Martin Sasse Trio - Studio Konzert (180g Vinyl LIMITED EDITION) BAUER STUDIOS 2018

Martin Sasse has been one of the most active and well-known jazz pianists in Germany for many years. His recordings have received the best reviews in the world for years and are regularly top of the list in American and Japanese radio playlists. On tour he was among others with world star Sting, guitar virtuoso Philip Catherine or saxophone legend Steve Grossman. The international press speaks of the "Wunderkind of Europe" and the "fantastic interplay" of his new trio, consisting of Martin Gjakonovski and Klemens Marktl. With concentrated energy and swing, on one of the best jazz wings in Europe, the musicians played in front of an enthusiastic audience.

M. Sasse: "The result is an album full of enthusiasm, mutual inspiration and a lot of creativity, recorded by Philipp Heck, a terrific sound engineer. The sound is just as I imagine a modern Jazz Trio album: open, direct, precise, jazzy ... "

"With Gjakonovski and Marktl he has found like-minded and equal members and together they make this LP a must-have for all strait-ahead jazz fans." - Jazz-Podium 03/18 (Hans-Bernd Kittlaus)

CONCERTS

April 2018

05.04. Köln / Studio 672 (Stadtgarten)

Gerd Dudek / Martin Sasse / Markus Schieferdecker / Niklas Walter, 20:30h

11.04. Köln - Ehrenfeld / Urania Theater

Alberto Menendez / Martin Sasse / Konstantin Wienstroer / Roland Weber, 20h

13.04. Kempen / Haltestelle

Martin Sasse / Silvia Droste Duo

14.04. Menden / Kellertheater

Tine Eisbach / Martin Sasse, 20h

18.04. Köln / DellJazz

Hendrik Meurkens  / Martin Sasse / Walfried Böcker / Christian Schröder , 20h

19.04. Düsseldorf / Maxhaus

Hendrik Meurkens  / Martin Sasse / Walfried Böcker / Christian Schröder , 20h

20.04. Magdeburg / Jazzfest

Masha Bijlsma & Bones mit Bart van Lier und Adrian Mears

26.04. Düsseldorf / Bürgerzenrum Reisholz

Blue Motion Trio feat. Marcus Bartelt

May 2018

06.05. Münster / Klangsalon

Martin Sasse / Markus Schieferdecker / Sebastian Netta, 16h

11.05. Monheim / JIM

Milt Jackson Project, Matthias Strucken Band

17.05. Köln / Studio 672 (Stadtgarten)

„Federation of the groove“ Bruno Müller / Martin Sasse / Claus Fischer / Hendrik Smock, 20:30h

26.05. Steinfurth / Rosenmuseum

Wilson de Oliveira / Martin Sasse / Martin Gjakonovski / Thomas Cremer

28.05. Köln / Topaz Audio Studio 

CD-Aufnahme Martin Sasse Trio (Henning Gailing / Joost van Schaik) „Trio Classics Vol.3“

