern jazz is in good hands with Beierbach: his tone is warm, clear and mature. Great role models shine through and yet he remains confidently himself. This playing concept, in which Roder and Marien are equal partners, needs no airs and graces, no fashionable slips, no compromises – a exemplary modern jazz trialogue, rough-edged and tender, which is simply fun to listen to.”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – July 08, 2024 – Rolf Thomas
“The three Berlin musicians let themselves drift wherever the wind blows them. Roder […] has a beautifully singing tone and always shows the trio surprising paths. And Marien is a subtle sound explorer who carries the band, especially with his work on the cymbals. All the pieces were written by Beierbach, so he is also a talented composer.”
Salt Peanuts – August 2024 – Jan Granlie
„This is an excellent trio album with three musicians who know each other well. And if everything presented on the release was carefully planned in advance, it sounds spontaneous, and throughout, the three shine with excellent playing. This is a band I want to hear in concert, without having to go to Berlin!“
Jazzthing – June 2024 – Martin Laurentius
“For them, composing is coagulated improvisation and improvising in turn is a liquefied composition. […] In any case, the result is intellectually challenging and emotionally complex at the same time.”
Jazzthetik – July 2024 – Jan Kobrzinowski
“Everything sounds as if you were sitting right in the middle of it. Alexander Beierbach’s tenor can purr softly, play around things, but also make the most direct statements on a minimal basis like Sonny Rollins did. Christian Marien can drum musically and narrate rhythmically on the cymbals like hardly anyone else. Jan Roder is the link between the two and yet he is completely himself when he savors the most beautiful moments of double bass playing and when he is satisfied with himself in the solo.”
Fono Forum – August 2024 – Sven Thielmann
“As their familiar flow of playing breathes organically, there are always opportunities for fragrant solos and delicate dialogs, which attractively expand the intense, yet never hectic exchange. And because BROM also plays beautifully with dynamic nuances, you float through “A Night And 43 Seconds” both relaxed and delighted.”
Jazzthing – June 2024 – Wolf Kampmann
“On “A Night And 43 Seconds”, these three veterans of Berlin jazz reveal their romantic streak without ever slipping into sentimentality. They play around elegiac themes with a high degree of creative freedom, but never lose sight of the melodic baselines. Beierbach’s husky, distanced timbre on the tenor saxophone, Marien’s pointed understatement and Roder’s purposeful lines give the impression that an abstract bridge is being built here from cool to free jazz.”
BAD ALCHEMY #125 – September 2024 – Rigo Dittmann
“Roder and Marien dissect time and space […] Beierbach transforms the earthy tenor sound into liquid fire, into cool airiness, into something emotionally porous. […] Great.”
JazzPort.cz – August 2024 – Hodza Hocek
“… In retrospect, I realize that their unique way of combining composed and improvised music was already prevalent here [on the CDs “there.” and “Cardboard Sea”]; on the new album, however, the trio achieves an exciting perfection!“
One Man´s Jazz – July 2024 – Maurice Hogue
„The three musicians in BROM are all among the finest of germany´s exceptional pool of improvisors. […] There are a myriad of saxophone-bass-drums trio out there these days and BROM is among the best.“