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DC Schools Extend Deadline of COVID Vaccine Mandate, as Judge Overturns DC Government Worker Mandate
Home / Big Pharma & the Medical Cartel / DC Schools Extend Deadline of COVID Vaccine Mandate, as Judge Overturns DC Government Worker Mandate
In a significant about-face, government officials in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 26 postponed a policy that would have required proof of vaccination for COVID-19 for all students age 12 and over for the new school year.
by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., The Defender
In a significant about-face, government officials in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 26 postponed a policy that would have required proof of vaccination for COVID-19 for all students age 12 and over for the new school year — just days after announcing the policy.
This announcement comes on the face of a related development, just one day prior, when a D.C. Superior Court judge struck down the district's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for government workers. The policy had been challenged by the D.C. Police Union earlier in the year.
DC school vaccine mandate postponed to January after concerns raised
In an Aug. 26 letter to school officials in the district, Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn introduced a "staggered" approach for the implementation and enforcement of the district's school vaccine mandate.
Under the new policy, students 12 and older now have a Jan. 3, 2023, deadline to receive the two-dose primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, after which they would face expulsion.
According to Kihn, the aim of this new approach is to provide school administrators "additional time to prepare and for students to get their COVID-19 vaccinations."
Remarking on the postponement of the district's policy, Mary Holland, president and general counsel of Children's Health Defense (CHD), told The Defender:
"The district imposed a back-to-school COVID shot mandate that no other public school district in the country has imposed — and just walked it back to January 2023 from its proposed deadline in early September.
"The district has enacted dangerous policies that deny people the informed consent to which they are entitled by law. I am pleased that the courts have played a constructive role in checking some of the district's worst abuses."
District of Columbia Public Schools requires students who are of an age where a COVID-19 vaccine has received "full FDA approval" to receive the vaccine in order to be permitted to enroll.
Under the previous policy, reiterated by Mayor Muriel Bowser in early August and again on Aug. 25 at a press conference, students age 12 and over were mandated to provide proof of vaccination within the first 20 days of the new school year.
Responding to a question from the Daily Signal during the press conference, Bowser had strongly implied that students who did not furnish proof within the 20-day window would be expelled.
"[Students] can go to school on Monday, but they need to get their vaccinations … and their families will be alerted as to the dates.
"We're not offering remote learning for children, and families will need to comply with what is necessary to come to school."
The press conference was followed up with a press release issued the same day by District of Columbia Public Schools, in which the mayor said she was "excited to welcome our students, families, and staff back to school" — but left out those students who were unvaccinated.
Previously, in announcing the mandate for the upcoming school year, Dr. Thomas Farley, D.C. Health's senior deputy director for community health administration, said that "schools haven't been diligent in enforcing this [mandate] for a while, so parents may think they can be lax about it this year."
"But this year we're really very serious," he continued. "Your child needs to be brought up to date in order to continue to attend school."
In an interview prior to the postponement of the mandate, Kihn expressed concerns that an insufficient vaccination rate, combined with a lack of enforcement of the mandate, would lead to "outbreaks."
"What we're concerned about, and what D.C. Health is concerned about, is the challenge if we don't do the enforcement.
"If we have a 70 or 75 percent immunization rate, that's low enough for us to be concerned about outbreaks."
Even with the recently announced postponement, the district's vaccine mandate for school children remains in place. It is based on the Coronavirus Immunization of School Students and Early Childhood Workers Amendment Act of 2021, which obliges students age 12 and over to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the Daily Signal, this makes the district an "outlier" in the U.S., "as many of the larger school districts recommend but do not require a COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend school in person."
Indeed, Fox 5 Washington has characterized the mandate as the strictest in the country.
The impact of the mandate, if implemented with the start of the new school year, would have been significant. According to D.C. Health, approximately 22,000 students in the district's public and charter schools are not "fully" vaccinated for COVID-19.
While district authorities claim that the postponement is to allow more time for school officials to process vaccination records, the mandate drew opposition from a variety of actors, ranging from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to Republican lawmakers.
For instance, the district's own data shows the lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccination are among Black students, approximately 40% of whom are unvaccinated or not "fully" vaccinated.
Put differently, this would have meant that up to 40% of Black students would have been at risk of expulsion for non-compliance with the mandate.
This prompted the NAACP D.C. branch to claim that the district's vaccine mandate will unfairly impact minority students.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) referenced the lower rate of vaccination for African American students in a statement regarding a motion he filed that would have shielded the district's students from the mandate. The motion was blocked by Senate Democrats.
"In D.C., the rate of vaccination for students 12 to 15 is 85 percent," said Cruz in his statement. "For African American students, the rate drops to 60 percent."
A separate letter sent by three Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Bowser on Aug. 18, called upon the mayor to "immediately stop the enforcement of the district's unreasonable vaccine mandate for students ages 12 and older."
The letter also characterized the district as "far outside the educational mainstream in mandating a vaccine on school-aged children."
