Category: Allgemein

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Happy Release Day: HAPPY RELEASE DAY: PETRESCU / LOCHER / RIEL – LIVE AT JAZZHUS MONTMARTRE, KOPENHAGEN

The trio got to know each other intensively for the first time in 2017 during a short tour of Germany and Switzerland. Alex Riel invited Marian Petrescu and Joel Locher to come to Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen to play two double concerts together. For Joel Locher it was quickly clear that a live CD had to result from this.
Playing at Jazzhus Montmartre has always been a long-cherished wish for him. Alex Riel began his career as a member of the house band of the Montmartre Jazz Club in Copenhagen, together with bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Tete Montoliu or Kenny Drew on piano.
The trio concept is deliberately not completely reinvented by the three, rather a varied interplay across different styles and eras can be expected… from Oscar Peterson to Keith Jarrett. With breathtaking brilliance and dazzling virtuoso technique, the Romanian piano virtuoso Marian Petrescu plays an exciting trio programme with the congenial Joel Locher on bass and Alex Riel on drums.

Listen to the music: https://glmmusic.de/LiveatJazzhus

More infos: https://www.glm.de/en/product/petrescu-locher-riel-live-at-jazzhus-montmartre-kopenhagen/

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Happy Release Day: CALM – Evelyn Huber

All good things come in fours – after three remarkable albums (Somervilla Samba, 2011, Inspire, 2016 and Evelyn Huber & Sirius Quartet, 2019) another release by Evelyn Huber is coming after two years.

CALM is an album that puts the harp in the center, gives it space to sound and breathe.

With CALM, Evelyn Huber has succeeded in creating a special sound experience – devotional and atmospheric-meditative – this is how the mood of Huber’s playing on her new album can be described.

The pure harp sound, crystal clear and filigree recorded, make these recordings something special: Created from the silence of the Corona lockdown at home in their own acoustically genial dressing room sound studio equipped with the finest microphones.

Listen to the album: https://glmmusic.de/CalmWE

More informations: https://www.glm.de/en/product/evelyn-huber-calm/

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Happy Release Day: Transformer – Cornelius Claudio Kreusch

Jazz pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch had a “vision” early on with one of his albums. With his “Black Mud Sound” he created a world music emulsion earlier than most, landed a funky “Scoop” soon after and also turned to the Afro-Caribbean sound cosmos with “Féfé” and “Sun Music”. With “Life Is Beautiful”, he even ventured into pop, and with “Two Worlds One” and “Gestalt!“, he also combined classical music and free improvisation into an overarching concept. Most recently, he let himself be carried musically by Thomas Mann’s novel of the same name, but also by his own relevant experiences, in large-scale improvisations on the “Magic Mountain“. But the process behind all these so different projects now gives his new album its title: “Transformer.”

“The artist, in his best moments, is an engineer of transformation. He brings the idea into the world as a creative construct.  The jazz pianist is an improviser and thus the transformer of the moment. Familiar or new melodies are scooped into a new in the moment.”  This is how Kreusch describes the basic idea that guided him in this album. It is also a concentration, born of this time of forced pause, on the core of his artistic self-image: on the solo pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch.

For the pianist, who was first trained by his mother, concert pianist and music educator Dorothée Kreusch-Jacob, and then at the legendary Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Manhattan School of Music, is one of the most creative jazzmen on the planet, thanks to his extroverted nature, always bursting with energetic ideas.

With “Transformer” Kreusch follows up on earlier albums such as the hit album “Live! At Steinway Hall/New York“, to “Dolomites” and “Heart & Soul” and thus to his strengths as a soloist with a solitary signature.

More infos: https://www.glm.de/en/artists/cornelius-claudio-kreusch/

Listen to the music: https://glmmusic.de/TransformerWE 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Happy Release Day: Quiet Land – LAURA

You should be able to trust the opinion of a man, who has not only shaped the world  of Jazz on and off  the stage but who has also, as a  producer, propelled Michael Jackson “The King of Pop“ to fame. Quincy Jones says about Laura, “This young woman doesn‘t need to worry about her career, she is amazing and I am sure we will be hearing more from her in the future.“   When they met for the first time at the Stuttgart Jazz Open in 2017, what appeared to be a  prophecy about the 21 year old singer Laura Kipp, has today been confirmed.   She has launched her debut album “Quiet Land“ under the Label LAURA.  This debut album is a showcase introducing us to her talents.   Despite there being many excellent Jazz musicians out there today, who span a wide range of music genre and styles, it is rare and surprising to find such a charismatic and understated maturity beneath such refreshing youthfulness. She also expresses the freedom and complexity of Jazz together with the instant emotional power of Pop, Soul and Chanson. 

The opposing elements that she draws on really create a certain tension while also blending them beautifully.   As a hardened Jazz Critic who has heard and seen hundreds of singers over the years, it unfortunately becomes harder and harder  to impress .  However, Laura Kipp doesn‘t fail to impress from the outset.   Despite her age she is so mature, well travelled and charismatic and this comes across in her voice. Her far reaching travels from her homeland in Swabia Germany to Paris,  from New York to Los Angeles are  also reflected in her broad range of styles, from  brilliant songwriter ballads to punchy jazz vocalese, from soulful blues to string saturated glamorous  Hollywood sounds .  She has already internalised that unique power of jazz which she combines with her own individual expression together with collaborative creativity.   She builds on this with an inner confidence in her wonderful voice, her songwriting as well as the combined skills of her band members, the arrangements of both her mentor and bassist Jens Loh along with the expertise of Cornelius Claudio Kreusch as the producer and distributer.   The result is irresistible and rare in the German Jazz scene.  Young jazz musicians can become obsessed with experimental style jazz but Laura has gone beyond this with what can only be described in the best sense of the term “old fashioned“ with a modern twist. It is simply pure musical pleasure for those who love a bit of sophistication.

More informations: https://www.glm.de/en/artists/laura/

Listen to the music: https://glmmusic.de/QuietLandWE

Video Little Stevie see here:
https://youtu.be/fgCdm57AldM?t=32

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Happy Release Day: Histoires – Marion & Sobo Band

What on earth is more powerful than stories?

Her voice is sometimes tender and enchanting, sometimes gripping or tongue-twisting; the sound is raucous, almost whispering, then happily lilting or expressive and yearning. The Franco-American Marion sings of dancing dragons, of jumping into cold water and bathtubs full of beer, but also of tears and dreams, of love, lust and sorrow, of joy and fantasy. Colorful stories, told in six different languages – from elegant French to fairy-tale Romanes.

 Just as colorful and diverse is the musical language of the band, which is mainly characterized by Gypsy Swing “à la Django”: acrobatic guitar solos and impressive violin playing next to powerful double bass and the percussive off-beat of the accompanying guitar. But in between, other sounds become audible again and again. There are improvised passages, quiet soundscapes and impressionistic moments: for example the violin in dialogue with the singing voice, warm bass tones, bowed with the bow, airy and intimate guitar playing and also echoes of the chanson tradition or Balkan rhythms. Each song follows its own narrative and musical dramaturgy.

With “Histoires” the French-German-Polish quintet Marion & Sobo Band presents a captivating, at the same time playful album full of fantasy, humor and colorful music.

More informations: www.glm.de/en/product/marion-sobo-band-histoires/

The album: Histoires – Marion & Sobo Band

Tour-Dates: www.marionandsobo.com/concerts