henning pertiet's teitreph

I am doing good and bad (just a little).... my wife and I just bought a house and we are waiting for the old owners to leave the house so that we can move in.
For me this is horrible on one hand because I hate waiting!!
On the other hand it is a dream come true for me: I have been dreaming of owning a house as long as I can remember.
Now (and from the beginning of September when we have moved into the house) I live near Verden (Aller) which is about 30 min drive via autobahn from Bremen and about one hour from Hamburg (where I was born).

What's on your schedule right now?

Boxing my studio equipment (and everything else of course), practising my instruments (piano, guitar, sitar, accordion, bansuri, bass…) and playing concerts with Blues & Boogie Woogie-Piano which is my main business.
In fact I prefer to play solo concerts or in a small setting like a piano and a guitar player and singer - for example.
I try to organize it the way that I have one concert per week. Thats good for my soul (and the purse of course....) and I always have enough time for all other things music.
Its a lot of work organizing concerts in this genre because nowadays nobody really cares for this kind of music anymore.
I need to make a new Boogie-CD this year and it should be out for christmas the latest... I would love to make a solo-record where I hopefully can make some nice experiments (musically) - for example mix in some improvised numbers.... I would even love to mix in some electronic stuff; but this is not an easy thing to do because blues lovers are really conservative and I really am afraid of loosing fans.
I don't know yet...

How would you describe and rate the music scene of the city you are currently living in?

There's not much of a scene here in Verden; city is way too small. Here is literally nothing - which on the other hand is the reason why we are living here: its quiet and I am the only one to play the kind of music I am playing.

When did you start writing/producing music - and what or who were your early passions and influences?

My first passion in music that I tried to play myself was Boogie Woogie-Piano; it started a looong time ago I can not remember. I really started playing seriously in 1989 after hearing a record of Axel Zwingenberger from Hamburg, Germany. I fell in love so deep that immediately I decided to become a professional - which I did 3 years later; I became a member of Austria's Mojo Blues Band - one of the best blues bands I have ever heard. The band had a hit in Austria's hitparade and was pretty famous over there.
We played way too many concerts so that after some years I became ill and could not play anymore.
No concerts and not even at home. This maybe lasted for one and a half years… But I think these years with a blues band where the foundation for all my musical knowledge - but you must understand that the word 'knowledge' has nothing to do with knowing something about music theory.
Its more having learnt to listen to music and understand whats going on and why. And I hope I did.

What do you personally consider to be the incisive moments in your artistic work and/or career?

I'd say that there where many main moments: the first was hearing a boogie-record from Axel Zwingenberger; the second was a record from Thelonious Monk (the first recordings Monk made for Blue Note - I came across Blue Note because the first recordings ever made by Blue Note where Boogie Woogie played by my than personal heroes Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis)
The world of sounds and tones of Monk was so strange to me that I was shocked.
But I needed to dig deeper and deeper into this world, into Jazz and similar.
I 'found' Miles Davis and many, many others.
Later I heard of Esbjörn Svensson and was fascinated by the mixture of Jazz and Pop / Rock and even electronic music.
(I didn't know by then that Miles Davis had done this years earlier…).
I coincidently discovered Erik Satie, discovered Bach (and found myself beginning to love Bach so much that I decided to practise Bach for one year - and mostly only Bach!)
Bugge Wesseltoft needs to be mentioned here or Nils Petter Molvaer. I didn't know that combining Jazz and Electronic music would work that perfectly. Miles Davis did this already back in 1986 (I think). Maybe earlier...
Later there was a period when I bought almost every record that seemed to fit in this hmmm.... this kind of music.
I mean music with an approach where electronic instruments are used - to be honest I really have difficulties explaining this... I would love to just put some records on the turntable or cds in the player... I'd put at first a record of Brian Eno. Not ambient but a record from 2010: Small Craft On A Milk Sea. Or even better his latest release: Drums Between The Bells from 2011.
I'd put in a cd of Margaret Dygas, a pretty young lady I think living in germany and having produced some sounds and music I thought it wasn't true...
But to answer this question and the one before this more precise: there was no ONE point when I started producing electronic music. This just happened one step after the other.
In fact the beginning of all this must have been back some years when I vistited a friend in his home studio (Brian Parrish from England who was a member of the british Rock-scene in the seventies of the last century and for example was known by me for a long time because I had a Jery Lee Lewis record from 1972 where Brian played on the record)
Seeing Brian working in his home-studio all by himself and making records that way (all alone and by himself!!) I was so impressed that I searched for other musicians that did the same.
Of course some of them I had already known without knowing how they produced their music.
Just to name a few are JJ Cale, Sting or Lenny Kravitz. Someone I got to know personally is Norbert Krüler aka Shamall; he lives pretty close to my place and also makes records all by himself.
To make a long story short - in 2007 I had recorded a Boogie-Record with a fantastic drummer but felt that something is missing and bought an electric bass and a multitrack-recorder.
I practised the bass some months for hours and hours and recorded one number after the other overdubbing with the bass. The multitracker had a drum computer and after just playing around with it a while I fell in love with idea of producing music at home.
This I would call the birth of me producing music. But at first there was no idea of electronic stuff. This happened to be another story....
I had some children coming to my place and learning piano. One day a boy at the age of ten came to me saying that he was going to be a rapper - which I hated at that time. I knew the only chance I had was to become interested in his music. I told him to bring all his records. Thats what he did and I copied them to harddisc to be able to listen to them later.
At first I really didn't like what I heard but I think I got used to it after a while.
Today I have at least 40 or 50 HipHop-CDs at home.
And maybe hearing J Dilla's or Pete Rock's music was one of the most important moments on the way to making electronic music myself.