Oddly, Bowser, during the Aug. 25 press conference, suggested the number of unvaccinated students is lower than the district's own data indicates.
"The actual percentages are likely higher because not all vaccines administered outside of the district are known to D.C. Health.
"The race-specific coverage number is particularly likely to be an underestimate because the COVID-19 vaccination records D.C. Health does receive from outside of the district often do not include both age and race."
She did not provide an explanation as to why there would be such significant numbers of students, especially on a race-specific basis, who reside in the district and attend the district's schools, but were vaccinated outside the district.
According to Bowser though, expelling students from school "doesn't have to happen," stating that they can, for instance, visit "pop-ups" — referring to pop-up vaccination clinics that were in operation during the summer months and which will remain open in the coming weeks.
Kihn, in his statement, claimed that "we have heard from many of you about the challenges of tracking enforcement for COVID-19 vaccinations."
Dr. Meryl Nass, an internist and epidemiologist who is a critic of COVID-19 mandates and restrictions, suggested in her blog that harsh headlines against the district's mandate in the local media, Thursday's court ruling striking down the mandate for D.C. government workers and the negative publicity that likely would result from the mass expulsion of students, particularly African-Americans, may have resulted in the about-face.
In the same blog post, Nass also noted that while the district's schools require the COVID-19 vaccine for the age groups for which the vaccines are "fully licensed" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in reality, "none of the 'licensed' vaccine [is] available," and as a result, "it is not possible to procure the licensed product."
Instead, says Nass, schoolchildren "are being injected with the EUA [Emergency Use Authorization] product, which is shielded from virtually all liability."
Nevertheless, major school districts walked back their mandates — except for the District of Columbia, according to Nass.
She wrote:
"Schools on the west coast that imposed these mandates either withdrew them in the face of legal challenge (LAUSD challenged by the Health Freedom Defense Fund) or announced a year's postponement last spring."
According to Holland, this may be, at least in part, due to the unique nature of the district's local government.
She explained:
"The District of Columbia is unique in the country as it has only a city council to legislate. Most states have two legislative chambers, a Senate and an Assembly, creating a check on the policies of one chamber.
"The mayor and city council's irrational and draconian COVID policies underscore the wisdom of checks and balances in government."
Previously, Bowser had attempted to allow schoolchildren as young as 11 to be vaccinated without parental permission. CHD successfully sued to challenge this policy, which was struck down in March 2022.
Holland, in commenting on the district's policies and CHD's previous successful lawsuit against the district, told The Defender:
"The district has created more aggressive, harmful COVID measures than any other state. It attempted to allow 11-year-olds and older to receive COVID shots without parental knowledge or consent. CHD sued, and the federal court granted a preliminary injunction.
"The district mandated COVID shots for workers, and a court just ruled against it."
CHD has threatened to sue the district in an attempt to strike down the vaccine mandate for students in D.C. schools.
The D.C. mayor's office did not reply to a request from The Defender for comment by press time.
Government worker mandate struck down in court
Just one day prior to the postponement of the district's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled that the district's vaccination mandate for government employees is unlawful, striking it down.
The ruling was issued by Judge Maurice A. Ross, following a lawsuit filed by the D.C. Police Union earlier in the year.
The district's vaccine mandate for government employees was imposed in August 2021, requiring them to be "fully" vaccinated for COVID-19 by Feb. 15, 2022, or to apply for a medical or religious exemption by that date. Otherwise, they would face disciplinary actions, under a tiered system, up to and potentially including termination.
An option for government workers to opt-out of the mandate by furnishing weekly COVID-19 tests was removed by the district in November 2021.
However, according to Ross' ruling, the D.C. mayor "lacks legal authority to impose a vaccine mandate," which instead should have been passed into law by the D.C. council.
Specifically, Ross, in his decision, wrote that "the power to issue a vaccine mandate must come from a legislative body."
He added that the District of Columbia Police Officers Standards and Training Board had the ability to set its own health standards.
The ruling requires the district to no longer enforce the mandate and also to withdraw any disciplinary proceedings it took against workers who had not complied.
In a statement, Bowser said:
"We are reviewing the court's ruling, and believe that the judge misunderstood the strength and diversity of the authorities we relied upon in issuing the employee vaccination mandate.
"Over the past year and a half, we have seen that COVID-19 vaccines work — they keep people out of the hospital and save lives.
"Going forward, we will comply with the court's orders as we continue encouraging our community to access life-saving vaccines."
Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, also issued a statement following the ruling.
"This is a significant victory for our union that protects the rights of our members and ensures that they will no longer be forced to receive the COVID-19 vaccine against their will and will no longer be subjected to discipline for deciding not to receive the vaccine.
"This has been a long and unnecessary fight. Had the mayor just engaged the union in good faith bargaining, we could have reached a reasonable compromise that protected everyone's interests.
"Nonetheless, we are pleased that Judge Ross agreed with our arguments and issued this ruling. Now, all of our members can go back to doing the necessary work of trying to protect our communities from crime and violence without unlawful threats of discipline and termination."
