Shake Stew - Heat (March 25, 2022)

Heat is the fifth album since Shake Stew's formation in 2016 and delivers probably the most diverse overall impression of their musical range to date. For the first time in the band's history, there was a personnel change in the horn section at the beginning of 2021, where the Austrian alto saxophonist Astrid Wiesinger took over the position from Clemens Salesny. The addition of Wiesinger has given the band an injection of new energy and we can hear the electricity buzzing on each track.

Its genesis also reflects a decisive characteristic that has accompanied the band from the beginning: since the first note played together, the septet's music has been forging its way, unceasingly bringing forth new facets - no matter how adverse the circumstances. As Heat's seven compositions took on more and more concrete form towards the end of 2020, it quickly became clear that this music had to be recorded as soon as possible and sent out into the world. At the same time society was moving from one lockdown to the next and rehearsals between the partly Austrian and partly German musicians* could only be realised under difficult conditions. Therefore, the decision was made that a large-scale project was needed to get the band out of the daily routine of the pandemic and into an environment where they could fully ignite the fire that had arisen in the new line-up and capture it on record. The Cicaleto Studio in Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy) was chosen as perfect location and with great logistical effort (travelling up to 18 hours by various trains to keep the ecological footprint as small as possible) Shake Stew managed to work and make music together in this enclave for five days. Already on the first evening, everyone was aware of how valuable this coming together is in times of interpersonal isolation, and the intense energy and joy of playing during these studio sessions can be sensed on Heat after only a few moments.

With a warm and deep wind section of trumpet, tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Unmight kicks off this fifth album by Shake Stew. A perfect opener, it reveals layer by layer what makes this band so great: catchy, deceptively simple melodies which gradually build to a frenzy of increasingly dense rhythms, in this case a Moroccan chaabi groove-inspired finale.

I am the bad Wolf shows the ensemble at its jubilantly uplifting best, with the opening voice sample revealing the process by which the many pieces in Shake Stew's repertoire are created: Kranzelbinder never writes in seclusion in a composition room - here, the children jump back and forth on their beds while individual lines are improvised on the double bass. These pieces usually come from the midst of life and arise in situations where, in retrospect, one often wonders where these notes actually came from. The fact that this is also a rhythmically extremely complex structure with overlapping wind lines is only revealed if you investigate closely - again, the natural pulse is in the foreground. Over the course of the piece, however, the multi-layered possibilities offered by the instrumentation of Shake Stew become apparent several times and the space given to the individual moods to fully unfold their pull. After a collectively dense brass section in the actual piece, Johannes Schleiermacher's tenor solo in the outro floats minimalistically over a repetitive groove carpet, only to gradually sink completely into it.

I wear my heart on the outside is the first drum-less piece in the band's history and focuses on the acoustic qualities of the five instruments. After a slowly building, sometimes almost fugue-like theme, Astrid Wiesinger introduces herself for the first time as the new voice of Shake Stew and manages to create an enormous intensity with careful steps, which can develop even further in the following dialogue with Mario Rom. The track was recorded as a "first take" and although everyone agreed that more "safety versions" should be recorded, nothing came close to the energy of this first encounter.

Heat is the title track of the album and begins with an intro by the two drummers Herbert Pirker and Nikolaus Dolp on the newly added log drums (slotted drums). For quite some time now, Kranzelbinder has been searching for a comparable sound that combines the aesthetics of woodblocks with the tonal breadth of a tuned wood, to add another facet to the percussion apparatus of Shake Stew. These drums originate from Guinea and play an important role in the West African musical tradition, but at the same time they appear again and again in jazz history - for example on Archie Shepp's legendary album The Magic of JuJu. As soon as the drumset enters on Heat, memories of Joe Zawinul, who was born in the same district of Vienna as Kranzelbinder, are awakened for a short time. The band leader, however, takes the ears in a different direction and switches from the bass to the guembri, a Moroccan bass lute that is mainly used in Gnawa music. This instrument has been known since Shake Stew's very first album and, at the latest since the hit Grilling Crickets in a Straw Hut from the double album Gris Gris released in 2019, it is clear that the musician has specialised more and more on the instrument over the years and it is hard to imagine his instrumentarium without it. Here, too, however, it is quickly noticeable that Heat is not an ingratiation to certain musical traditions; rather, the band manages to brew its very own stew from all the elements and form a typical Shake Stew sound from it.

