Gregor Huebner

... And another ensemble piece, “Cairo,” drew its energy from vital, rich-hued solo playing by Gregor Hübner, a violinist, and Mike Block, a cellist. - New York Times

By CORINNA DA FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

Gregor Huebner's latest CD is not so much an album as a travel narrative. On "El Violin Latino" (Timba). The German violinist and composer, who makes his home in Harlem, retraces the evolution of a repertoire that spans continents and centuries even as it remains in the shadow of the European canon. By turns sexy and sly, impassioned and dreamy, his collection of well-known tunes, unexpected arrangements and original compositions brings together far-flung members of the fiddle diaspora. In some ways, it's the story of the prodigal violin: of how the most aristocratic of instruments crossed the Atlantic and found itself in the rhythm section of a Cuban charanga band, or in a brothel in Buenos Aires.

For Mr. Huebner, who turns 44 on Monday, the journey is also an examination of his own family roots. Today, he divides his time between composing, playing chamber music with the Sirius string quartet, and collaborating with jazz pianist Richie Beirach. But his earliest musical memories growing up in southern Germany are of his grandfather, who was part Gypsy, playing czardas at parties.

"I grew up with Gypsy music," Mr. Huebner said during a recent interview. "My grandfather played first violin in a little orchestra in what is now the Czech town of Krnov. Every Sunday, they played Gypsy tunes and salon music from the Hapsburg era."

It was from him that Mr. Huebner learned to improvise, a skill that would become essential in his work in jazz and Latin music, but which, in Europe, sometimes got him into trouble. In his final exam at the Stuttgart conservatory, improvising saved him when he lost his place in the middle of a cadenza to a Mozart concerto. But in Vienna, where he went to pursue postgraduate studies, he was nearly expelled when his violin teacher found out that he moonlighted as a jazz pianist in bars. "That made me think," said Mr. Huebner with a laugh.

Ironically, it was his decision to move to New York to study jazz piano at the Manhattan School of Music that set him on the path to Cuban violin music. Looking for gigs to earn money on the side, he came to play with Los Jóvenes del Barrio, a band based on the traditional charanga ensemble that features a solo flute and two or three violins in place of the trumpets more typically associated with Cuban music. It was a training ground and meeting point for violinists who improvised, and Mr. Huebner found himself playing alongside jazz musicians such as Regina Carter and Sam Bardfeld. "It was my first exposure to this music," he said, "and I fell in love with it."

In 1996, Mr. Huebner traveled to Havana to study piano but found himself fascinated by his encounters with members of the Orquesta Aragón, a charanga ensemble founded in 1939 that dominated Cuban music well into the 1960s. (One of Mr. Huebner's resulting compositions, "Cuban Impressions," for string orchestra and percussion, will be performed on Sunday as part of Simone Dinnerstein's "Neighborhood Classics.")

Mr. Bardfeld, who teaches Latin violin at the New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan and has written a book on the subject, says the Afro-Cuban violin tradition is unique in that it did not develop out of a native folk-fiddle tradition. "It's this strange music mixing European classical tradition and African drumming," he says. "Essentially the violin is asked to be a percussion instrument—but at the same time you're supposed to sound like a classical violin. It's a very unusual aesthetic."

Around the same time that Mr. Huebner was learning to "think like a drum" in Cuban music, he began exploring Argentine tango music under the tutelage of Latin Grammy winner Raul Jaurena, one of the most prominent bandoneón players today. At tango festivals in Montevideo, Buenos Aires and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Mr. Huebner came to grips with the particular challenge of the tango violin. In addition to requiring "the big sound of the Romantic concerto," according to Mr. Huebner, the music calls for unique sound effects, including a particular kind of rhythmic scratching, whistling harmonics and whiplike accents. But the greatest challenge to a classically trained violinist is the elastic approach to time. "It's about stretching the time in one song to go forward and backward. I don't know any other kind of music that does that," said Mr. Huebner.

The inclusion of Brazilian music on "El Violin Latino" is more unexpected. Here Mr. Huebner focuses on the choro, a style of music traditionally scored for flute, guitar and its four-stringed cousin, the cavaquinho. Here, too, European me - Wall Street Journal

By CORINNA DA FONSECA-WOLLHEIM

Gregor Huebner's latest CD is not so much an album as a travel narrative. On "El Violin Latino" (Timba). The German violinist and composer, who makes his home in Harlem, retraces the evolution of a repertoire that spans continents and centuries even as it remains in the shadow of the European canon. By turns sexy and sly, impassioned and dreamy, his collection of well-known tunes, unexpected arrangements and original compositions brings together far-flung members of the fiddle diaspora. In some ways, it's the story of the prodigal violin: of how the most aristocratic of instruments crossed the Atlantic and found itself in the rhythm section of a Cuban charanga band, or in a brothel in Buenos Aires.