According to the Washington Post, 90% of government employees in the district were "fully" or partially vaccinated as of March 28. More recent data is not available.
©August 2022 Children's Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children's Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children's Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children's Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.
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August 30, 2022 Truth Comes to Light Posted in: Big Pharma & the Medical Cartel, Child Abuse, Covid-19 Vaccines, PCR Tests & Masks, Gates, Fauci, Schwab & Crimes Against Humanity, Medical Deceptions


This fortress and modern town is the principal naval base of France -- the headquarters of the Mediterranean fleet, with hundreds of sailors wandering the streets. The Var's capital, Toulon has cleaned up its act considerably since the demise of the Front National-led council, but it's still not the most attractive place to spend precious holiday time. Aside from the port with its boat trips, the real reason to come here is to take the cable car up Mont Faron with its zoo and far-reaching coastline views. Avoid the port area and the rue d'Alger at night.


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Located on the west coast of Swedish, Varberg is a town with some 29,500 inhabitants. Here the rocky Bohuslän coast meets the open Halland coast with its long sandy beaches, many of them boasting very central locations. Apelviken, known as one of Northern Europe's best surfing location, is situated south of the town. The town has a complicated early history and is actually the town in the Nordic region that has moved the most times, with five different locations over the years. However, as "a grid town", Varberg's current location took shape in the 1660s. Construction of Varberg's castle and fortress started in the 13th century on the cliff at Wardberg. 'Ward' means guard, and this was where beacons (large fires) were lit as signals for defence. The fortress has been home to numerous kings and queens throughout its history. Life in Varberg's health resort developed during the 19th century after a spring was discovered in Apelviken. The buildings that were used then remain and still have the same function: Kallbadhuset (the Cold Bathhouse), Varmbadhuset (the Hot Bathhouse) and Society Park. In addition, there are several hotels with spa sections. They all have their specific focus, with everything from thalasso spa (salt water spa) to Asian spa. Varberg is one of Sweden's largest tourist towns and tourism therefore plays a major role in its economic life. However, there is a wide range of industries in Varberg. Large food producers, distribution companies and creative IT businesses and consultants feel at home here. A major sector is the footwear industry. Innumerable designers, agents and wholesalers have their head offices in the town. A breathtaking 70 percent of all shoes in Sweden pass through Varberg.
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Barbara Buchanan My sympathies and prayers for your family.
Patti McCarty Connie was the kindest person I ever knew. Never a bad word and always a smile for everyone. She is taking a peace of my heart to heaven with her. I've never been so happy to have had anyone in my life. I will miss you forever.


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Der Rognon ist ein Fluss in Frankreich, der im Département Haute-Saône in der Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté verläuft. Er entspringt im äußersten Südost-Bereich des Regionalen Naturparks Ballons des Vosges beim Ort Magny-Danigon, entwässert generell in südwestlicher Richtung und mündet nach rund 19 Kilometern an der Gemeindegrenze von Villafans und Senargent-Mignafans als linker Nebenfluss in den Scey.

Orte am Fluss
 Magny-Danigon
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Why Supreme Court Justices' Speech Matters
Silence speaks volumes (and so does interrupting women and making mean jokes).
Emily Moon
The patterns behind even Clarence Thomas' minimal utterances fit patterns that reveal aspects of the Supreme Court's decision-making.
(Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Near the end of the oral argument in a Supreme Court case on racial discrimination in jury selection, something unusual happened: Justice Clarence Thomas asked a question. The famously reticent justice broke his three-year silence on Wednesday, the first time he's spoken since 2016 (and, before that, 2006).
The case concerns Curtis Flowers, a black man from Mississippi, who's been tried six times by overwhelmingly white juries. (In all of his trials, 61 of the 72 jurors were white, according to APM Reports.) Posing his question in a manner that's been described as polite inquiry, Thomas expressed some skepticism about racial bias, pointing out that lawyers for the defendant also cut white people from the jury.
Thomas' question is significant—and not just because it signals he's likely to oppose overturning Flowers' conviction, as he did in a similar 2016 case. As Northwestern University law professor Tonja Jacobi's research has shown, these oral Supreme Court arguments yield a lot of interesting takeaways: Justice Antonin Scalia made a lot of bad jokes. Justice Stephen Breyer is particularly loquacious. Thomas, by virtue of his silence, is one of the only male justices who refrains from frequently interrupting the female justices.
But Thomas does fit other patterns, which reveal much more about the court than the justices themselves might realize.
"It's the one part of the Supreme Court decision-making that's open to the public," Jacobi says of oral arguments. "That to me is an interesting aspect—an insight into an otherwise very cloistered institution."
Here's what empirical data on justices' behavior during oral arguments can tell us about the highest court in the country.