30.05. Köln / Domforum

Marcus Bartelt / Martin Sasse Duo, 18h

31.05. Hilden / Jazztage

Pia Neisse & Martin Sasse Trio (Martin Gjakonovski / Markus Riek), 15h

June 2018

03.06. Klosterruine Marienthal / Jazzfest

Ariane Jacobi Band, 17h

07.06. Düren / Jazztage

Masha Bijlsma Sextett feat. Bart van Lier & Paul Heller, 19h

09.06. Holzhausen / Evgl. Gemeindehaus

LNJF Mario Mammone / Martin Sasse / Ingo Senst / Marko Bussi, 20h

24.06. Köln / Senftöpfchen

Willy Ketzer & Deborah Woodson „Tribute to the great Ladies of Jazz“

29.06. Hattersheim / Kulturforum

Frankfurt Jazztrio

30.06. Viersen / Klangsalon

Blue Motion Trio feat. Soleil Niklasson

July 2018

01.07. Königstein / Kurpark

Frankfurt Jazz Trio & Barbara Bürkle

16.-21.07. Remscheid / Jazzemble

Workshop

22.07. Mittelrhein Musikfestival  / Bad Salzig

Big Band Rhine Phillis feat. Gaby Goldberg Ltg.: Ralf Hesse, 15:30h

August 2018

09.08. Trier / Jazzclub „Jazz im Brunnenhof“

Milt Jackson Project, Matthias Strucken Band, Stadtmuseum, 20h

10.08. Luxemburg / „Summer in the City“

Milt Jackson Project, Matthias Strucken Band, Place d‘Armes, 12h

12.08. Rheinbach / Waldhotel

„Milt Jackson Project“, Matthias Strucken Band, 11h

17.08. Klingenmünster / Jazzfest

Blue Motion Trio feat. Soleil Niklasson

18.08. Homburg (Saar) / Musiksommer

Willy Ketzer & „Paul Kuhn Family“, 11h

31.08. Köln / Bistro Verde

Paul Heller / Martin Sasse / Caris Hermes / Niklas Walter, 20h

September 2018

02.09. Köln / Orange Sunday

Oliver Döring / Martin Sasse + Hausband

06.09. Duisburg / Jazz auf‘m Plazz

Blue Motion Trio feat. Soleil Niklasson, 19:30h

09.09. Halver / Kulturbahnhof

Frankfurt Jazz Trio, 11:15h

14.09. Brüggen / Burg Brüggen

Blue Motion Trio feat. Joscho Stephan

15.09. Dortmund / Hansa-Theater

Willy Ketzer & Paul Kuhn Family

21.09. Jülich / Jazzclub

Martin Sasse Trio & Gast

22.09. Mönchengladbach / Jazzfest (BIS)

„Milt Jackson Project“ Matthias Strucken 

23.09. Hamm / Fliericher Kirche 

Martin Sasse Trio + Clara Valente

27.09. Frankfurt / Jazzkeller

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

28.09. Esslingen / Jazzclub

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

29.09. Neuburg a.d. Donau / Birdland

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

30.09. Rosenheim / Le Pirate

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

October 2018

01.10. Bonn / Dottendorfer Jazznacht

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

02.10. Köln /

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

03.10. Göppingen / Jazzclub

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

04.10. Basel / Bird‘s Eye

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

05.10. Lörrach / Jazztone

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

07.10. Luzern / Jazzclub

Peter Protschka Quintett feat. Rick Margitza

12.-14.10. Heek / Landesmusikakademie

Workshop mit Silvia Droste

18.10. Köln / Bechstein - Centrum

Duo Martin Sasse / Martin Gjakonovski, 18h

20.10. Steinfurth / Rosenmuseum

Frankfurt Jazz Trio

25.10. Münster / Museum für Lackkunst

Tony Lakatos / Martin Sasse / Wally Böcker / Ben Bönninger

26.10. Luxemburg / Centre Culturel Tramsschapp

Willy Ketzer & Paul Kuhn Family

November 2018

01.11. Köln / Studio 672 (Stadtgarten)

Martin Sasse Trio (John Goldsby / Hans Dekker) 20:30h

02.11. Köln / Studio 672 (Stadtgarten)

Martin Sasse Trio (Martin Gjakonovski / Niklas Walter) & Tony Lakatos, 20:30h

03.11. Köln / Studio 672 (Stadtgarten)

Martin Sasse Trio (Henning Gailing / Joost van Schaik) & Matijn van Iterson, 20:30h

04.11. Duisburg / Duisburger Hof

Willy Ketzer Trio

10.11. Frankenthal / Jazzfest

Martin Sasse Trio (John Goldsby / Joost van Schaik) & Peter Bernstein

11.11. Bonn / Harmonie 

Martin Sasse Trio (John Goldsby / Joost van Schaik) & Peter Bernstein

13.11. Frankfurt / Jazzkeller

Martin Sasse Trio (Henning Gailing / Joost van Schaik) & Peter Bernstein

15.11. Tegernsee / Jazzfest

Martin Sasse & Silvia Droste

16.11. Liedberg / Sandbauernhof

Leonard Ginsberg & friends

23.-25.11. Bielefeld / Einschlingen

Workshop mit Silvia Droste

December 2018

02.12. Gronau / Bürgerhalle

Bert Boeren & Martin Sasse Trio & Euregio Big Band

08.12. Klingenmünster / Stiftsgut Keysermühle

Frankfurt Jazz Trio

09.12. Hamm / Kurhaus

Silvia Droste Quartett, 11:30h

18.12. Siegburg / KSI

Martin Sasse Trio (Martin Gjakonovski / Joost van Schaik)

23.12. Köln /ABS

Milt Jackson Project, Matthias Strucken Band, 19:30h

27.12. Bocholt / Kinodrom

Masha Bijlsma / Martin Sasse / Henning Gailing / Dries Bijlsma

31.12. Köln / Altes Pfandhaus

Martin Sasse Trio & Deborah Carter

Kenneth Knudsen / Oliver Hoiness - November Tango (STUNT RECORDS 2018)

Few Danish musicians are mentioned with greater

respect than keyboard player and composer Kenneth

Knudsen. His role as a developer of his own sounds,

timbres, and musical sequences is quite unique – and

widely appreciated internationally.