Lucidity invites you to let your mind drift after the energetic Heat. A complex bubbling overtone ostinato of the double bass forms the basis for a 12-minute journey through hallucinogenic sound worlds. Oliver Potratz's sound carpets repeatedly immerse the wind group in new spheres and leave plenty of room for individual development.

Wake Up and Be Gone shows Shake Stew from their best-known side: driving beats, mysterious brass themes between Ethiopian tezeta and southern European melancholy and freshly grooving basses.

Oh Captain, My Captain! is the album's opus magnum. An atmospheric and above all playful piece, which is characterised by the strikingly soft sound of the flute and the muted trumpet and provides a good example of how well two double basses can be used simultaneously as melody and accompanying instrument. After a relaxed-seeming theme, Astrid Wiesinger's alto saxophone really stirs up dust for the first time, before in the outro the whole band feels a Joe Cocker Woodstock moment and gradually drops any restraint. 

1. Unmight

2. I Am The Bad Wolf

3. I Am The Bad Wolf (Outro)

4. I Wear My Heart On The Outside

5. Heat (Intro)

6. Heat

7. Lucidity

8. Wake Up And Be Gone

9. Oh Captain, My Captain! (Intro)

10. Oh Captain, My Captain!

Lukas Kranzelbinder - Double Bass, Electric Bass, Guembri, Percussion

Astrid Wiesinger - Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet

Mario Rom - Trumpet

Johannes Schleiermacher - Tenor Saxophone, Flute

Oliver Potratz - Double Bass, Electric Bass, Fender Bass VI

Niki Dolp – Drums, Log Drums, Percussion

Herbert Pirker - Drums, Log Drums, Percussion

(c) 2022 by Lukas Kranzelbinder

Published by Traumton Musikverlag

All compositions written by Lukas Kranzelbinder

All tracks recorded in April 2021 at Cicaleto Studio by Werner Angerer and Markus Wallner

Mixing by Werner Angerer and Markus Wallner

Mastering by Martin Scheer

Artwork by Schorsch Feierfeil

PRE-ORDER

Shake Stew - Rise And Rise Again (LAUB RECORDS April 6, 2018)

SHAKE STEW is Austria‘s jazz band of the hour. After playing more than 25 gigs during the first months since premiering at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2016 and selling out their first record „The Golden Fang“ within half a year, the unique septet is conquering the music world with a hypnotic mixture of afrobeat and jazz grooves shaken up by the intense and mysterious soundscapes created with a combination of two drummers and two double bass players! With „Rise And Rise Again“ Shake Stew are releasing their highly anticipated second album in May 2018, which also features Shabaka Hutchings on 2 of the tracks. Everywhere they went so far, the press has been more than enthusiastic, often trying to create new terms and genre-labels to put their live experiences into words and this new release will only further establish their status as one of Europe's most upcoming Jazzbands.

Shake Stew brings together seven unconventional musicians, all of them interesting characters of the young Austrian and German jazz scene. They are united with bandleader Kranzelbinder (1988) by the pursuit of new, enhanced sound possibilities and by concepts beyond boundaries of genre, which are by now already considered a guarantee with Kranzelbinder. His own distinct combination of virtuosity, entertainment and uncompromising energy comes out in many of his projects and has meanwhile become a kind of trademark of the hard working musician, composer, and arranger.

As the youngest musician so far in the history of the prestigious Jazzfestival Saalfelden, he was chosen to put together a new project for the festivals opening concert in 2016, which is also connected with a 4 day residency. He put together a septet and prepared the festival show for a whole year, before not only recording the debut album “The Golden Fang” within a day of the residency but also playing a concert to remember: Der Standard from Vienna describes the septet’s performance as a „magical opening hour“, to the Kurier Shake Stew sounds „like an intergalactic road movie for the ears.“ The Süddeutsche Zeitung calls the bassist and composer Kranzelbinder a whizz kid and the OÖN added: „The 28-year-old writes fantastic pieces, which optimally feature the exciting instrumentation with its three-part horn section and two basses and drummers“.