The Justices Are Talking More Now—and Taking Sides
In a 2019 study, Jacobi analyzed 55 years of Supreme Court oral arguments and found that the justices have grown increasingly polarized and partisan in their comments. "What we show is that the justices are much more likely to speak during the time of the advocate they ultimately vote against—the person who's time they're using up," Jacobi says. This is what she calls "the disagreement gap."
Thomas' strategy, comparatively, is a bit of a relic: Unlike the courts of the 1960s and '70s, when it was not so unusual for a justice to stay silent for a year, the modern justices jump at the chance to advocate for their favored side. "Often when a justice chooses to speak, it's in order to push a kind of agenda and influence their colleagues, or influence the public debate," Jacobi says. On this point, she adds that Thomas' question wasn't actually an outlier: "It was a rebuttal point—a point in opposition—which fits the pattern."
Another way the justices advance their agenda is through humor: One of Jacobi's studies shows that if the justices are making a lot of jokes about one side—which are almost always at a lawyer's expense—they're more likely to rule against that side. (Jacobi, who's listened to and read through hours of laughter in the courtroom, notes that most of these jokes are mean-spirited. "Scalia was the master of this, the sarcastic comment," she says.)
All of this contributes to what Jacobi sees as the new role of oral argument in the modern Supreme Court, pioneered by Scalia in order to normalize his extreme views. "It's this persuasive act—it's partly performative as well," she says.
By opting out of this performance, Jacobi says, Thomas—the most conservative justice on the court—reduces his own influence. He's justified it before by saying he believes the court should be more polite; others say that he's insecure about his accent. Either way, Jacobi says: "As the only African American on the court, it's unfortunate that he doesn't speak. He's representing an important group ... a group that's been silenced within the legal system."
Female Supreme Court Justices Are Interrupted More Than Men
Jacobi's first analysis of oral arguments focused on interruptions, which ranged from male justices interrupting their female colleagues to advocates mansplaining the law to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her findings confirmed what a large body of research has already determined for women at large: Despite speaking less often, the female justices were interrupted during oral arguments at "a significantly higher rate" than the men (who did the majority of the interrupting).
"Even if you're a Supreme Court justice, one of the most powerful people in the country, it still mattered what your gender was; they still experienced this, even from their subordinates," Jacobi says. "People were a bit shocked that power couldn't compensate for that gender effect."
Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, in particular, were interrupted the most; both tended to frame their questions politely, prefacing with speech like "sorry" or "may I ask," only to be interrupted themselves. Since this strategy often failed, the study found that the more senior female justices—particularly Ginsburg—have had to adopt a "more assertive questioning style" in order to be heard.
These revelations resonated with many women, Jacobi says—including Ginsburg, who said she hoped the study would galvanize a change in the court. Some of the male justices even apologized to Sotomayor, according to Jacobi. But the most recent analysis shows little meaningful change: The interruptions continue.
What Does This All Mean for Today's Conservative Court?
As one might expect, in an increasingly polarized court, conservatives interrupt liberals more frequently than liberals interrupt conservatives. (That's not because conservatives have an innate lack of manners, but because they are dominant—even more today, with the addition of President Donald Trump appointees Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.)
But some coalitions transgress ideology. Jacobi says recent oral arguments show the justices also align by their processes of decision-making. "We're seeing a fair bit of variation within that conservative coalition, in terms of what looks to be more about law than ideology, so methodology," Jacobi says. Even Ginsburg and Gorsuch, two ideological foes, share legal philosophies.
Kavanaugh, meanwhile, has been more pragmatic in his questioning. In the other surprise of the day, he seemed to favor the defendant in Wednesday's oral arguments, prompting suggestions that he may be "the key to freeing Curtis Flowers." Jacobi says how the justices act during oral argument can indeed predict how they decide. But no matter the outcome, one thing is clear: Kavanaugh's certainly not staying silent.
Brett KavanaughSpeechRacial BiasClarence ThomasSupreme CourtGender Disparity
Emily Moon is a staff writer at Pacific Standard. Previously she worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and the Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.
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Depoliticizing the Supreme Court may mean radically overhauling it: Law professor
by Liz Entman Mar. 25, 2019, 12:50 PM
Professor of Law Ganesh Sitaraman (Vanderbilt University)
The growing politicization of Supreme Court nominations over the past decade has become a real threat to the institution's legitimacy, and the only way to save it may be to radically reshape it, argues Ganesh Sitaraman, professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School.
In How to Save the Supreme Court, forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, Sitaraman and his coauthor, Daniel Epps of Washington University, propose two constitutionally plausible configurations designed to minimize the partisan influences that have come to undermine the integrity of the nation's highest court.
"The Supreme Court's legitimacy depends on it being an impartial body, not a partisan institution," Sitaraman said. "There's an urgent need to consider reforms that will preserve the role of the Court in the long run."
The Constitution calls for the establishment of a Supreme Court, but it doesn't have much to say on what it actually has to look like. The current nine-justice configuration has existed since the late 19th century—long enough for it to feel immutable, perhaps, but in fact, it is just a very long-standing norm.
