Elisabeth HARNK – Joëlle LÉANDRE
“Tender music”

Elisabeth Harnik: piano. Joëlle Léandre: double bass. Liner-notes by Ken Vandermark. Recorded by ORF (austrian broadcasting corp), in concert at WIST, Graz, Austria on april 16th 2016.
“The importance of the music of Elisabeth Harnik and Joëlle Léandre, both in tandem and in other circumstances, also has further resonance and significance in a broader social context.  Consider the amount of time they have worked relentlessly in the often male dominated fields of jazz and new, experimental, and improvised music. As we close in on the second decade of the 21st century, it is still clear that we are living in a far from equitable world. To face that discrepancy as an artist for decade after decade, often under the gaze of outright hostility, is something that needs to be identified. […]
I can’t ask more of a musician, a visual artist, a writer, a filmmaker, a choreographer, a dramaturge, a photographer, a architect, a designer, of an artist, than to contribute creatively and with generous passion despite ongoing adversity. Without question, with this album and with their careers, Elisabeth Harnik and Joëlle Léandre have done so. One of the definitions of the word “tender” is “humane.” Is there a better way to identify and celebrate their work, the gift of it to all of us, than to call it humane music?” Ken Vandermark, Chicago, January 21, 2018