PHILIP WEBERNDOERFER

TIDES

Shifting Paradigm Records

Philip Weberndoerfer, guitar/composer; Richard Mikel, bass; Peter Traunmueller, drums; Dayna Stephens, saxophones.

Philip Weberndoerfer grew up in the countryside of Bavaria.  The Free State of Bavaria is located in the Southeast part of Germany.  As an active seven-year-old with a love of sports, his life changed when a traffic accident occurred.  He was hit by a truck and suffered severe head injuries that restrained him from playing soccer games and from swimming.  So, Young Webernodoerfer’s parents gifted him with a guitar. That became a source of creativity that developed into a deep love of both the instrument and of music.

It was 2013 when Weberndoerfer took a dream trip to the shores of North America, landing in NYC, where he met the legendary guitarist, Pat Martino at a Birdland multiple-day residency.  Together they played plenty of guitar, but also got to know each other.  Martino encouraged the young guitarist to come live and play in New York. That encouragement was the inspiration Weberndoerfer needed to quit his secure German University job, and move to the famed but competitive jazz city. In 2016, Weberndoerfer relocated to New York.  Soon, along with his newly formed trio, he became a semifinalist in the “Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition.”  His American music journey began to explode.

This album Phil Weberndoerfer calls “Tides” is all music he has composed except the opening, familiar tune by Bobby Hutcherson called “Little B’s Poem.”

An original called “Low Gravity” follows as track #2. It features Dayna Stephens on saxophone.  Weberndoefer improvises creatively after the saxophone solo, soaking up the spotlight and sparkling. Peter Traunmueller eggs him on with his drums, ambitiously adding percussive creativity to the bandleader’s solo.  Soon, Traunmueller is given the full spotlight where he performs his technical and inspired drum mastery. At the very end, I am surprised by the guitar and bass duo. Suddenly the other players drop out. Richard Mikel’s bass and Weberndoerfer’s guitar close out this arrangement.

A tune called “My Ideal” begins with just Weberndoefer’s guitar, rubato and lovely.  Then the groove kicks into a slow shuffle.  It’s a happy song with a little skip to the arrangement, featuring a melody that is catchy and clear.  On some of the composer’s songs, I find the melodies to be complicated and difficult to hum along with.  This tune, however, has a memorable melody.

On ”Salted Sweets,” the bassist, Richard Mikel, is given an opportunity to open this selection. The arrangement is quite contemporary at first. Then it rambles off into tempo changes and music that sounds more experimental, leaning heavily into improvisation, allowing the soloists pure freedom. In my opinion, the improvising sometimes extinguishes the fire of the original melodies, diluting the chord changes to a place where I can no longer recognize the melodic integrity at all.

I was happy to hear some blues in the mix.  “Simple Task” is a great, blues-based tune with a stick-like-glue melody, arranged at a slow swing. Once again, the improvisations veer into the clouds, leaving the melody idea behind, like a rocket ship discarding their first stage. I find myself perplexed. “The Gypsy” is an original composition that sounds like fusion jazz.  At first, I thought it was going to race into the atmosphere, but it quickly settles down, offering a moderate tempo with the horn dancing above the rhythm section. Then the bass and drums double-time the production and recapture my interest. Straight-ahead we go!

There is a uniqueness to Philip Weberndoerfer’s arranging and composing that celebrates his talents and music mastery with a style uniquely his own.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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