In their article, Sitaraman and Epps argue that the key to saving the Supreme Court is to tap the entire federal court of appeals for service. Because there are 180 appeals court judges, they make up a much more politically diverse body than the Supreme Court. And like Supreme Court justices, they are already appointed by the president and serve for life, meaning they would not need to go through a second confirmation process.
Sitaraman and Epps lay out two different ways this plan could work:
The Supreme Court Lottery
Under a lottery system, every judge on the federal court of appeals is appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. A bench of nine justices is chosen at random to serve for two weeks at a time, making it impossible to game the court's composition to favor one party's policies over another over a lengthy amount of time.
Additionally, these panels would not choose their own cases. Instead, they would hear cases chosen for them by a previous panel, and then choose cases for the next randomly-selected panel in turn.
"This approach prevents a conservative or liberal-majority panel from cherry-picking cases designed to advance their own agendas," Sitaraman explained.
Finally, the researchers propose that overturning a federal statute should require a two-thirds, rather than simple, majority. This would prevent destabilizing the law, while giving appropriate deference to the democratic process.
The Balanced Bench
Another way to neutralize the impact of polarization could be to simply lean into it. A "balanced bench" approach would embrace the reality of partisanship by appointing five Democrat-selected justices and five Republican-selected ones. Those 10 justices would then select an additional five justices from the circuit court, chosen two years in advance, to serve for one year and one year only.
Crucially, these five justices must be chosen by consensus for the Court to have a quorum and be able to hear cases.
"The judges selected are likely to be well-respected jurists on the federal bench," Sitaraman said.
Selecting these justices two years in advance also reduces the likelihood that they might be chosen specifically for their views on an upcoming case. Limiting them to a single one-year term removes the temptation to tailor their decisions in order to selected again. These temporary justices would not participate in the selection of cases, further reducing the temptation of either wing to tailor the Court's docket to the personalities of the judges.
"We believe both proposals are constitutionally possible," Sitaraman said. "What isn't up for debate is that the Supreme Court is at great risk of becoming seen as a partisan institution – and it will need to change in order to remain a legitimate institution in the eyes of all our citizens."
Vanderbilt celebrates Supreme Court decision protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers
TweetAllowing judges on the federal court of appeals to serve as associate justices for short periods of time may be the best way to take politics out of the Supreme Court, says @vanderbiltlaw professor @GaneshSitaraman
Law, Business and Politics Research featured research Ganesh Sitaraman law


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bassist
dieter ilg at act
fullfat: the label
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cd and vinyl
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ACT 9844-2 dieter ilg B-A-C-H
ACT 9582-2 dieter ilg mein beethoven
ACT 9544-2 dieter ilg parsifal
ACT 9522-2 dieter ilg otello live
B-A-C-H
ACT 9844-2
dieter ilg, trio with rainer böhm (p) and patrice heral (dr)
Dieter Ilg is among the leading jazz bassists in the world. An exceptionally gifted player, he has, for example, worked with Randy Brecker, Charlie Mariano, and the Mangelsdorff/Dauner Quintet, and also currently has a duo with Till Brönner. However, it is above all his own projects that have defined him. In these he has explored his classical roots and transferred them into jazz with intent, thoroughness and consistency. In 2009 he formed a trio with pianist Rainer Böhm and drummer Patrice Héral, and together they fulfilled Ilg's long-cherished wish to re-conceive Guiseppe Verdi's "Otello" according to his own musical conception of the work.
He took a very different route from the over- mechanistic "third stream" of the 60s and 70s. He also avoided the kind of arrangement by which classical music was shrink-wrapped for the swing or pop markets. His ventures, loved by audiences and critics alike, are a freewheeling and completely convincing combination of the melodies and structures of classical music with the rhythmic and harmonic free spirit of jazz. The success of this first project stemmed from a winning combination of factors: meticulous preparation, a compelling creative vision and a trio that played together until everything they played became second nature. Armed with the right formula, Ilg then addressed Wagner's "Parsifal", followed by "Mein Beethoven". He received an ECHO Jazz award for all of these three albums, and earned praise from critics, including the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Their critic wrote that Ilg had managed to get "difficult old Beethoven singing and swinging in a way that nobody had done before."
And now he continues with "B-A-C-H". Ilg's focus is J.S. Bach, the mighty creative force of the baroque era, whose compositions would determine the subsequent course of western classical music. Bach also set in motion the rediscovery of classical music through jazz, notably with Jacques Loussier. For many jazz musicians, Bach serves as a base camp for explorations of classical music, but Dieter Ilg has preferred to make him wait his turn. "Perhaps it's because I enjoy putting the cart before the horse," he quips. "Some people don't believe it, but Bach is no actually easier to adapt than, say, Beethoven. It is simply another process, but it's firmly based on what we developed in our earlier adaptations."