Kenneth Knudsen started as a jazz pianist in the 60s,

switched to the electrical keyboards and participated in

iconic groups like Secret Oyster and Entrance in the 70s,

led the animated rock band Anima and collaborated with

Sebastian, Palle Mikkelborg, and Niels-Henning Ørsted

Pedersen in the 80s, and formed the Bombay Hotel

with Mikkel Nordsø and Ole Theill in the 90s. Kenneth

Knudsen has recently been hailed as the most important

Danish keyboard player throughout the ages.

Kenneth Knudsen has not performed live for many years.

He has instead concentrated on creating new music in his

home studio, in collaborations with carefully selected

musicians in recent years behind a series of releases that

cannot be compared to anything else on the Danish scene

- or, for that matter, internationally.

Music created exclusively on digital instruments carries the

risk of becoming static and inorganic. Instead of clinically

created electronic rhythmic events and layers, Knudsen creates

forever changing musical spaces. Here, where nothing

sounds like something you’ve heard before and yet still

challenges the listener - but also engages, amazes and takes

you for a wild, unanticipated ride.

In NOVEMBER TANGO, we are also gifted with the presence

of guitarist Oliver Hoiness, whose bold and challenging

instrumental voice is a perfect contrast to Knudsen’s

original, ever-changing, and often beauty-seeking sounds

and progress.

It is also a meeting between generations. Where Kenneth

in the 80’s and 90’s was the major innovator of the use of

various keyboards, the nephew Oliver Hoiness has a similar

role today in the audio possibilities of the electric guitar (for

which he also received a Steppeulv Prize for in 2016).

Be open, take the music and let the two musical explorers

paint breathtaking soundscapes for your inner eye. Kenneth

Knudsens and Oliver Hoiness’s outstanding musical creativity

revives the soul.

Adam O'Farrill - El Maquech (BIOPHILIA RECORDS June 1, 2018)

Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill pivots away from his family’s musical legacy toward dazzling postbop sounds

Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill is just 23, but there’s already plenty of weight attached to his name. His father is the acclaimed, innovative Latin jazz bandleader and pianist Arturo O’Farrill, and his grandfather was the great Afro-Cuban bandleader Chico.

He began to forge his own path early on in his career, making waves playing alongside saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa on the latter’s 2015 album Bird Calls (ACT) and establishing himself as an improviser of protean strength and melodic clarity.

On his debut as a bandleader, 2016’s Stranger Days (Sunnyside), Adam eschews any connection to the lineage carved out by his forebears, pursuing a limber but sharply articulated strain of free bop that sparkles with erudition, soul, and precision.

Leading a quartet with tenor saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, bassist Walter Stinson, and his older brother Zach O’Farrill on drums, Adam proffers a vanguard postbop sound with rhythmic, elastic structures and harmonic thickets that support his sneaky, snaking melodies. A year ago I saw the group play a fiery but measured set in New York, and that performance, along with the group’s forthcoming second full-length, El Maquech (due in June from Biophilia), has completely convinced me that his band is the real deal. The album, which was recorded in the midst of a tour, captures the band playing with serious heat and interactive brio. This time out Adam explicitly draws upon nonjazz sources, opening with a thrilling adaptation of a northern Mexican folk tune called “Siiva Moiiva” and ending with a smoldering rendition of “Pour Maman,” an electro-soul song by New York singer-songwriter Gabriel Gárzon-Montano. While it’s early in 2018, I haven’t heard a better jazz record yet this year. 

By Peter Margasak / www.chicagoreader.com

Adam O’Farrill, trumpet

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, tenor sax

Walter Stinson, bass

Zach O’Farrill, drums

Playlist for Tom Ossana – The Thin Edge – March 21, 2018 MST 700 to 900p.m.

http://www.kzmu.org/listen.m3u ~ Use this link to access the show online.

Kicks'n Sticks - Das Was Bleibt (BAUER STUDIOS 2018)

Kicks'n Sticks, conductors: Jochen Welsch, Frank Runhof, Martin Sebastian Schmitt

feat. Ingolf Burkhardt - trumpet, Stephanie Neigel - vocals, Juliette Brouset - vocals, Thomas Stabenow - double bass

Kicks'n Sticks is the professional jazz orchestra of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region and unites many of the best jazz musicians living here. The existing since 2002 band today includes a musician pool of over 30 musicians. Kicks'n Sticks has set itself the task of presenting the entire history and range of orchestral jazz in artistically high-quality performances.

