The Red Hill Interzone is where the colors dwell, warm black, inner white, amber, sea green, safety orange, dissolve, sungloves, Lord Blue throat … The Red Hill Interzone is where the sounds of The Red Hill Orchestra linger, the entry point, the gate, uncountable small actions, sleeping warriors, up and down, now that I have a human body … The Red Hill Interzone is where the Red Hill Orchestra is sounding, where the ears are wandering, where the soul is wondering.
Red Hill interzone
“Jozef Dumoulin’s Red Hill Orchestra is a remarkable and without doubt unique musical entity. It makes use of a great variety of sources, but the music you get to hear enters an until yet unknown door. There is nothing comparable to it. Maybe only a vague association with early collaborations of Bill Frisell with Lee Konitz.
Dumoulin makes use of various forms of delay as well as the blurring and flooding effects the Rhodes provides, contrasted with the pointed sounds it also can produce. At a closer look (or listening) it appears to have quite mystical sonic qualities that distinguishes it from present digital electronics (and also from older synthesizers). Dumoulin explored the musical possibilities of these sound qualities on a recent Rhodes solo album on the Bee Jazz label and teamed up with Eskelin and Weiss for further travels into these new territories. The threesome could be experienced during the Strasbourg Festival as well as on the just released album Trust on the French Yolk label.
It is miraculous how Dumoulin’s way of using and playing the Rhodes changes the perception of the acoustic instruments, the tenor saxophone and the drum set. Their acoustic qualities surprisingly come much more to the fore on the recording. It also happened during the live performance at the Pôle Sud Theatre in Strasbourg. The music ranged from dreamy to steamy and always had an estranged, almost surrealistic vibe: fascinating great music from
the Red Hill interzone! Dumoulin, Eskelin, and Weiss are a marvellous orchestral team on this sonic travel between the known and the unknown. In Strasbourg the threesome succeeded to engross the audience in its remarkable liaison of clarity and fogginess. It also succeeded in perpetuating the fascination and curiosity about how the known and unknown relate to each other in the sounds. It deserved and got an encore for the musicians‘ return to the outside world.”
All About Jazz, december 2/2014
Jozef Dumoulin – A Fender Rhodes Solo. BEE JAZZ RECORDS
Jozef Dumoulin & The Red Hill Orchestra – Trust. YOLK
All photos ©FoBo_HenningBolte