«Three Seconds» was commissioned by the Jazz Festival of Berlin for its 2020 autumn corona edition and features an audio-visual collage of the Berlin-based Training duo – drummer Max Andrzejewski and reeds player Johannes Schleiermacher with American guitarist John Dieterich (of Deerhoof fame), and visual artist Işıl Karataş. They decided to tackle the issue of improvisation and composition by using only 3-second samples of field recordings cut into loops.

Training and Dieterich send samples back and forth when it was still unclear whether it would be possible to perform in front of an audience. Eventually, Dieterich was not allowed to enter Berlin and Training was not allowed to perform before an audience. What emerged was a streaming concert, broadcasted on Arte TV. Training performed in Berlin with the visuals of Karataş, while Dieterich played and processed the live sound via zoom from Albuquerque, New Mexico. This live recording from the Jazz Festival of Berlin was edited again in the studio and new tracks were added. Dieterich did the final mix and mastering and produced the album.

The provocative yet arresting sonic puzzle sounds like listening to a heated jam session of Albert Ayler with Tortoise and Deerhoof, even though Training and Dieterich never shared a rehearsal room or a stage together. The meditative loops soon transform into dense and urgent, spiritual free jazz eruptions but are cut out by manic, post-rock beats. Somehow, «Three Seconds» reflects accurately the times of its creation, amidst a global, unending pandemic, full of sudden, confusing changes, eminent uncertainty and noisy stress, but surprisingly cohesive and coherent despite the brief samples. This is the music of our times, stressful, hyperactive and often dissonant, intense but also transcendental.

Eyal Hareuveni

Johannes Schleiermacher (s, fl), Max Andrzejewski (dr, perc, org), John Dieterich (g, elec), Işıl Karataş (v)