Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra live at JazzBaltica 2009

Daniel Glatzel (composition, tenor sax, clarinet, bass-clarinet)
Oliver Roth (flute)
Laure Mourot (flute, alto-flute, piccolo-flute)
Sebastian Hägele (bassoon)
Johannes Schleiermacher (baritone sax, tenor sax)

Aki Sebastian Ruhl (trumpet, flügelhorn)
Magnus Schriefl (trumpet, flügelhorn)
Gerhard Gschlössl (trombone, sousaphone)

Karl Ivar Refseth (vibraphone)
Andi Haberl (drums)
Anna Viechtl (harp)
Kalle Zeier (guitar)
Andi Waelti (contrabass)

Matthew Lonson (violin)
Josa Gerhard (violin)
Mokkapan Phongphit (violin)
Johannes Pennetzdorfer (viola)
Martin Stupka (viola)
Charlotte Jacke (cello)
Isabelle Klemt (cello)

recorded live at Große Konzertscheune Salzau, July 5, 2009

1. Gamma Pluto Delta
2. Woima
3. Lava Lovers
4. Asteroids!
5. Harmagedon Night Express
6. Floating On The River Styx
7. Radioactive People

I promised you earlier this year to present this concert to you...

The music of AMEO is so rich in direct or indirect quotes that you really don't know where to begin. Take Off! is true to it's name - the album is wild, headstrong, haunting, atmospheric, funny, disturbing - all at once. Pulling out all the stops, Daniel Glatzel uses musical registers from varied cultural references and alarmingly crazy time signatures, all with a nonchalance which borders on the outrageous. Big-band swing is interrupted by free-jazz cacophonies, and excerpts from crime movie soundtracks are mixed with fanfares of imaginary film production companies. All of a sudden the blissfully elated mood will shift to its opposite and we find ourselves in the middle of oppressive, sprawling soundscapes where all is boundless
and wonderful.

The AMEO are 20 young musicians all from differing musical and cultural backgrounds - from Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Japan, Thailand, the Czech Republic and South Korea. As leader, composer, arranger and woodwind player Glatzel is responsible for the record's concept as well as for composition and arrangement. AMEO have already left Korean concert halls and Bavarian provincial backwaters astonished, and occasionally frightened, with their harmonic adventures and rhythmic madness.

They also work closely together with the Indie-Band The Notwist - live and on their newest album "The Devil, You & Me". That each individual member of the orchestra must bring with them stylistic openness and the highest possible joy of playing goes without saying. It's a debut that leaves you asking what can possibly follow it.