Ilg grew up in a family of amateur classical musicians, and became familiar with Bach's music from a very early age. Violin practice loomed large for him as a young boy, as did playing in a lot of masses in churches: "It's the typical background for someone who has grown up in Germany and had his practical musical strengths forged in the furnace of both normal school and music school lessons," Ilg grins. He pursued his studies at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, from which he graduated on the classical double bass. He developed a particular fondness for the Casals versions of the solo cello suites of Bach, and also "for a while" for Glenn Gould's recording of the Goldberg Variations. "Sometimes the mathematical genius side of Bach can be a turn-off; it was sometimes the case for me," he admits. So what is both surprising and also totally convincing is the way the music hovers and luxuriates in the beauty of Bach's melodies, and how a musical story can suddenly emerge out of these 'pure' structures. The points where Ilg as a jazz musician has felt himself the most at one with Bach was right at the cusp where the compositions themselves are suggesting variation and improvisation. Here, Ilg's well-honed method took over: after a period of dedicated listening, he selected the repertoire they were going to play from Bach's great oeuvre, wrote out the leadsheets, and then they played together, permitting each of the musicians to bring his ideas to the table. "All three of us is prepared to take risks, but each also knows he can completely trust the others. Musically as well as on a human level that is something very significant." That group dynamic, and just as Ilg describes it, can be heard clearly on this new recording.
In his selection from Bach's works, Ilg has not confined himself to the familiar. "Air" and "Siciliano" are the only two tracks on the albumwith the status of "hits". There are four Goldberg Variations and two Preludes from the Clavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach "which every piano student knows. They were also the very first pieces I played on the piano, and they never leave you," says Ilg. During his period of listening, pieces which seemed to leap up at him were the Harpsichord Concerto BWV1052 and the "Sarabande", "which" says Ilg, "was ideal to make a song from." The delicate tracery of Héral's drumming seems to find its way of its own accord, whereas Ilg and Böhm – either solo or in unison, but always as equals – address the harmonic and rhythmic forms and spontaneously make something new from them. Ilg, once again, has taken the work of an old master and made it sound new and fresh. "B-A-C-H" has a depth about it, and yet is completely approachable.
mein beethoven
"A feast for the ears, not only for hard-core jazz fans, but for all those who love music." (Thomas Quasthoff)
"Mein Beethoven" is the logical next step for Dieter Ilg.
His last album "Parsifal" – a chamber-jazz interpretation of Richard Wagner's sacred festival work, which Focus magazine called a "highlight in the Richard Wagner Year 2013" – closed with a whispered theme from Beethoven's Ninth ("Ode to Joy"), retitled "Sehnsucht" (Longing) by Ilg. Now he has satisfied that yearning and recorded an entire album, "Mein Beethoven", dedicated to this Olympian of German classical music, the most classical of all our composers, the one-time "superstar of the music capital Vienna": Ludwig van Beethoven.
The choice to do so was not only logical in view of the connection to its preceding album, but also with regard to the career of Ilg, who is not only "one of the best jazz bass players of our time" (Fono Forum), but also a musician who keeps raising the bar for bandleaders everywhere. Ilg has earned his ranking as a partner to Randy Brecker, Nguyên Lê, Dave Liebman, Albert Mangelsdorff, Dhafer Youssef, Rebekka Bakken, Nils Landgren or Charlie Mariano and currently as the duet partner of Till Brönner and a member of star baritone Thomas Quasthoff's jazz ensemble. With his own projects he has explored his personal cultural roots in the European music tradition. In 1992 he was involved in the revolutionary flamenco-jazz experiment "Jazzpaña", the Grammy-nominated first ACT album. From 1997 onwards he worked on folksongs together with Wolfgang Muthspiel and Steve Argüelles. In 2010 he fulfilled his long-held dream of eking out the jazz possibilities of Guiseppe Verdi's "Otello" in the trio that still exists today with Rainer Böhm and Patrice Héral. It was a showpiece of improvisational art music for which he was awarded the ECHO Jazz as "Best Bassist National". The "Live at Schloss Elmau" version was the starting gun for Ilg's collaboration with ACT, and it was followed by the Wagner gamble "Parsifal", "a chamber musical, acoustic jazz opus" (Spiegel Online), for which he received his second ECHO Jazz in 2014.
With "Mein Beethoven" Ilg, along with his perfectly harmonising trio, demonstrates that he is not about gimmicky "jazz goes classic" crossover music, but about taking the originals and somehow making them his own. His incorruptible eye for the essence, his mastery of making the monumental sensual and human, is impressive.
It is not only Ilg's singing, grooving bass, savouring every nuance, that makes his Beethoven arrangements such a joy to behold, it is also Reiner Böhm's sparkling touch, his pianistic greatness in respectfully playing around some of the most beautiful melodies in music history, and Patrice Héral's ability to always add orchestral splendour through his extraordinary drumming, with fitting fills and variations.
Is it jazz? Or is it not simply wonderful music,
enchanting, flowing, dreaming, condensing, singing, relating, grooving….? It is a synthesis that will make Ilg's "Mein Beethoven" your Beethoven.