What are currently your main compositional- and production-challenges?

- siehe anderes Interview -

What do you usually start with when working on a new piece?

There is absolutely no way to say 'usually' in my case because most of the time something happens and at that time I don't know what will happen.
Sometimes - and I'd say it is often - even a mistake is the starting point of a new piece.
Or something that happens when I don't understand when trying to use a (new) machine.
I know this very well from my blues & boogie-playing and composing, that often I hear something inside of me and I try to play it exactly like I heard it but it doesn't work.
This doesn't mean that its no good. On the contrary: most of the time I find it even better because its something new. Hmmmm.... maybe thats the way I usually start working in my case???

How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?

I don't think I do - for me it doesn't mean that much.
All I care for when making music (live or in studio production) is that I feel good.
As long as the music moves me, helps me through a day or through a certain time its good for me.
Of course it can happen that certain parts of an idea are written down as chord charts for example or I might even use a midi sequencer for certain ideas.
Maybe thats already something like a composition. But for me it doesn't matter what one calls it.
What I'd maybe separate is improvisation from free improvisation.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and composition?

- siehe anderes Interview -

Do you feel it important that an audience is able to deduct the processes and ideas behind a work purely on the basis of the music? If so, how do you make them transparent?

My opinion is that audiences need to feel good, have a good time, maybe can leave reality for a while.
If someone needs to explain my music intellectually its ok for me but not something I would care for.
Its because I can't explain it and do not feel the need! People can even think what they want during performances or listening to recordings.
To be honest I love the idea of just giving numbers to compositions / recordings. Or maybe just a date.
I have a certain feeling while playing - but others don't have to feel the same.
I am almost sure most people feel different.
When I give my recordings certain names its because I am not as free as I wish I would be....
I should start doing this today!
To be honest I have played with a lot of singers and I almost never understood what they where singing about - and I'd go even further: I don't care much.
It is often similar when talking to people: my opinion is that most people talk a lot of nonsense because they're afraid of saying what they REALLY want to say.
So they talk stupid things.
My opinion is that in most writing or songwriting it is similar.
This surely is a view that might not be very popular - but thats the way I see it.

There seem to be two fundamental tendencies in music today: On the one hand, a move towards complete virtualisation, where tracks and albums are merely released as digital files. And, on the other, an even closer union between music, artwork, packaging and physical presentation. Where do you stand between these poles?

I prefer to have (to own) an album with real artwork and so on.
I also prefer to release real albums although I didn't yet with improvised and electronic music. (The problem is that I think nobody would buy it because I don't play live -yet...)
But I also like the idea of having songs or albums released digital only.
When I was pretty young - I mean like 13 or 14 years of age - buying an album was like an adventure.
One had to save money to be able to buy it!
And I still have these albums today and have a lot of memories together with all these records.
Just only yesterday I received the new Brian Eno-Album (Drums Between The Bells).
I ordered a 2 CD special edition with hardcover booklet. This is almost a feeling as years ago when a new record came out. Beautiful made artwork. One can feel that this is made with passion - and not for money... ok, maybe its because Eno doesn't need to earn money??
I don't know.
Anyway, I prefer real releases. No doubt.

The role of an artist is always subject to change. What's your view on the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of artists today and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?

