June 18, 2009

The Headhunters live at Jazzfest Berlin 2008

Devin Phillips - Saxophones
Jerry Z - Keyboards
Richie Goods - Bass
Mike Clark - Drums
Bill Summers - Percussion

recorded live at Jazzclub Quasimodo, Jazzfest Berlin, November 8, 2008

Tracklist:
1. Watermelon Man
2.Loft Funk
3. Butterfly
4. A Love Supreme/ Resolution
5. Sly

There could have been a reunion of the old line-up in Berlin 2008, Bennie Maupin played the night before on the same stage, and Herbie Hancock at the same time at the Berlin Festival Hall.

June 16, 2009

Heinz Sauer – Bob Degen live at Jazzfest Berlin 2008


Heinz Sauer – tenor sax
Bob Degen – piano

recorded live at Jazzfest Berlin, UdK Konzertsaal Bundesallee [Joseph-Joachim-Konzertsaal], November 9, 2008 aus dem Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Tracklist:
1. Stay on C
2. Worth a Week’s Anguish
3. Etosha
4. Kieser’s Exchange
5. Welcome to what you think to hear
6. Don’t explain
7. Sages
8. Fading Day

Saxophone player Heinz Sauer and pianist Bob Degen rank among Europe’s jazz upper nobility. Since 1973, Degen is a member of the jazz ensemble of Frankfurt/Main radio station “hr” where he first met Heinz Sauer. Six years later they decided to form a permanent duo. After more than thirty years they still sound spontaneous, inspired and inspiring; serve up gourmet jazz for epicures who – in the era of the quick mouse click – still prefer an atmosphere of timeless beauty.
Together they released a few albums, among them "Plaza Lost and Found":

June 11, 2009

Rebekka Bakken & Wolfgang Muthspiel at Leipziger Jazztage 2002

Rebekka Bakken, vocals
Wolfgang Muthspiel, guitar

recorded live at Leipziger Jazztage, Leipzig, Germany, September 28, 2002

Tracklist:
1. Beloved
2. You
3. Overmåde

You can find these songs on the fine studio album "Beloved", released on Wolfgang´s Material records

Wolfgang Muthspiel & Triology live in Bremen 2003

Wolfgang Muthspiel, guitar
Daisy Jopling, violin
Aleksey Igudesman, violin
Tristan Schulze, cello

recorded live in Bremen 2003

Tracklist:
01 Swords
02 Tribal Games
03 That´s All Daisy Needs
04 This Space Leo Gives
05 Ornithology/ How High The Moon
06 Ambassador

This quartet released a studio album called "That´s All Daisy Needs" released on Material Records

Weather Report live at Rockpalast Köln 1983

Wayne Shorter - tenor & soprano saxophones
Joe Zawinul - keyboards
Victor Bailey - bass
Omar Hakim - drums
Jose Rossy - percussion

recorded live Sartory Säle, Köln, Germany, May 13, 1983

Tracklist:
01 Procession
02 Fast City
03 The Peasant (a.k.a. Singapore)
04 Db Waltz
05 Blue Sound - Note 3 (Ballad)
06 Two Lines
07 Plaza Real
08 Medley
09 The Well
10 Where The Moon Goes

The post-Jaco edition of the greatest fusion band ever with the power house rhythm section featuring Victor Bailey and Omar Hakim. More info on this concert

June 09, 2009

Palle Danielsson Quartet at JazzBaltica 2001

Palle Danielsson, bass
Joakim Milder, tenor and soprano saxophones
Rita Marcotulli, piano
Anders Kjellberg, drums

recorded live at JazzBaltica 2001, Große Konzertscheune, Salzau, Germany, June 26, 2001

Tracklist:
1. Tiramisu
2. For You Peter
3. Mars
4. Obscure Motifs
5. Siri

Palle Danielsson is undoubtedly the internationally best-known bassist from Sweden.
Besides his break through with Bill Evans at the jazz club "The Golden Circle" in Stockholm 1965, he was a member of Keith Jarrett's "European quartet" and laid the foundation for a worldwide reputation as a tasteful player with rock-steady time. This is a reputation he has built upon and refined with equal parts calmness, good judgment and talent. In 1995 he released his album "Contra Post" with this quartet (the album is out of print, but maybe you can find it somewhere...)

June 08, 2009

geir lysne ensemble "the grieg code" live at NDR Hamburg 2009


Morten Halle (sax, fl) Tore Brunborg (sax, fl) Geir Lysne (arr, sax, fl) Steffen Schorn (bs, cl, fl), Eckhard Baur (tp, flh, voc) Jesper Riis (tp, flh, lyrics) Arkady Shilkloper (french horn, flh) Helge Sunde (tb) Lars A. Haug (tu) Vladyslav Sendecki (kb, electronics) Bjørn Kjellemyr (b) Andreas Bye (dr) Terje Isungset (perc, mouth harp, voice)

recorded live at Studio Rolf Liebermann, NDR, Hamburg Germany, April 16, 2009

1. Transad Nias
2. Vebburedong
3. Glossi Vangse
4. Dose Das

The Edvard Grieg Society commissioned Lysne to write The Grieg Code for their congress in Grieg’s birthplace, Bergen, Norway. Lysne had already paid homage on Boahjenásti with his composition “GeirG” (Grieg spelled backwards, the first four letters being Lysne’s first name). The piece is a re-fashioning of the theme from the movement “The Death Of Ase” in Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” Suite No. 1.

