European jazz legends in Grand Rapids: Carl Ludwig Hubsch and Longrun Development of the Universe Trio

The experimentalist jazz pioneer Carl Ludwig Hubsch is bringing his Longrun Development of the Universe Trio to Mexicains Sans Frontieres on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Renowned for his unconventional style of playing on the tuba, Hubsch will perform his avant garde brand of sound art along with Mathias Schubert on tenor saxophone, and Wolter Wierbos on trombone. 

The trio utilizes unconventional techniques to achieve creative and vibrant soundscapes. Using the shape of the room, playing with the reflective surfaces, rotating their whole bodies into different directions as they blast great waves of tuba to create a doppler effect to engage the listener. In at least one performance the band is seen on video using projected images that flicker and wiggle in reaction to the sounds they create, enhancing the feeling that the music is alive in the room with the band.

"One of the great appeals of this trio (alright, quartet, but we'll get to that) is that it breathes as a single living being. In concert, and on their previous recordings, Hubsch, Schubert, and Wierbos sound as though they are one three-voiced beast, singing ad libitum, moving seamlessly between written material and the stuff of their imaginations, when necessary covering mistakes, compressing coal into diamonds, all of this with apparent unified thought.” said Scott Fields.

Hugo Claudin, host of Mexicains Sans Frontieres , explained that the trio was able to travel to the U.S. thanks to the “Fund for Appearances Abroad,” a grant from the German Goethe Institute in Munich. Thanks to this grant, American fans can have the opportunity to hear the music in person.

“What’s great about a situation like we have here at MSF is that you can come hear something avant garde like this, stuff you can only see in a few places in some major cities, or maybe jazz festivals in Europe, and after hearing the music you actually have the opportunity to meet the musicians," he said. "You can talk to them about their work, interact with them. You don’t get to do that in many of the larger venues they would normally appear at."

The band will also be making a recording for Blue Lake Radio  Monday Nov 1st at 10pm. An appearance is also scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 2 on WYCE radio in Grand Rapids (88.1 FM)