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Old Bottle, New Wine: The band, which continually redefines itself, has again developed an exciting new routine, in part with new band members too: Sarah Buechi (voice), Vincent Membrez (moog-bass-synth & rhodes), Lionel Friedli (dr) and Christy Doran (e-guitar & compositions) are starting a new era of the "New Bag". The message remains the same: intensive yearning for crazy musical adventures, and consistent resistance against any categorization! These special characteristics of the band with apparently disregard for current trends in music have not been lost, but instead reinforced. While Bruno Amstad chased his rumbling to hysterical scats across mad guitar runs, the best singer in Switzerland does that today: Sarah Buechi. Her insane leaps of intervals always land at precisely the right spot, the pictures in sounds nuzzle up to the band sound, and new tonal qualities from her rich treasure chest of Indian music complement the already very varied world of sounds. She does not lose her cool either when her co-musicians floor the gas pedal; with the primeval sound from the moog, which not only replaces the bass, but instead really perfects the sound and with which of course an unlimited number of possibilities are provided, with the typical driving force of the Fender Rhodes and added to the pulsating grooves of a thrifty but penetrating drum set and – last but not least – the weirdest riffs and runs since the invention of the electric guitar such as only Christy Doran can provide.
Release date: May 2013Read more here!
Homepage: www.newbag.ch
The music by Mira Mode Orchestra is an amalgam of genre-overlapping styles. Acoustic jazz meets gently buzzing funk, minimal music with its repetitive sounds contrasts with more groove-oriented electronic music, and arranged orchestra sounds round it all out and give the music a special touch. All pieces can be unified in their own coolness, which reminds us more than once of the "Cinematic Orchestra". A great first work in a contemporary look.
VÖ-Datum: 01.04.2013Lesen sie mehr hier!
Homepage: www.miramode.de
The eight original compositions (only one song, "Devil Woman", is by Charles Mingus) impress with their roots in the tradition of jazz, with lots of blues, hard bop and swing in blood, but they also point the way to modern interpretation: from pulsating groove to flexible funk, and all of that at the highest level. It is above all remarkable that Gäbel succeeds in doing something very rare with his pieces: the link between catchy melodies and demanding harmonics, which in turn challenge every improviser. A radiating tenor saxophone with a clearly identifiably, individual sound and impressive energy in combination with the unusual sound of an original Wurlitzer e-piano and the good old Fender Rhodes sounds. In addition, a driving bass and airy, sensitive drum playing. A joyful celebration for jazz lovers, regardless of which faction they belong to, because simply wonderful and stirring music is provided here that crosses borders.
Release date: April 2013Read more here!
Homepage: www.denisgaebel.com
Only a person who has a stable and navigable ship goes "Offshore". And who has a goal, even if it is only a vague one in the sense of "exploring new things". The quintet Offshore from Cologne also started their journey at the "Côte de Cologne", i.e., on the banks of the Rhine. The five students and graduates of Cologne Music College, where they obtained a solid basis for their excursions, joined together in 2009 and had an amazing start: Finalists and first-place winners of the contest "Startbahn Jazz 2010" (Straubing), winners of the "Convento" prize, finalists in the "European Jazz Prize 2011" (Burghausen) and the soloist prize for Dierk Peters there. Quite a respectable list! And quite something worth listening to! A somewhat unusual mixture with vibraphone, saxophone and piano trio enables sound textures, which attract your attention. The stylistic openness makes lyrical moods and groove-oriented, modern arrangements possible. Modern jazz, which has very clear roots in jazz history, but just as clear stimuli from classical music and from current trends in jazz and pop, and consequently extends the horizon as far as possible – the reference to the open sea fits here too.
Release date: February 2013Read more here!
Homepage: www.offshore-quintett.de
Music is able to trigger very different feelings in listeners, even without support from additional visual information and without bodily contact. Music, which stimulates immediate feelings of happiness, deserves special attention. Michel Reis has succeeded in this, and he will reach many people with his gift. A basis has already been created for this, because the compositions demonstrate an amazing melodic character. Because they are catchy on one hand, easy to understand: yes, are even "simply beautiful". But they still have a complexity, which lets the pieces created sound neither banal nor plain. Quite the contrary: Crackling tension is created during the complete CD, which causes us to forget time.
Release date: January 2013Read more here!
Homepage: www.michelreis.com
Listeners savor an hour of full sounds, which seem not to be from this world. A tabla weaves a carpet with its sonorous, rich sounds, on which piano and clarinet can fly. All three musicians participate in developing melodies, which never become a goal in themselves, but instead take a place directly in our hearts. They are the emotional starting point for a journey through various styles and worlds of music.
Release date: November 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.eksafar.com
Nicolai Thärichen's playing has never been foreseeable or even predictable. And especially not when it is a question of his band Thärichen's Tentett. With the fifth album since the founding of the group in 1999, he again enjoys mocking all rules of the jazz police. And he engages in outrageous things, which he calls "German jazz art songs". German lyrics in a jazz look? This has already existed in individual cases. But the weird sound poems of the Dadaist Hugo Ball alongside the malicious verses of Joachim Ringelnatz? Added to that, Bach's "Arie der Wollust" ("Aria of Vice") and a sonnet by Shakespeare? But still neither alarm due to trashy goods nor thrashed improvisations? Whoever knows Thärichen and his band also knows that the result remains far removed from academic "lyric and jazz".
Release date: October 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.thaerichen.de