Lysne emphasizes that the pieces in The Grieg Code are not jazz versions of Grieg’s compositions. He employs set piano, string, and vocal pieces from Grieg within his own compositions, but he re-works them to the point that they are unrecognisable. Lysne transforms a soprano canto line into a cool bass line, and a violin phrase becomes a drum groove. Lysne calls this procedure "musical anagrams". An anagram is normally a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase (Listen = Silent).
The studio album with this program was released on ACT:


June 07, 2009

Dave Douglas: Blue Nile - the Music of Randy Weston live at JazzBaltica 2007

Dave Douglas - Trumpet
Donny McCaslin - Tenor Saxophone
Nils Wogram - Trombone
Martin Taxt - Tuba
Geoffrey Keezer - Piano
Nasheet Waits - Drums
Jan Bang - Samples

recorded live at JazzBaltica 2007, Große Konzertscheune Salzau, Germany

Tracklist:
1. The Shrine
2. Mystery Of Love
3. Zulu
4. The Call
5. African Cookbook
6. Prayer Blues
7. Afro Black

Dave Douglas has an amazing output on records. The discography can be found here.

June 06, 2009

SF Jazz Collective live at Jazzbaltica 2007

SF Jazz Collective
Miguel Zenón (f, as)
Joe Lovano (ts)
Dave Douglas (t)
André Hayward (tb)
Stefon Harris (vib)
Renee Rosnes (p)
Matt Penman (b)
Eric Harland (d)

recorded live at Große Konzertscheune, Salzau, Germany, July 1, 2007

Tracklist:
1. Brilliant Corners (Thelonious Monk) / arr: Renee Rosnes
2. San Francisco Holiday [aka Worry Later] (Thelonious Monk) / arr: Miguel Zenón
3. Criss Cross (Thelonious Monk) / arr: Dave Douglas
4. Haast Pass (Matt Penman)
5. Oska T. (Thelonious Monk) / arr: Renee Rosnes
6. Alcatraz (Dave Douglas)/ Amoeba (Dave Douglas)
7. Assisi (Dave Douglas)
8. Peace Offering (André Hayward)
9. Union (Eric Harland)

In 2007 the SF Jazz Collective did its 4th annual concert tour, featuring a repertoire including the work of Thelonious Monk and original compositions by group members. As always they released a very hard to find record, due to its limited edition (3000 copies only!!).

Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra live at Studio 2/Munich 2009


Daniel Glatzel (composition, tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet)
Oliver Roth (flute)
Laure Mourot (flute, piccolo flute, alto flute)
Sebastian Hägele (bassoon)
Johannes Schleiermacher (bariton sax, tenor sax)
Aki Sebastian Ruhl (trumpet, flügelhorn)
Magnus Schriefl (trumpet, flügelhorn))
Gerhard Gschlössl (trombone, sousaphone)
Karl Ivar Refseth (vibraphone)
Anna Viechtl (harp)
Kalle Zeier (guitar)
Andi Waelti (bass)
Andi Haberl (drums)
Matthew Lonson (violin)
Josa Gerhard (violin)
Mokkapan Phongphit (violin)
Johannes Pennetzdorfer (viola)
Martin Stupka (viola)
Charlotte Jacke (cello)
Isabelle Klemt (cello)

recorded live at Studio 2, Bavarian Broadcast Munich, May 20, 2009

Tracklist:
1. Gamma Pluto Delta (Daniel Glatzel)
2. Introduction to Asteroids
3. Asteroids(Daniel Glatzel)
4. Space Purolator (Daniel Glatzel)
5. Introduction to Radioactive People
6. Radioactive People (Daniel Glatzel)
7. Lava Lovers (Daniel Glatzel)

Music from another star. Something... well, let´s say, different... This orchestra is a really interesting upcoming ensemble from the Berlin jazz scene, that will perform at this year´s JazzBaltica. "Whoever claims to have heard anything like this before must be lying. The twenty-piece ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA, led by 25-year-old Berlin based composer Daniel Glatzel, set off a firework of energy, musicality and fresh ideas and juggle genres, styles and musical references in a way that can make you dizzy. Jazz doesn't begin to describe it. We're talking about everything from minimalism to film scores, romanticism, modern classical music, and Bartok right through to Frank Zappa. Glatzel also cites computer games, the Second Viennese School, cartoons, Renaissance Polyphony, shabby infomercials and elevators in expensive hotels as influences." Look out for their first record called "Take Off":

June 05, 2009

Stefano di Battista, Vince Mendoza & SH Chamber Orchestra at JazzBaltica 2004

Stefano di Battista - Alto Saxophone
Eric Legnini - Piano
Rosario Bonaccorso - Bass
Roberto Gatto - Drums
Schleswig-Holstein Chamber Orchestra
Vince Mendoza - Leader

recorded live July 3, 2004 at JazzBaltica 2004, Salzau, Germany

Tracklist
1. Classico
2. Romeo & Juliet
3. Anastasia
4. A Night In Tunisia
5. Amoroso
6. Slap

Look out for Stefano´s album "Round About Roma" feat. Vince Mendoza, released on Blue Note.

June 04, 2009

Hank Jones & Joe Lovano "Kids" live at JazzBaltica 2008

Hank Jones, piano
Joe Lovano, tenor sax

recorded live at JazzBaltica 2008, Salzau, Germany, July 5, 2008

Tracklist:
1. Lady Luck
2. Ornithology
3. Kids Are Pretty People
4. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
5. In A Sentimental Mood
6. Oh! Look At Me Now!
7. Six And Four
8. Interview with Hank Jones

Tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and pianist Hank Jones make for a perfect combination on this set of live duets. They had played together on an occasional basis for the three years prior to this project, collaborating on the Joyous Encounter recording and in 2007 they released the Grammy nominated album "Kids: Duets Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola" on Blue Note.
P.S. More photos from JazzBaltica by great photographer Oskar Henn you can find on www.oskar-henn.de