For Mr. Huebner, who turns 44 on Monday, the journey is also an examination of his own family roots. Today, he divides his time between composing, playing chamber music with the Sirius string quartet, and collaborating with jazz pianist Richie Beirach. But his earliest musical memories growing up in southern Germany are of his grandfather, who was part Gypsy, playing czardas at parties.

"I grew up with Gypsy music," Mr. Huebner said during a recent interview. "My grandfather played first violin in a little orchestra in what is now the Czech town of Krnov. Every Sunday, they played Gypsy tunes and salon music from the Hapsburg era."

It was from him that Mr. Huebner learned to improvise, a skill that would become essential in his work in jazz and Latin music, but which, in Europe, sometimes got him into trouble. In his final exam at the Stuttgart conservatory, improvising saved him when he lost his place in the middle of a cadenza to a Mozart concerto. But in Vienna, where he went to pursue postgraduate studies, he was nearly expelled when his violin teacher found out that he moonlighted as a jazz pianist in bars. "That made me think," said Mr. Huebner with a laugh.

Ironically, it was his decision to move to New York to study jazz piano at the Manhattan School of Music that set him on the path to Cuban violin music. Looking for gigs to earn money on the side, he came to play with Los Jóvenes del Barrio, a band based on the traditional charanga ensemble that features a solo flute and two or three violins in place of the trumpets more typically associated with Cuban music. It was a training ground and meeting point for violinists who improvised, and Mr. Huebner found himself playing alongside jazz musicians such as Regina Carter and Sam Bardfeld. "It was my first exposure to this music," he said, "and I fell in love with it."

In 1996, Mr. Huebner traveled to Havana to study piano but found himself fascinated by his encounters with members of the Orquesta Aragón, a charanga ensemble founded in 1939 that dominated Cuban music well into the 1960s. (One of Mr. Huebner's resulting compositions, "Cuban Impressions," for string orchestra and percussion, will be performed on Sunday as part of Simone Dinnerstein's "Neighborhood Classics.")

Mr. Bardfeld, who teaches Latin violin at the New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan and has written a book on the subject, says the Afro-Cuban violin tradition is unique in that it did not develop out of a native folk-fiddle tradition. "It's this strange music mixing European classical tradition and African drumming," he says. "Essentially the violin is asked to be a percussion instrument—but at the same time you're supposed to sound like a classical violin. It's a very unusual aesthetic."

Around the same time that Mr. Huebner was learning to "think like a drum" in Cuban music, he began exploring Argentine tango music under the tutelage of Latin Grammy winner Raul Jaurena, one of the most prominent bandoneón players today. At tango festivals in Montevideo, Buenos Aires and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Mr. Huebner came to grips with the particular challenge of the tango violin. In addition to requiring "the big sound of the Romantic concerto," according to Mr. Huebner, the music calls for unique sound effects, including a particular kind of rhythmic scratching, whistling harmonics and whiplike accents. But the greatest challenge to a classically trained violinist is the elastic approach to time. "It's about stretching the time in one song to go forward and backward. I don't know any other kind of music that does that," said Mr. Huebner.

The inclusion of Brazilian music on "El Violin Latino" is more unexpected. Here Mr. Huebner focuses on the choro, a style of music traditionally scored for flute, guitar and its four-stringed cousin, the cavaquinho. Here, too, European me - Wall Street Journal

Gregor Huebner is a globetrotting violin virtuoso and composer, with a jazzy musical past, present and future. He studied violin and piano in Germany and Austria before moving to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. There he received his Masters of Music in Jazz Performance and Composition. He currently performs with several invigorating ensembles including the alt-contemporary classical group Sirius Quartet, the latin-jazz-improv group Salsafuerte and El Violin Latino. Onstage he combines precise classical training with the verve of a rock show mixed with gypsy-latin jazz.

On March 30 he performs in New York City with Nova Philharmonic, conducted by Dong-Hyun Kim. A new album by Salsafuerte featuring many of his new compositions will be released in May and they will tour Europe this summer.



FIR: You recently took a short hiatus from performing. What was it like not playing your violin?

Gregor Huebner: The break I took from playing was not by choice, I had to take care of a shoulder injury I had for years and I had to take off from playing for 3 months. Friday’s concert will be my first solo appearance after this break. Since I started playing music I can’t remember a time that I took such a long break. It felt very awkward. On the other side I had some time to think about my choices and could take care of some things I wanted to do for a long time. Fortunately I could start to practice the violin after 6 weeks and had some time to focus on things which I couldn’t before when I was playing regularly.

