Tea Time

If you think that the constellation of Nicholas Bussmann, Sven-Åke Johansson and Yan Jun is a sort of dream lineup, you are not far off the mark. The joint improvisations that you hear on Tea Time capture a sound that once came to Bussmann in a dream and that he made come true with the help of Ni Vu Ni Connu. The trio recorded the five pieces across two days at Johansson’s SÅJ studio with engineer Andrew Levine, working with Bussmann’s curious piano robot while Johansson was on percussion and Yan Jun made use of his extended, unconventional vocal techniques. Bussmann speaks of a “double fakeness of fake jazz meeting fake throat singing” when talking about what he dreamt up and what the three of them managed to capture perfectly without any prior preparation in the studio.

Even though the recording sessions in July 2022 marked the first time that Bussmann, Johansson and Yan Jun played together as a trio, they have known each for a while. Yan Jun released a collaboration LP between Bussmann and Toshimaru Nakamura already in 2007 through his Kwanyin label, and the poet and sound artist cites the MND 1970 LP by Johansson’s former band Moderne Nordeuropäische Dorfmusik as one of his entryways into the world of unorthodox improvised music. Yan Jun finally met and also performed with Johansson when he came to Beijing to present the 2017 documentary Blue for a Moment there. Bussmann and Johansson on the other hand share a long history, which partially also informed this very special LP. “I was the conférencier for a project in which he, Phil Minton and a few others performed the compositions of Irving Berlin”, explains Bussmann. “Parts of these songs appeared in my dream.”

Since these melodic fragments were overlapping in Bussmann’s dream, it seemed only logical to turn to his piano robot — built by Winfried Ritsch, the expanded instrument is equipped with 88 different “fingers” — to turn it into a reality. “What I like most about the piano robot is the fact that you can play in different tempos at the same time”, Bussmann explains. “This creates a very special mood.” With the help of Ni Vu Ni Connu, he organised a two-day recording session with Yan Jun — who at the same time was recording the LP Graveyard Processions together with Kai Fagaschinski in Berlin — at Johansson’s studio. While the first day proved to be mainly a warm-up session, on the second one this unconventional trio truly found its groove. Most of the material captured on the LP was recorded that day and is presented here without further edits or overdubs.

Johansson remembers the recording sessions fondly for their relaxed atmosphere. “We were drinking a lot of tea, hence the LP title”, he says. When they weren’t sipping 20-year-old pu’er, the three improvised freely. “Of course, it was a bit strange to go into these sessions because, unlike the other two, I knew exactly what I wanted”, laughs Bussmann. Yan Jun even reports that he had, possibly due to a case of long COVID, lost his voice that weekend. However, he turned this into a feature: “It allowed me to go in a more natural, less musical direction”, he says. Indeed, this emphasised the uncanny mood they created during their sessions. While the piano robot takes on a special role and indeed sounds “like a bar piano coming from another world”, as Johansson puts it, it also perfectly interlocks with Yan Jun’s high-pitched, glossolalic vocal performance and the intricate, feverish rhythms played by Johansson.

Tea Time is accompanied by the humorous-yet-philosophical liner notes by Sun Zhizheng as well as a simple-but-surreal portrait drawing by Wen Ling that is being masterfully put into focus by Laurent Daubach’s elegant graphic design. More than just a mere document of a few improvised sessions, Tea Time sounds as if the collective subconscious of these three is doing its own bidding — exactly like it was supposed to sound. “In fact it is a near-perfect re-enactment of what I had dreamt about”, Bussmann cheerfully confirms, quipping: “I would never have dreamt that it would work out so well!”

(Kristoffer Patrick Cornils, August 2024)

CREDITS

Nicholas Bussmann robot-controlled piano
Sven-Åke Johansson drums
Yan Jun voice

a1 05:16
a2 10:29
a3 04:38
b1 10:15
b2 11:42

Recorded by Andrew Levine on 26 & 27 July 2022 at SÅJ Studio, Berlin
Mixed by Nicholas Bussmann
Mastered by Andreas Lupo Lubich
All music by Bussmann/Johansson/Jun

Liner notes by Sun Zhizheng
Portrait drawing by Wen Ling
Graphic design by Laurent Daubach