Let's Say That the Fox Could Be a Bear
Photo from the ICP Orchestra website
There is something deeply sad about losing Tristan Honsinger this year. He had a uniquely light touch for music that’s often accused of being too heavy, intellectual, and difficult. Honsinger, like many of the Dutch artists he performed with, was conservatory trained but found his artistic home in riotously free environments—ICP Orchestra, Globe Unity Orchestra, Company, small groups with Cecil Taylor and Derek Bradley, and Günter Christmann, and Honsinger’s own groups: 5tet; Hook, Line and Sinker; This, That and the Other; and Hopscotch. The names of this last batch of groups alone should tell anyone unfamiliar with Honsinger everything they need to know. Like many of his musical partners, nothing was too precious that it couldn’t be tipped sideways.
Below, Honsinger cites the inspiration of the Fluxus movement and discusses total art.1 He also talks about knowing history and the important of humility. This interview, revealing as it is, is also extremely bittersweet. Shortly after, word came through a GoFundMe that Honsinger was homeless and could not access the medication he needed. Only a couple of months ago, an update was posted that he found an apartment in Trieste and was now getting what he needed.
This entire interview is worth listening and re-listening to.
If you have not heard much Honsinger, starting at the beginning is a very good place to start. Arguably, the three foundational albums are:
Cecil Taylor’s The Hearth with Honsinger and Evan Parker
Company I
ICP Tentet In Berlin
Then, beyond the many ICP Orchestra albums, and the FMP releases under Honsinger’s name, are these three recent albums:
This, That and the Other’s Sketches of Probability
Hook, Line and Sinker’s Fishy Business
Hopscotch’s Cloud Reading Society
But here’s one more I was very fond of: A couple years ago, the Policy label Fundacja Słuchaj put out a Cecil Taylor archival release titled Lifting the Bandstand, a key recording by a quintet with Honsinger, Harri Sjöström, Teppo Hauta-Aho, and Paul Lovens, four players who really know how to exist within Taylor’s universe but without being bound by it. In a sense, that defines Honsinger, a beautiful, brilliant, beatific artist.
I really enjoy Adam Reese’s interviews, he approaches them with the same openness and joy found in the artists’ music. Highly recommend digging through his archives.