I am happy to play again and the only thing I can say, it is scary to play the violin the first time after 6 weeks and see if everything still works. Now I can say it still works and you don’t lose almost 40 years of practicing and playing.



FIR: You will be performing on Friday, March 30th with the Nova Philharmonic in New York City. How did you connect with the conductor and group?

HUEBNER: Last year after the tsunami in Japan and all the disaster with Fukushima, Dong-Hyun Kim, the conductor of Nova Philharmonic organized a benefit concert for Japan. My colleague Chern Hwei Fung asked me if he could arrange one movement of a string quartet of mine called Ground Zero for this concert. I was in Europe on a concert tour at that time and got a lot of enthusiastic Facebook and e-mail messages about the performance and about my composition. Dong-Hyun Kim came by a concert of mine in New York and asked me if I would be interested to play that piece again as a soloist as well as my own Violin Concerto #2. It’s my first time meeting this group so I am really looking forward to this concert.



FIR: You will also be participating in the Tribeca New Music Festival on April 18 at the Merkin Concert Hall. What piece will you be performing for that event?

HUEBNER: This is a very exciting concert for me. I will premier a new composition of mine as well as compositions written by Uri Caine and Jeremy Harman for the Sirius Quartet.

Colors of the East is the title of this new composition and it features a great musician and friend of mine Peter Stan on accordion. I worked with Peter on and off over the last 12 years and we both have something in common. We both grew up with gypsy music and he is a master in the music of the Balkans. Since he also is open for different kinds of music and improvisation he was the right person to ask to play this piece, which combines contemporary written music, improvisation and folkloric music from Eastern Europe.



FIR: Face the Music, the alt-contemporary high-school music group, will also be performing that evening. They performed one of your pieces before. What was that experience like?

HUEBNER: Face the Music is a fascinating ensemble and one of a kind. It was great to see them last year playing my Cuban Impressions and having so much fun with it. This is the right way to get new contemporary written music to young players. They just look at it in the same way they look at a composition by the classical masters, so it’s fresh and they get in contact with this music early.

Often when you get to be performed as a composer by an established ensemble you fight against built up opinions and resentments against contemporary music. I think this comes from new music not being in the focus of the academic music education for a very long time. Face the Music is the perfect example of how to integrate contemporary music into the music education of today.



FIR: What other musical events do you have on the horizon?

HUEBNER: Right after Friday I will be traveling to Europe to perform at the Easter Jazzfestival in Stuttgart Germany where we will premier Uri Cain’s piece together with him and the Sirius Quartet in Europe. At the same festival I will join Richie Beirach for his 65th birthday concert.

As a composer I am writing a new string quartet that integrates spoken word and a piano concerto, a commission by the Inter - FIR Productions

Gregor Huebner always had a passion for Latin music. He has been part of Tango groups, jazz formations and so much more. His excellent violin play can be heard on many albums, including solo projects. On this new solo output he focuses on the Latin music only. Six Cuban, three tango and four Brazilian styled recordings are the result of his passionate search for music he loves. For all three styles he works with a different backing band. Great how he shows the differences and similarities in the styles. Huebner shows his quality as a great violinist with feeling for the music. His style is very open and his jazzy and light approach makes this music suitable for a big audience. A friendly album by a professional artist.
© Eelco Schilder - FolkWorld

Gregor Huebner always had a passion for Latin music. He has been part of Tango groups, jazz formations and so much more. His excellent violin play can be heard on many albums, including solo projects. On this new solo output he focuses on the Latin music only. Six Cuban, three tango and four Brazilian styled recordings are the result of his passionate search for music he loves. For all three styles he works with a different backing band. Great how he shows the differences and similarities in the styles. Huebner shows his quality as a great violinist with feeling for the music. His style is very open and his jazzy and light approach makes this music suitable for a big audience. A friendly album by a professional artist.
© Eelco Schilder - FolkWorld

GREGOR HUEBNER – EL VIOLIN LATINO (TIMBA)
Gregor Huebner’s latest CD is not so much an album as a travel narrative. On, "El Violin Latino" the German violinist and composer, who makes his home in Harlem, retraces the evolution of a repertoire that spans continents and centuries even as it remains in the shadow of the European canon. By turns sexy and sly, impassioned and dreamy, his collection of well-known tunes, unexpected arrangements and original compositions brings together far-flung members of the fiddle diaspora. In some ways, it’s the story of the prodigal violin: of how the most aristocratic of instruments crossed the Atlantic and found itself in the rhythm section of a Cuban charanga band, or in a brothel in Buenos Aires. Review by journalist Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim of the Wall Street Journal. - Latin Jazz Network