As I said earlier the main reason to make music (until now) is to make myself feel good. Its like medicine; maybe I don't need alcohol or anti-depressive medicine because of making music.
Of course on a live-event its the best thing that can happen when you're able to please an audience.
I'd say thats like having not only a wife but having a wife thats good looking.
Maybe if music helps me in my daily life it can help others.
Even if its only for some minutes or an hour or for one concert.

Music-sharing sites and -blogs as well as a flood of releases in general are presenting both listeners and artists with challenging questions. What's your view on the value of music today?

- siehe anderes Interview -

How, would you say, could non-mainstream forms of music reach wider audiences?

First of all when a non-mainstream form of music reaches wider audiences it might not be a non-mainstream form of music anymore.
Maybe you can see in this sentence that I am a musician and will always answer such a question from the musicians point of view
But this question to be answered maybe needs a marketing specialist!?
But I try to answer it: by having magazines as tokafi.com and the people behind it... for example.
Of course one could reach wider audiences when played on radio or tv - but to be played there one must be known by wider audiences first.
So maybe the only things one can do is pray, which I think doesn't help too much, and the other thing is play live which is surely not always possible.
Maybe today it is even possible to promote anything over the internet sitting in front of the computer for hours, months and maybe years... But thats not my idea of living a life of a musician.
I guess the most important thing always is having a starting point where you can reach people and convince them.
And I think one needs an obsession - I mean it must be the most important thing in life for you to do what you do.
But I guess an artist making non-mainstream forms of music almost never aims at success, a lot of money or being famous in first place. Maybe commercial success just happens sometimes... Maybe its most important being obsessed!?

Please recommend two artists to our readers which you feel deserve their attention.

E.S.T. (album: Leucocyte)

J Dilla

Many artists dream of a "magnum opus". Do you have a vision of what yours would sound like?

Maybe one note played so well, so deep that no other note is needed?

improvised music

Hi! How are you? Where are you?

What's on your schedule right now?

- siehe anderes Interview -

How would you describe and rate the music scene of the city you are currently living in?

- siehe anderes Interview -

When did you start playing your instrument, and what or who were your early passions or influences?

I started playing piano maybe at the age of 6, 7 or 8 - I cannot remember exactly.
Even earlier I started playing flute (Blockfloete) as probably thousands of germans did.
Having turned 13 I 'needed' to learn guitar - rock-, folk and hippiemusic was calling..... But all these efforts where not very effective.
There was nobody there to really show me what I could do with such an instrument. It was no fun. It was a horrible time for me.
After having heard Boogie Woogie piano at the age of 23 I picked up the piano again and became a professional very soon.
This music seemed to offer more freedom than the (preferred by piano teachers) classical music I'd had to learn earlier.
And after being a pro for more than 15 years I became bored more and more and began searching for something more.... hmmm... that would satisfie me more. (I MUST say that still I love playing Blues & Boogie; I still enjoy almost every single concert I am allowed to play before an audience that is willing to pay and listen to some very old music that is almost complete forgotten and neglected by radio and tv)

I finally found it in Keith Jarrett's Solo playing, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane's recordings made shortly before his death. These where really free!!
Digging deeper and deeper into music in general I also came across indian classical music and bought a sitar and a lot of recordings of indian classical music.
I deeply fell in love with their music 'concepts' - even if I don't really understand.
So, maybe I could say I started playing piano at the age of 8, guitar at the age of 13, (who cares for flute??).
And I started playing bass (electric and double-bass) at the age of 41 - all other instruments like accordeon and synthesizers and so on I think I was maybe 43 years of age.

What do you personally consider to be the incisive moments in your artistic work and/or career?

