The visit to the Renée Bar actually had its origin last Friday when I went to see the Melt Trio in the foyer of the Forum Merzhausen, organized by www.forumjazz.de. It was an outstanding performance to a large audience of over 150 Jazz afficinonados and the band, which received two ECHO Jazz Award nominations this year, was well in tune with their latest and third album Stroy as well as some older pieces. This was the first time I heard them live, and the brothers Peter and Bernhard Meyer on guitar and bass, and Moritz Baumgärtner on drums and toys including a megaphone, created a sound which is truely unique and really draws you in, almost hypnotic if you close your eyes. A „Melt“ing pot of a lot things Jazz, but also quite progessive with alternative elements, electronic art and indie rock at times. The output is a portfolio of fantastic soundscapes with motifs and melodies of intense beauty held together by free improvisations. If you don’t know them and are interested in some further background then their website is a great source of additional information, it holds a small sample of review articles on this unique guitar trio and further biographical information. – I did not have my camera with me that evening but when speaking to Bernhard after the concert he kindly agreed to me taking some photographs at their next gig which was just 2 day later in Basel, this time in a club environment. So on Sunday I went to the Renée Bar in Kleinbasel close to the Kaserne. The concert was supposed to start at 10 PM (actually starting at 10:30) and I arrived at 9:30 to introduce myself and check out the venue a bit. From the outside this is a very unassuming place, easily overlooked and inside it is quite dimly lit with a great bar, a cool place for sure.
When I entered, no admission fee was asked for and Peter, Bernhard and Moritz were sitting around a small table with some forks and drinks, apparently this was more the kind of authentic gig were the honorarium was a "melt" comprised of food for service, audience donations and CD sales. Radiohead was playing via the club speakers and somehow I felt a bit of a similarity in the approach between Melt and Radiohead - complexity, layering, rhythm, drive, spheres... same ingredients but of course a different output.
Well, a nice Swiss risotto arrived, was finished and created the foundation to come up with the setlist.
The following gives an impression of a fantastic club concert which happend that night, these guys are a "must see and listen to".