Kicks'n Sticks has u.a. played with Bill Ramsey, Janice Dixon, Xavier Naidoo and Marc Marschall. From these varied concert experiences, Kicks'n Sticks has developed over the years an extremely extensive repertoire ranging from the swing of the 1930s to contemporary world premieres.

Today, the musical direction of the band is distributed equally on Frank Runhof, as well as Martin S. Schmitt and Jochen Welsch, all of whom contribute as well-versed composers and arrangers to the independent sound of Kicks'n Sticks.

1. Hi-Heel Sneakers

2. Spring

3. Non Ti Scudari Mai

4. Here's That Rainy Day

5. What...?

6. I've Never Been in Love Before

7. It's All Right With Me

8. You Are Here

9. Das was bleibt - Prelude

10. Das was bleibt

11. Liebeslied

12. Zeralda's World - Prelude

13. Zeralda's World

14. Cloak and Dagger

Woodwinds: Tim Hurley (lead), Olaf Schönborn (lead), Fabian Schöne (lead), Gary Fuhrmann, Cordula Hamacher, Nicolai Pfisterer, Sebastian Nagler

Trombones: Marcus Franzke (lead), Garrelt Sieben (lead), Thomas Weiland, Peter Hedrich, Frederic Andrej (b-tb)

Trumpets & Flugelhorns: Jens Müller (lead), Claus Löhr (lead), Alexander Hartmann, Stephan Udri, Janis Hug, Heiko Hubmann

Rhythm Section: Rocco Dürlich - Guitar; Volker Engelberth - Grand Piano, Electric Piano; Friedrich Betz - Double Bass, Electric Bass; Dominik Raab - Drums

Conductors: Frank Runhof, Martin Sebastian Schmitt, Jochen Welsch

Kicks'n Sticks Website

Portico Quartet - Untitled (AITAOA #2) GONDWANA RECORDS April 27, 2018

1. Double Space

2. Index

3. Unrest

4. In Where We Meet

5. View from a Satellite

6. Celestial Wife

7. Reflected in Neon

8. Dust

9. Berlin

Portico Quartet has always been an impossible band to pin down. Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, the group have created their own singular sound.And while their new music mixes dense layers and textures with electronic and acoustic instruments the sound remains uniquely, recognisably their own. 

In 2017 they released their fourth studio album in a decade, Art in the Age of Automation, on Gondwana Records. Released to a chorus of acclaim, the album marked a triumphant return for the Quartet after a brief hiatus as the three-piece, Portico, and marked a welcome return to the stage for the foursome with sold-out shows across Europe including the Roundhouse, London earlier this year. 

Untitled (AITAOA #2) was largely recorded at the same sessions as Art in the Age of Automation at Fish Factory Studios in London and Portico Quartet's own studio in East London. Like it's predecessor, the album was mixed at Voxton in Berlin. It is intended as a companion piece to last year's AITAOA. But works equally as well as a stand-alone album and explores similar areas of enigmatic, widescreen minimalism alongside the more hard-hitting sounds that have become a notable part of their live shows. There is no lessening of quality here, album opener, Double Space, Index, View From A Satellite and Berlin were all originally slated for AITAOA, before being held back as the band's vision of that album came into sharper focus. The insistent groove of Unrest and cinematic beauty of Celestial Wife were enhanced with further recording sessions till the band felt they were complete. The artwork is by Duncan Bellamy for Veil Projects. 

"During 2016 we embarked on writing Art in the Age of Automation, and it ended up being an incredibly fertile period for us. We wrote a lot of music - too much - but ultimately decided to record it all during recording sessions in December 2016/January 2017. After releasing AITAOA we still had a lot of music leftover… music that could easily have made it onto the album. The more we listened to these tracks the more we wanted to share it, so we set about crafting it into something worthy of release. We're really excited to share the results!." Duncan Bellamy 

This then is, Untitled, Art in the Age of Automation #2. Enjoy! 

SHOWS

Apr 05

Norwich Arts Centre

Norwich, UK

May 05

Cheltenham Jazz Festival

Cheltenham, UK

May 10

Ampere / Muffatwerk

Munich, Germany

May 15

Rough Trade East

London, UK

Jun 15

Manchester Gorilla

Manchester, UK

Jun 20

Summerhall

Edinburgh, UK

Jun 28

Double JJ Ranch & Golf Resort

Rothbury, MI

Jun 29

Great Fulford Estate Dunford

Exeter, UK

Jul 21

Endcliffe Park

Sheffield, UK

20 OCT ROUNDHOUSE LDN – GONWANA 10