Years ago when a good friend introduced me to Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert for the first time I didn't like it all. I was so busy with my blues and boogie stuff that maybe there was no space in my head... It took many years to become open-minded...
I guess most important for beginning to play free improvisation could be the time in my life where I needed to go to psychotherapie.
This lasted many years - alltogether I'd say ten years. During this time I think I became more free within my feelings and more self-confident so that I could open my mind for other music than blues.
I think I have always loved free things. Maybe I should not say 'I love it' but in fact I can't do any other.
I have difficulties in making plans.
At least in some cases I have to because otherwise they won't work. (for example a concert needs to be fixed with a promoter...)
But in many things in life I just will see what and how things develop and than I'll accept or try to do different. I mostly decide things according to my instinct, my feelings.
The first thing I ever 'played' on the piano in our home in Hamburg was something I called 'Blitz und Donner' (thunder and lightning).
I must have been pretty young - like maybe 5 or 6 years of age.
I used the piano just for making certain sounds; like the bass I used for making thunder as one can imagine. Just play enough keys alltogether at one time and loud enough and it can sound like thunder. But you must use the sustain-pedal - a lot.
Using the higher register of the keyboard you can easily make some lightning by striking the keys not rythmically.
Just look at a lightning and see the form it has and try to put the form on the keys.
I think about 30 or 35 years later I remembered that I often 'played' this at home. But back then it was like a game and nobody would have told me that this is music, that it wasn't only a game, that this already was art. It was just a kid fooling around...
And they would have told me to start practising properly.
Later I found this was something valuable, something worth remembering and recording.
I think this must have been during my time I fought one of the biggest fights with myself - during the time of psychotherapie. Maybe I should explain just a little more...
I have been drinking heavily for some years, I lived in Vienna, Austria and suddenly had a little son. That was the time I was a professional playing blues all over europe.
This living wasn't easy and especially not for someone like me. I can't sleep in hotels, I can't stand this and can't stand that...
When I left my son (and his mother) to go back to germany it didn't take long and my life didn't work no more.
I got panick and fear all day and couldn't do anything anymore. So I needed to change my life and I did !
This also meant that living a 'normal' musicians life wouldn't be possible anymore.
In this period a lot changed in my life - and I mean really a lot.
Maybe not the way I am deep inside of me but now I know a little more who I am and that all my feelings are not wrong but something worth 'listening' to, caring for. And I already have had many people (also other musicians and piano players) telling me that I am not too bad on the piano...
But I think mostly its not because my playing is so very good, trained. Its because I am what I am and try not to be different. I don't play a role - the music I am playing is what I am. I could even play Bach or Satie or could even be a painter or a photographer I guess...
I can't help doing things the way I do.

Keith Rowe once asserted that it is often certain people that "give one permission to do things". How was that for you - in which way did the work of particular artists before you "allow" you to take decisions which were vital for your creative development?

Absolutely important!
Thats not even enough - I mean it seems as if the words are not strong enough. Without a lot of other artists (musicians) I would not be able to do what I am doing.
I need to mention Arvo Pärt - he did and does things one would not expect to be working. For example 'Spiegel Im Spiegel' is almost ridicoulus simple - in a way…
Cecil Taylor seems to play anything that comes to his mind. Even Keith Jarrett or his brother Chris Jarrett (one that is underrated!!!) they sometimes use the piano as a percussion instrument. And these mentioned are only very few and maybe some of the best known.
There are so many wonderful musicians (or should I call them magicians????) out there. For me Bugge Wesseltoft needs to be mentioned here or Nils Petter Molvaer. I didn't know that combining Jazz and Electronic music would work that perfectly.
Miles Davis did this already back in 1986 (I think). Alexander von Schlippenbach for me is one figure I need to mention here; having discovered him or some of his recordings allowed me to do almost anything. Wonderful!! But also Philip Glass (a big thank you to Branka Parlic!!) and Erik Satie 'allowed' me to do what I assume is 'right'.
The last album of Esbjörn Svensson Trio 'Leucocyte' really knocked me out - when I heard it I thought: thats it. And it still is.
The perfect mix of a real acoustic Trio (piano, bass and drums) and electronics.
The most important figure I must mention here maybe is John Coltrane. Just listen the last two or three albums he made before his death. One is recorded only with drums and Sax - absolut freedom!

What are currently your main artistic challenges?

At the time I try to find a way (or ways ??) to put all my different music styles together in just one 'thing'.
I hate to be a Boogie-Pianist one day; an improvisator the next day and electronic musician the other day. What I am really searching for is just Henning Pertiet. The last months seem to be important on this way because I felt that something deep inside of me seems to change in the way I 'see' the different music styles within me.
I still have to go on without knowing what it will bring, but it feels as if there's a kind of a solution near...

What do improvisation and composition mean to you and what, to you, are their respective merits?

A composition can help me in a certain situation; for example in a concert its nice to have something you can just 'use' without the need to improvise although you might not be in a good condition...
But - to me - improvisation is something that gives me freedom in a world or in my live where I am not free all the time and where I feel the need for freedom.

How important are practising and instrumental technique for achieving your musical goals?

