Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra (feat. Herb Robertson) - Negra Tigra (2005)

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Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra (feat. Herb Robertson) - Negra Tigra (2005)

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Pierre Dørge has what seems like a magical ability - he can re-imagine and rethink the way that music is voiced thus creating entire new worlds out of worlds we think we know. He can take an Ellington standard or the "soundtrack from an imaginary film or an organ tune from Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) and present each with riotously funny squawking, chanting, singing and dancing but with an expansive and inclusive respect.

Negra Tigra uses as its centerpiece the early jazz tune "Tiger Rag . Here called "Negra Tigra , it appears in five miniature segments (and one even more abbreviated 13-second interlude) introduced with a kind of "Salt Peanuts line and then as fully structured cacophony with mad horns pushed frantically ahead by drums and percussion (Martin Anderson and Ayi Solomon respectively). These "tigras frame and present the musics of the world as tantalizingly colored through the unique prism of composer Dørge. The theatrics come across aurally but so do the imaginative skills of all concerned. This is music of the East but not cutely jazzified. It's poignant and expressive in its blend of the familiar and the exotic. Dørge is a fine guitarist but that instrument is used as yet another in a vast palette. And speaking of colors, note must be made of Morten Carlsen on the taragot, a Hungarian reed instrument related to the saxophone and clarinet. (The current one is actually an update of an ancient instrument of Turkish, Hungarian and Romanian roots.) Its difference from those instruments gives it a special role in the way that Dørge, Carlsen, the other players and guest trumpeter Herb Robertson hear the music of their world.

On each tune here, the band is allowed to find its way into the Eastern colors and just when that has been accomplished with an extended groove that features one or another of these players - the band jumps back to the chaotic rag of the tiger. The end result is a rich and heady mix that feels like a mysterious yet always engaging journey.

And boy - that's what the band in concert is like. To a small yet enthralled audience at Joe's Pub last month, the horn players of the band started to play from places in the audience. It felt like music for a new church and, not surprisingly, the music turned out to be organ music from Carl Nielsen. The horn lines and even the colorful effects of trombonist Kenneth Agerholm bounced around, defying one to seek their source. The procession to the stage - where Dørge, keyboardist Irene Becker, drummer Martin Anderson and percussionist Solomon awaited them and offered them support - was mock solemn yet the music always seemed vital and never novel for its own sake.

"Dukish Mingus found the band reworking the evolution from Duke to Mingus and back to Duke as transmogrified through the new ensemble passages written and arranged by Dørge. The individual horn men - Kaspar Tranberg, Agerholm, etc. - as well as bassist Thommy Anderrson - were allowed and encouraged to shine even as they were beautifully into the sound of the whole - that remarkable old/new mix of the music of the masters,

As on the album, the music in concert presents a new and engaging way of hearing world influences as well as the jazz roots. Dørge introduced "Munzun Mun by saying that they had decided to come up with a new "Bollywood film after seeing Monsoon Wedding. Agerholm was presented as the hero and two of the trumpeters as "Ravi and Ravi . The "new film music featured a chase scene with Morten Carlsen riding his taragot Vespa, an imaginary gangster somewhere offstage, the effects of "holy cows and much more. And during the course of the hour and ten minute set was another song by Nielsen, a South African style chant, "Jubee , a portrait of "Sun Ra Saluting Mars and more that left the audience wanting more. Though all the players contributed mightily and in individual ways , what shone through was their total musicality and their part in a most magnificent musical whole.
By DONALD ELFMAN

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Negra Tigra sports five renditions, plus a false start, of the title track, and all but one clock in at exactly one minute, eight seconds. Guitarist Pierre Dorge and his crew start the tune sounding like Spike Jones attempting "Salt Peanuts," then immediately take a sharp left turn into some fast swing that channels "Hold That Tiger" before signing off. The different versions make up the odd-numbered tracks of the 11-tune disc, and each has slight arrangement variations: less squawking trumpet here; woodblock intro versus snare drum intro; tighter horn charts; added vocals. They also bring the Orchestra back down between the exotic journeys on the other cuts.

Trumpeter Herb Robertson is the nine-piece Orchestra's guest this time out, and his blasts and smears fit in well on pieces like "Streets of Ha Noi," which implies that said streets have a good number of cars these days, and "Vietnam Xong," which in contrast sounds more tranquil and dreamlike. "Ushama" is built on a slow drone, with horns locking into a dissonant groove during the solos.

To get a raw, unvarnished sound, the group recorded Negra Tigra with just two microphones. The approach adds a sense of immediacy, but it also buries Dorge, who doesn't solo and can be detected only during some fierce strumming passages.
By Mike Shanley

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Inspired by Duke Ellington's original Jungle Orchestra that performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem during the late 1920s, Danish guitarist Pierre Dorge formed his New Jungle Orchestra in 1980 and has recorded at least eighteen albums since that time. Aside from Dorge, the ten piece band includes two trumpeters, a trombonist, two saxophonists, a cornet player and a rhythm section.

This recording reflects a heavy influence of world music with elements of African, Afro-American, Asian and other non-identifiable styles. While in the past, this band may have played some straight-ahead, swinging and even bluesy arrangements, none of this is evident in Negra Tigra. As modern jazz exist today, I found this disc to be neither modern nor jazzy just plain tasteless. Full of honks and squawks and replete with a range of distorted sounds, I struggled to accept what I heard as any form of jazz.

I've been listening to jazz for over thirty years and in that time I guess it is inevitable that one will come across a few albums that will, to put it bluntly, help clean the wax from ones ears after your finished shaking your head in disbelief. In an objective appraisal of this bold and interesting project, I must conclude that I found nothing entertaining or worth listening to ever again! A rumbling of rhythm-starved, directionless melodies more adequately described as noise is what awaits you with this album. In my humble opinion, what I have just reviewed cannot be categorized as music but rather a controlled mishmash of sounds. Maybe there is an audience out there, somewhere in the world that finds this stuff enjoyable. I would defer to their greater tolerance for the new, imaginative and unusual mind-bending music (matter of perspective) offered in Negra Tigra.
by Edward Blanco

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Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra (feat. Herb Robertson) - Negra Tigra (2005)

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Pierre Dørge and New Jungle Orchestra (feat. Herb Robertson) - Negra Tigra (2005)

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