Dieter Ilg about the project:
Ludwig van Beethoven, born in 1770 in Bonn, first attained notoriety as a pianist, and especially for his passion for improvisation. Always searching for ways to optimise, to further develop music, to form and achieve perfection, he wanted a composition to grow with all the abilities of its creator, changing constantly. Throughout the course of his career his reputation as a composer grew year on year, then ultimately, in the music capital Vienna, he finally rose to the status of what we would today call a superstar. His works are revolutionary milestones. The quiet and monumental moments in his 9th Symphony, his romantic and masterfully demanding piano sonatas and their form breaks, the impetuous eruptions, rough edges and redesigns of the structure of his string quartets, and his elegant and unconventional arrangements of Irish folk songs all fascinate, to mention just a small fraction of his oeuvre. They are ingenious templates for experimentation, even in the 21st century, and Beethoven is undoubtedly one of the great improvisers of Europe's music history, approaching everything with passion, imagination and the will to create something new. Without Beethoven, today's music would sound different – it's jazz too. Rainer Böhm and Patrice Héral accompany and guide me through the formative oceans of Beethoven's world. Together with them I want to transport Beethoven's musical expression to the modern day in the true tradition of the man, with a will to in some way make it my own. I can't think of any place I would rather sail right now. My Beethoven.
Jazz and classical, Dieter Ilg knows both worlds well. Partly to learn about the history of music, he studied classical double bass at the Freiburg music academy though he had decided to become a jazz bass player at the age of 16.
Now one of the leading jazz bassists in Europe, Ilg has occupied himself for years with Guiseppe Verdi, a contemporary and Italian Counterpart of that most formidable, gigantic, and definitely most German of all opera composers, Richard Wagner. In a trio with pianist Rainer Böhm and drummer Patrice Héral, his subtle and unique interpretation of the famed Verdi opera "Otello" in a studio recording and in the ACT live version "Otello live at Schloss Elmau", Ilg elicited rave reviews from critics and audiences alike: "It has been a long time since a trio has seemed as intertwined with each other as this one," adjudged the NDR broadcasting company. "If not already the case, Ilg, Böhm and Héral are now at least a perfect example of unfettered music making," wrote Jazzthing. Norway's Jazznytt magazine summed it up with one word in its CD critique: "Beautiful". And consequently the double bass player was then honoured with the Echo Jazz Award 2011.
So it wasn't a giant leap from Verdi to Wagner, and least of all to his last opera, the "sanctifying festival for the stage" 'Parsifal', which also lends its name to Ilg's latest ACT album. "There are some overlaps," says Ilg: "The opening melody in the prelude to Wagner's Parsifal is similar to the famous double bass solo near the end of Verdi's Otello. Wagner completed many parts of his Parsifal compositions during his journeys to Verdi's homeland, before ultimately dying in Venice."
Ilg's past occupation with mostly German and European folk melodies took him to Wolfram von Eschenbach. The epos "Parzival" from the first decade of the 13th century is from him, and it fascinated Wagner and served him as inspiration. It deals with world religions, misunderstandings and irritations, with understanding and deliverance – themes that have obviously not become any less topical since Wagner, and that also affect Ilg. With this recording, the bassist is not forced to reinvent the wheel, but he is happy to be able to choose the path on which that wheel rolls.
On 'Parsifal' Dieter Ilg succeeds with an astonishingly logical, chamber musical reinterpretation of the opulent material. "The monumental becomes sensual and the sensual monumental," he explains, and demonstrates his seemingly unending creativity with impressive virtuosity and stylistic variability in each and every piece: The title of the first track "Zum Raum wird hier die Zeit" indicates the tone of the album – an intensive, suspenseful and masterly game with opposing extremes. The bombastic "Parsifal" motif alternates between the major and minor keys and is interpreted excitingly and openly; the hymnal is rendered playful; the "Klageruf" sounds less plaintive than demanding and mighty, the "Zaubergarten" enchants almost weightlessly, with light melancholy; Wagner's programmatic "Ich bin ein reiner Tor" is condensed with a driving groove and towers up dramatically. And it suffices to hear how the impressive "Amfortas" theme is introduced, varied upon, played around and injected with dynamism to see that this trio recognises the inexhaustible musical opportunities that classical music holds for jazz, and exploits them like no other.
Ilg approached his 'Parsifal' entirely without intellectualisation and free of inhibitions. There were almost no strict guidelines for his companions, "We go with our intuition and enjoy the potential of the moment" the double bassist explains, "That way the individual abilities of the musicians come out the best". Rainer Böhm masters the situational challenge spectacularly again, and with magnificent derring-do, as does the French drummer Patrice Héral, who once again melodically and sensitively integrates himself in a way that few of his fellow percussionists master.