From this point on Shake Stew was on a unique journey. In their 6 month residency as a Stage Band they managed to sell out Viennas biggest jazz club Porgy & Bess for every show, developing and presenting a new program at each of their performances. When Kranzelbinder invited Shabaka Hutchings for one of the evenings, the musical and spiritual connection between Shake Stew and the Tenor Wizard was felt almost immediately. Right after a 4 day tour they went into the studio and recorded an album that reflects the many musical souls that lie within this group of musicians.

During the course of 6 tracks “Rise And Rise Again” reveals as many different energies as musical influences, always taking the listener by surprise with the vast possibilities of instrumentation that this young group offers between its members. “Everytime I was playing a live show with Shake Stew, I felt that this band has the power to send out a very strong musical energy to the audience.

So I wanted to create an album that people can put on to get six different kind of tracks, each with a unique energy, lifting them to different levels so that they can rise with the music as well as fall down and land softly with it – only to rise again and drift away to a different place once again. Basically you can choose the kind of track that fits to your current mood or the mood you want to be taken too. For me, only the power of music can do that.” Behind this idea stands a band that works on the highest level of musical skills. Driven and relentless beats set off this record, with “Dancing in the Cage of a Soul” slowly introducing each instrument but soon developing into a jubilant anthem that sets off a spirited tenor saxophone solo by Johannes Schleiermacher rising above the shivery rhythm section. “How We See Things” fully utilizes the spectrum of acoustic possibilities by using Shabaka Hutchings as a guest and therefore having three tenor saxophones playing a theme above a tranquilizing and addictive pattern played by both double basses that reflects the strong influence of african music in the composers cosmos.

At the time trumpet player Mario Rom starts to take the listener under his spell with a beautifully ruminant solo, any kind of resistance is already futile. Featuring his soloists with lengthy and excessive spots to fully express themselves is a notable trademark of Kranzelbinders compositions and with “Goodbye Johnny Staccato” he wrote a theme tailor-made for tenor saxophonist Schleiermacher. Referring to a TV show about a detective/jazz musician in the late 60ies this piece of music unravels all kinds of musical layers during its twelve minute tour de force, including reminiscences of old soundtracks and Italian restaurants. The 2 parts of “Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight” then reflect the dynamic journey that Shake Stew is capable of, with two double basses setting up a vast space for the trumpet to develop a captivating solospot. As soon as the rhythm section gets going with intelligent use of the three available bassdrums in “Get Up Eight” and the horns start another praising, nearly gospel-like chorus you can feel the presence of Shakaba Hutchings growing with each bar.

His solo starts on top of two basses laying down a virtuosic carpet of interlocking sixteen notes and from there on you already guess the highly energetic climax this journey is bound to. With the most stand out song of this album being at the end, “No Sleep My King” feels like an epilogue that – once you lost yourself in its vibe – fully lets you drift away on the repetitive bassline, the moroccan field recordings or the remarkable alto solo by Clemens Salesny.

1. Dancing in the Cage of a Soul

2. How We See Things (feat. Shabaka Hutchings)

3. Goodbye Johnny Staccato

4. Fall Down Seven Times...

5. Get Up Eight (feat. Shabaka Hutchings)

6. No Sleep My King?

Lukas Kranzelbinder - Double Bass, Electric Bass

Clemens Salesny - Alto & Tenor Saxophone

Mario Rom - Trumpet

Johannes Schleiermacher - Tenor Saxophone

Manuel Mayr - Double Bass, Electric Bass

Niki Dolp - Drums, Percussion

Mathias Koch - Drums, Percussion

Special Guest: 

Shabaka Hutchings - Tenor Saxophone (Track 2 & 5)

All compositions written by Lukas Kranzelbinder

All tracks recorded on April 23 + 24 at 4tune audio production by Werner Angerer

Mixing by Werner Angerer

Mastering by Martin Siewert

Photography by Andreas Waldschuetz

Shirt Artwork by Luna Ghisetti

Graphic Design by die Kaz

www.shakestew.com