专辑简介

by Thom JurekThis is Jon Rose's tribute to violinist Karl Valentin. In typical Rose fashion, it is part serious classical and improvisational exposition, part street theatre, and part carny freak show. To assist him in his latest outrage that is guaranteed to piss off everyone who loved Valentin, Rose has employed vocalists Lauren Newton and Max Gold, trombonist Connie Bauer, Uli Humpert on piano, DJ Frank Schulte and Peter Hollinger on percussion. The result is pure chaos, or at least nearly pure. Rose has written a general outline and even a weird libretto to course through Valentin's life. The problem -- and this can be heard in the audience's boos and hisses -- is that the musical text is so raggedy and unfocused, so left to chance it isn't remotely workable. As these forms and genres collide rather than blend, what emerges from their center isn't some vision from Valentin's -- or Rose's for that matter -- musical unconscious; just more of the same, collision and cultural pastiche for its own sake. It is very easy to see that in this nutterfluff, the emperor has no clothes. Poor Karl Valentin.