'Parsifal' is definitely another masterpiece of improvisation, which surprisingly ends with another famous German composer: an almost breathy version of Beethoven's "Ode an die Freude" (Ode to Joy), Wagner is known to have been a passionate admirer of Beethoven. One of the focuses of his late work is the search for peace – both inner and outer," Ilg explains. "I would be happy if people hearing my Parsifal felt that peace of mind by the end of it."
otello live
In the fourth act of Giuseppe Verdi's 'Otello' the story culminates with Othello, frantic with jealousy, planning to murder his wife Desdemona. At this point you hear Verdi's stroke of genius – a powerful bass line that goes right through you, and for bass players this line has been one of the highlights of classical music ever since. Dieter Ilg discovered it early in his career and it has been the initial part of his daily practice ever since.
Nevertheless, the road to Ilg's first album on ACT, 'Otello live at Schloss Elmau', was a long one; an internationally famous bass player, he has had a remarkable 20-year career outside classical music. After having tried recorder, violin and viola, as a 13-year-old from Offenburg he eventually discovered the upright bass. Although he started studying classical music in Freiburg in 1981, the course was already set for jazz – Joe Viera met him as talented 17-year-old school boy and made him a regular member of his sextet, and the young man was inspired and instructed by Eddie Gomez, Ron McClure, Adelhard Roidinger, Rufus Reid and Miroslav Vitous. While studying at the famous Manhattan School of Music with Dave Liebman as his mentor, Ilg had already played with several big names on the scene. He had hardly returned from the USA when things started happening quickly back home: Ilg founded his first successful trio together with John Schröder and Wolfgang Haffner and became a regular member of Randy Brecker's Quintet. He also received some extremely sought-after sideman jobs in Albert Mangelsdorff's quintet, in Ngyuên Lê's trio, playing with Rebekka Bakken and later in Till Brönner's band. Together with Christof Lauer he travelled around the world for Goethe Institute and made several more high-profile musical friends, including the saxophonist Charlie Mariano, the pianist Marc Copland and the guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel.
Searching for a recognizable project that would suit him, Ilg turned to his long-standing passion for Verdi and began to rediscover it. "Otello is an inspiration," he says. "It is continuously in motion. Just take a look at Verdi's harmonic turns that have often been used in jazz, but just in a different way. This is a perfect example of bridging the gap. Equally important is the dramatic component of the music that can be created through the individual interpretations and improvisations." For this project he not only returned to the line-up he had favoured in the early stages of his career, but also found the two ideal musicians for his trio.
The pianist Rainer Böhm had first attracted Ilg's attention in 2007, when he was judging the Jazzhaus piano competition which Böhm won. In the meantime, Böhm has been awarded with several other important accolades – most recently he followed in Ilg's footsteps by winning the Jazzpreis Baden-Württemberg. During his years of study in the USA Böhm proved to be an exceptionally talented pianist, who has a gentle touch but can also play with immense energy. This could be heard last on 'Berlin – New York' (ACT 9669-2), which he recorded together with Ben Kraef. The style of the French drummer and percussionist Patrice Heral is also one of a kind – it varies from subtle passages to powerful solos with loops and mouth percussion.
Perfectly fitting alongside Ilg's singing bass, these two accompanists are the ideal choice. The trio precision in the use of musical expressions is balanced through their recognition of the importance of pauses, as well as the power of calmness. Examples of technically brilliant realizations of these principles are the fragile 'Ave Maria' or on the other side of the spectrum, the groovy version of the famous 'Fuoco di Gioia'.
Ilg was so convinced of his Otello project that he released a studio production of it on his own label 'Fullfat' in March 2010. Shortly after that he received the German Echo Jazz Award 2011 for Best Bass Player (national). In the meantime, after numerous tours and concerts the trio was better attuned than ever and Ilg decided to expand their repertoire. These are just some of the reasons why they wanted to do a live recording at Schloss Elmau. "We've included five new arrangements of arias and the others have changed during the two years of performing them. Moreover, the location and the interaction with the audience influence the music more than you would think."
'Otello live at Schloss Elmau' is much more than merely a live recording – it is an impressively independent variation of Ilg's Otello arrangements. The album is an outstanding example of jazz musicians transferring classical into improvised music, as well as further proof of the exceptionally inspiring influence of Schloss Elmau on musicians. It could be said that Schloss Elmau functioned as the catalyst for this masterpiece, nestled away in the Bavarian highlands. For Ilg it served as the setting for the personal highlight of his passion for Verdi, a fascinating musical adventure that for all others crosses borders between classic and jazz.
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dieter ilg live
DIETER ILG "Mein Beethoven" mit RAINER BÖHM und PATRICE HERAL
05. March 2021	Potsdam at Nikolaisaal/Foyer
06. March 2021	Mettingen at Draiflessen
DIETER ILG "Bach meets Beethoven" mit RAINER BÖHM und PATRICE HERAL
07. March 2021	Kassel at Jazzfrühling Cancelled
DIETER ILG "B-A-C-H" mit RAINER BÖHM und PATRICE HERAL
09. March 2021	Nürtingen at Jazzfestival
22. April 2021	Offenburg at Salmen
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