RuhrTriennale
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Century of Song - Holly Cole Songwriters and their interpreters

 
With:
Holly Cole, Gianmaria Testa, Aaron Davis (Flügel), Gabriele Mirabassi (Klarinette), Greg Leisz (Gitarre), GREG COHEN (BASS), Kenny Wollesen (Schlagzeug)
Performances:
12., 13. September
Start:
8:00 pm
Price:
Categorie A
40 €
Category B
30 €
Categorie C
20 €

The Century of Song series is a tribute to the great songwriters of the past one hundred years. Guest performers over the past three years have included prominent contemporary songwriters such as Suzanne Vega, Rickie Lee Jones, Patti Smith and Elvis Costello, interpreting their own material in new ways – and their favourite songs by tunesmiths like Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, the Beatles, George Gershwin or Burt Bacharach.
This year the bass is at the centre of the Century of Song. And that is only fair, since it is usually obliged to make do with a discreet background role. It does certainly make a decisive contribution to the flow of a melody, but if one considers that only there is only one concerto for double bass in existence (Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, 1739-1799), it becomes clear that protagonists of the grumblingly deep sound have traditionally been found in the second row. That sounds plausible, but it is wrong. For the twentieth century was to witness the rise of this instrument, with its roots in the baroque and stemming from the viola da gamba. The pioneers of the genre include double bass stylists like Ray Brown or Charles Mingus (a gifted songwriter and composer in his own right). And another revolution in popular song began when guitar maker Leo Fender first marketed the first electric bass guitar, the ›Precision‹ , 55 years ago.
Musician, arranger and producer Greg Cohen is one of the most important bass players on the jazz and rock scene. Since the late sixties he has played in a very diverse range of musical line-ups. Cohen ignores all genre boundaries in his work. He has played with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Ornette Coleman and Dave Douglas but also with Keith Richards, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and regularly plays with Tom Waits. In addition, he has also worked on film soundtracks for movies such as Ed Wood and Fried Green Tomatoes.
He produced and arranged albums for Holly Cole, Marisa Monte, David Sanborn and others. At his last appearance at the RuhrTriennale in 2005 he performed with the singer Sanda Weigl. Greg Cohen is taking over from guitarist Bill Frisell as curator of Century of Song.