New York-bred and Denmark-based saxophonist, Marc Bernstein, has built a rich recording catalog over the last 20 years, centering projects around inspiring musical voices and friends including Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, and David Kikoski. For the eight originals, along with a version of “Windmills of Your Mind,” making up Hymn for Life, Bernstein focused on the “Good People” around him and in particular, the mesmerizing vocalist Sinne Eeg, his former student, now colleague at the The Southern Danish Conservatory and Denmark’s most prominent jazz vocalist. Longtime friend and musical collaborator, Bob Moses, contributes his deeply unique rhythmic and orchestral concepts to the band, which also includes pianist Jacob Anderskov and bassist Jonas Westergaard. “…the music is driven by an intensity which is impossible not to be attracted to.” – Politiken.

“Our Colours” er en kort dokumentar om et eksperiment, hvori Astrid Lund Østrup skildrer stemningen i og omkring Tyrrestrups atelier i Thorstrup, og hvor jazzmusikeren og komponisten Marc Bernstein og maleren og digteren Hans Tyrrestrup mødes i et kunstnerisk samarbejde.

Den jam-session-agtige proces er udtryk for en simultan indføling i såvel det personlige som det fælles. Via improvisation i nuet lægges grunden til videre, kunstnerisk bearbejdelse.

Et tidligere resultat høres bl.a. på cd’en ”Beats, Reeds ́n Brushes – Bernstein reveals the music of Hans Tyrrestrup” (2004). Marc Bernstein har ladet sig inspirere af Tyrrestrups penselstrøg, farver, former, retninger, stoflighed og tempo, og Tyrrestrup har ladet sig inspirere af Bernsteins modulationer, rytmer, artikulationer, lydnuancer og dynamik – gensidigheden i kunstarternes mange lag.

Kunstnerne mødtes på Syddansk Musikkonservatorium i Esbjerg, hvor Marc Bernstein blev inspireret af Hans Tyrrestrups 22 friser (Nocturnes). Derefter fordybede de sig i hinandens kunstarter i Tyrrestrups atelier i Thorstrup, hvor de udfoldede deres private jam-sessions.

Radical, But Not Fanatical er et samarbejde mellem tre musikere fra vidt forskellige kulturer og musiktraditioner. Projektet er et forsøg på at øge påskønnelsen, af den diversitet, der kendetegner verdens mangfoldige musikalske udtryk.

Gennem det tværkulturelle samarbejde skaber projektet en dybere tolerance for fælles principper i verdens musikalske og kulturelle systemer. De indbyrdes forhold, der opdages mellem disse systemer, fremskynder nyt og friskt materiale til nye generationer af unge mennesker fra vidt forskellige kulturer, men med samme kunstneriske sindelag, hvis åbensindede sansning og verdensopfattelse gerne skulle påvirke samfundet generelt.

Jeg ønsker at møde disse børn og unge mennesker på uddannelses- institutionerne, skolerne, skole-fritidsordningerne og andre spillesteder rundt omkring i vores område, hvor vores børn er tilfældigt blandet på tværs af etnisk/nationalistisk oprindelse, i modsætning til at beskæftige mig med de enkelte etniske grupper hver for sig, hvor man efter min mening ikke opnår samme interaktive samspil.

At skabe og optræde med et orkester som dette ville normalt være meget vanskeligt og nærmest umuligt, idet de færreste muslimske musikere har lyst til at optræde offentligt sammen med jødiske kolleger og omvendt, ydermere at en af dem er kvinde.

Interaktionen mellem forskelligartede kulturer er forekommet siden menneskehedens begyndelse, og projektet Radical, But Not Fanatical er således en naturlig videreførelse af en enestående ældgammel verdenspraksis, der i det tværkulturelle møde hylder såvel kulturel egen- som fællesidentitet.

There are groups that one constructs painstakingly, one element at a time, and then there are those that just jump out at you. Gathered together for the first time at The Village in Copenhagen, this Quartet spontaneously found itself “in orbit” around a common sphere.

Marc Ducret is the main inspiration for most of this music. I am fortunate to have played a lot with him. It is almost always a unique feeling of complementarity on an amazing level, where our ideas meet and intermingle effortlessly.

Kibrick is my family’s real last name. Upon arrival at Ellis Island 1n 1917, my grandfather William Kibrick (born in August 1901), added the name Bernstein like the family members that arrived before him had done, to make them sound more “western european”.

The Kibrick family fled from a little village in western Ukraine called Proskourov, desperate to escape the pogroms and anti-semitic violence in that region during the start of turbulent 20th century. Their dream was to make it all the way to Brooklyn, NY with the hope of starting a new life in America. Their dream and their hope came true!

In an effort to quickly “forget” the social, economic and religious oppression they had suffered under for so long, they immediately displaced and repressed everything Ukrainian. They stopped speaking and reading Ukrainian and their children (my father) were told that they were all simply American.

The only thing they kept were their Eastern European Jewish traditions. The music of this culture includes Klezmer (instrumental folk music), Cantorial (prayer related) singing and folk songs and party music sung in Yiddish. William loved this music and the traditions connected to it and he often sang and played records for me. While we were together, he would also tell me the story of hus “escape” and the journey to the “New World”. I loved hearing this amazing “adventure” while listening to the music of his childhood with him. Both the music and the story seemed to invoke the same passionate feelings that we also had for each other naturally.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines passionate as: “an enduring or suffering; a strong feeling of emotion; urgent desire; love.” – KIBRICK!

In music, arts, as well as in life, these are also some of the qualities I cherish most.