Maybe both are not important at all... ???
Of course I have been told (as probably anybody else) that one needs to be good on the instrument one is playing. But what does this mean??
I mean there are lots of people who don't play any (classic) instrument but make great music. (have a look at Brian Eno for example)
There are lots of people who can play (technically) but make no music - in my ears.
Myself I try to practise even less. Or maybe the other way around: I try to practise what I really need.
I need more self-confidence, I need more time while playing (I don't mean I need more than two hours for example but within this time I would need the feeling of having time…) - things like that.
Even in blues - which was and is my main business - its not important to be a trained musician. You can play a million notes, and play them perfect without moving or touching ones feelings.
So the question to me is what is it worth??
On the other hand I often ask myself maybe I have this opinion because I am not the best technically??
I really don't know…
But you can also say that one who has practised less and is less trained in a classical way must sound more personal. Which is not bad...
Could be possible that one who has something to say could do it with or without technical ability. I guess thats how it is.
When it MUST get out of you it probably will.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and performance?

At a performance one needs space to be able to produce sound !?
To be honest: as I don't think about music I can't tell.
I don't know much about music and so I only feel something and try to make sound / music out of it.
It is not intelectual at all.
Maybe its this way: I have a certain feeling and - if possible - I try to make music out of exactly this feeling exactly in this moment.
This is dangerous for a concert because it could happen that I only play one note for two hours. But as I am able to play for hours and hours I probably wouldn't do it because I'd be afraid of annoying my audience.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

I think I started playing free improvised music and electronic music just to not think anymore...
When one is open-minded maybe anything can stimulate ones feelings and lead to new music.
Even quietness….
For me the only thing important in improvising is that I feel good at the time of the improvisation.
And if it is recorded and still is good: even better!
I think for me anything is good when I feel good.
Maybe the word satisfied is even better - I need to feel satisfied after having played.

Purportedly, John Stevens of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble had two basic rules to playing in his ensemble: (1) If you can't hear another musician, you're playing too loud, and (2) if the music you're producing doesn't regularly relate to what you're hearing others create, why be in the group. What's your perspective on this statement and how, more generally, does playing in a group compare to a solo situation?

Number (1) seems to make sense to me.
But sometimes it happens that you are playing on a big stage with a bad PA (and bad technicians) and a bad sounding room.
So it can happen that you can't really hear whats going on. And the solution is not always playing less loud. Number (2) is so abstract to me… It doesn't mean anything to me…
Playing solo or in a group to me is like living alone or with a wife (or maybe a group of people).
Alone is very good and I love it - but it can even be better being not alone.
But it depends on who is with you and it depends on the day and the feelings you have at a certain time.
And I think that I don't really have the choice.
I am who I am and I just can't do any other.
So one day I hate playing alone, the other I hate playing with others. It changes constantly…

Some people see recording improvised music as a problem. Do you?

Music-sharing sites and -blogs as well as a flood of releases in general are presenting both listeners and artists with challenging questions. What's your view on the value of music today?

For me the value hasn't changed; only the ways music is being published.
For example: when I get an album burnt on CD and I love it I will (try to) buy it because I want to own it.
I have some albums one cannot buy; these I don't listen to often just because I don't know where to put them.
If they where real albums they had a place within all the other albums. And its not because the music is not good!!
Of course its much easier today for everyone to release music which also means that there are probably thousands of releases that maybe shouldn't be there. (but who am I to judge???)
But it makes it also very interesting because there are also maybe thousands of releases that wouldn't be there without the possibilities.
There's always music I like and music I don't.
And it changes… constantly
When one is open-minded and searching one will find. Many complain too much I think.
Things where never only easy in life... and things wheren't easy in music business too.
For example one could say that people nowadays listen to mp3-music and thats bad sounding.
Maybe it is.... but what is a cd compared to live music? Also bad sounding I guess.
OK - you can not sell as many cds as you could some years ago. But really: Thats life!
I have always been dreaming of owning thousands of records (and / or cds) and many instruments. And now I do - and I am not rich!
One reason making this possible is internet and for companies being able to produce things cheap.
Another example: I bought a real cheap grand piano some years ago which everybody thought I would kill in maybe two or three years ago because of me playing Boogie Woogie on it. But I own it for eight years now and I have recorded three Boogie-CDs on it and several other things. I still works and does a good job - everyday.
So, for me this is an example of a good thing in our modern world. (I would love to own a Steinway & Sons or Bösendorfer Grand - but I had to decide owning a house or owning a grand...)
Of course its true that thousands of so-called musicians could make cds with real cheap instruments.
But why not? Maybe there are a lot of musicians that would not be able to make records without cheap equipment and the benefits of internet and myspace and so on... As one can see my view changes constantly and I am not sure...
But thats ok for me

Please recommend two artists to our readers which you feel deserve their attention.

John Coltrane - Interstellar Space

E.S.T. - Leucocyte

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