Orchestre National de Jazz & John Hollenbeck: Shut Up And Dance live at London Jazz Festival 2010

Orchestre National de Jazz
Daniel Yvinec: conductor
Eve Risser: piano, flutes, sound objects
Vincent Lafont: keyboards, electronics
Antonin-Tri Huong: alto sax, clarinets, piano
Matthieu Metzger: alto, soprano and sopranino sax, electronic treatments
Joce Mieniel: flutes, electronics
Rémi Dumoulin: saxophones, clarinets
Guillaume Poncelet: trumpet
Pierre Perchaud: guitars, banjo
Sylvain Daniel: e-bass, french horn, electronic effects
John Hollenbeck: drums

Purcell Room, November 2010

1. Failing Men
Soloist: Guillaume Poncelet, trumpet
2. Life Still
Soloist: Sylvain Daniel, e-bass
3. Flying Dreams
Soloist: Pierre Perchaud guitars
4. Tongs of Joy
Soloist: Vincent Lafont, keyboards
5. Praya Dance
Soloist: Joce Mieniel, flutes
6. Bob Walk
Soloist: Matthieu Metzger, alto & soprano saxophones
7. The Power Of Water

Produced in a creative sphere covering New York, Paris, Berlin and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Shut Up And Dance emphasizes the relation between music and movement.
The spotlight turns to rhythm in all aspects of expression, at times even where least expected: a ping pong ball bouncing across piano wire, miscellaneous objects mistreated by computer software, instrument keys, hands rubbing, PVC tubes morphing into melodies… Percussion is everywhere, a bona fide sequence of powerful melodic passages that blend the shades of a repeating musical sound, pygmy music, art music, electronic music, not to overlook a Gnawas' trance or a Duke Ellington swing.
John Hollenbeck's compositions, inspired specially for this program, stem from an extensive collaboration with Daniel Yvinec and reveal the excitement and body of classical works, in a series of ten mini-concertos, each one dedicated to a different orchestra musician tailored to their unique personality and language.
Turning the notion of instrumental function on its head without a moment's hesitation, the wind instruments drive the beat, while the prepared piano moves onto the percussion side of the orchestra… It's all about the idea of movement, conveyed in these mesmerizing rhythms, always and forever crisscrossing so as to ease our separation from self.

NDR Big Band & Bob Brookmeyer: Question & Answer

Trumpets: Thorsten Benkenstein, Ingolf Burkhardt, Claus Stötter, Reiner Winterschladen
Saxophones: Fiete Felsch, Peter Bolte, Christof Lauer, Lutz Büchner, Frank Delle
Trombones: Dan Gottshall, Klaus Heidenreich,  Stefan Lottermann, Ingo Lahme
Chris Goossens, piano; Stephan Diez, guitar; Ingmar Heller, bass

John Hollenbeck, drums, Marcio Doctor, percussion
Bob Brookmeyer, cond

recorded live at NDR Studio 1, Hamburg, December, 2010

1. Christmas Tree
Soloist: Lutz Büchner, cl
2. Running In Place
Soloist: Lutz Büchner, ts
3. Verticals
Soloist: Ingmar Heller, b
4. Wedding Song
Soloists: Fiete Felsch, fl; Chris Goossens, p; Dan Gottshall, tb
5. Eleven
Soloists: Klaus Heidenreich, tb; Lutz Büchner, ts
6. Q & A

Composer, valve trombonist and conductor Bob Brookmeyer is about to celebrate his upcoming 80th birthday. Bob Brookmeyer is the foremost jazz composer working today. He has also taught many of today’s leading jazz composers including Maria Schneider and Jim McNeely.
He is a walking history of jazz, having performed with, and written for, a list that encompasses almost the entire history of the music. He worked regularly with Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Jim Hall, Mel Lewis, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and also with Count Basie and Woody Herman, to name only a few.

For this project he joined forces with the NDR Big Band to re-record some originals he had recorded earlier but not released on CD because he wasn´t pleased with the results.

His latest big band album "Spirit Music" features his own New Art Orchestra with some of Europe´s finest big band players.

Moss live at Jazzfest Berlin 2010

Theo Bleckmann, vocals
Peter Eldridge, vocals, piano
Kate McGarry, vocals
Lauren Kinhan, vocals
Keith Ganz, guitar
Kermit Driscoll, bass
John Hollenbeck, drums

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2010

1. Shadows and light (Joni Mitchell)/ Object devotion (Lauren Kinhan, Peter Eldrigde)
2. I carry your heart (Kate McGarry)
3. Trouble runs in the family (Lauren Kinhan)
4. Longing (Theo Bleckmann)
5. Busy being blue (Peter Eldrigde)
6. These things take time (Peter Eldrigde, Kate McGarry)
7. Old man (Neil Young)
8. Take It With Me (Tom Waits)
9. No Wonder (Luciana Souza)
10. There Alone Go I (Lauren Kinhan, Peter Eldrigde)
11. Come Home (Peter Eldrige)

All About Jazz celebrated him as “German-American Meistersinger” – Theo Bleckmann could hardly be tagged more aptly. The Dortmund-born vocal export and student of Sheila Jordan’s has, together with ‘half’ of the New York Voices, Peter Eldridge and Lauren Kinhan plus all-rounder Kate McGarry, founded a vocal quartet with the sophistication and refinement, which only seems to be exceeded by the relaxed manner of their performance.

It is the cabaret scene as independent as typical for New York, like at Café Carlyle, that seems to incite phenomena such as Moss. Artists like Eartha Kitt and Bobby Short, Elaine Stritch and John Pizzarelli come to mind who were and still are the force behind a culture of entertainment that for some by now might already be covered with “moss”. But what pleasure it is to rest one’s ears on this moss!

A next generation has now stepped up and it’s great that Theo is involved. The standard remains. The repertoire is becoming broader and more confident: Neil Young? Sure! Joni Mitchell? With pleasure! Tom Waits? More of it, pleeeze! For example on record: MOSS.

John Hollenbeck´s Claudia Quintet live at JazzBaltica 2009

John Hollenbeck - Drums

Matt Moran - Vibraphone
Ted Reichman - Accordeon
Chris Speed - Saxophone
Drew Gress - Bass

recorded live at Konzertscheune, Salzau, Germany, July 4, 2009

1. Introduction
2. Be Happy
3. Arabic
4. Introduction
5. Holy Thursday 7:30 pm
6. Royal Toast
7. Peace On Earth (For Frederick Frank)
8. Rainy Days And Mondays/The Peanut Vendor

The Claudia presented some tunes from their latest cd "for". You can find the following information on their myspace site:
"For" is the new CD by the Claudia Quintet, the genre-defying band led by Grammy-nominated composer John Hollenbeck. "For" is a positive message. "For" is driving rhythms, beautiful melodies, and passionate virtuosity. "For" is for all music lovers. "For" is also their fourth CD. Since Hollenbeck first presented the band in an internet cafe on Avenue A in Manhattan in 1997, the Claudia Quintet has amazed audiences from Alabama to the Amazon. Their unique sound has inspired dancing hippie girls at a New Mexico noise festival, the avant-garde cognoscenti in the concert halls of Vienna and Sao Paolo, and a generation of young musicians worldwide. In the course of the thousands of miles they have traveled together and hundreds of concerts they've played, the Claudia Quintet has evolved and grown, developing a dynamic live sound based on trust and spontaneity. They bring this powerful energy into the studio, where they record the old-fashioned way, live, playing as a band. The legions of people who have been won over by the music of the Claudia Quintet live and on CD attest to the fact that genre-defying new music need not be "inaccessible." "For" is for everyone.