Schmelz
CD 4542-2
file under: Worldmusic / Switzerland
Schmelz
Vocalist, voice artist, yodeler or throat singer? Swiss musician Christian Zehnder is all of these, but this idiosyncratic performer in all his dazzling variety defies categorization. Archaic, urban and spheric his sound-world dishevels Swiss idioms through storms and chinooks, with critical clear views of the higher reaches of the Alps lost in reverie. For the first time he melts his non-verbal vocal artistry with lyrics in german and french and defines his very own imaginative alpine music between past and future on "Schmelz".
Most recently David Helbock won the Audience Prize and the 2nd Prize of the jury at
the world's biggest Jazzpianosolo Competition in Montreux. See here a summary
of the program he played there.
HENOSIS is a composition by the drummer and composer Eric Schaefer for chamber ensemble. Free-tonal lyricism, multi-layered rhythms and a polyphonic disposition form the shimmering complexity of the work. Nuances of texture and colors in sound are achieved by an intricate use of different instrument groupings such as solo violin, string quartet or a tutti of nine players.
"The Zodiak Trio pulses with energy, even when it’s playing slowly
and softly; the restless impulse to uncover and explore new possibilities is
ever-present in this trio’s work. But that is far from the entire story. I know John-Dennis and Andreas,
and I’ve played with them (and I’d like to get to know Bernd as well), and I’ve
experienced for myself the sense of fun they bring to making music. I think
it was Gil Evans who described this balance of serious intentions and play
as “a party with a purpose.”" Steve Swallow Februar 2010
Vernice "Bunky" Green (born Apr. 23rd, 1935) is a product of Wisconsin, where he was raised and learned to play the alto saxophone. His first big break came when Charles Mingus briefly hired him in the '60s?an association that left a lasting influence on Green's own style. ...
-> read more www.allaboutjazz.com
"Contemporary piano jazz beyond stereotypes. Versed individualists Carsten Daerr
(grandpiano), Oliver Potratz (bass) and Eric Schaefer (drums) sparkle with pulsative
finesse, clear cut ideas and sophisticated dynamics, without getting lost in
the abstract. Juvenile energy and cool playing technique join forces in a vital
and enthralling unity here." (kra) Journal Frankfurt, 4/2010
Frederik Köster wins ECHO Jazz Award Instrumentalist of the year - national - Brass
Congratulations!
Cologne Trumpeter Frederik Köster has won the award for Best National Brass Player at the ECHO Jazz Awards,
as announced by the German Recording Academy earlier today. The award is being
given for Köster's latest Traumton release, "Zeichen der Zeit". The
ECHO gala awards ceremony will take place in Centennial Hall in Bochum, Germany,
on May 5, and will be broadcast on television in Germany on WDR on May 8, starting
at 10:30 PM; a radio broadcast follows on May 11 at 8 PM on WDR 3.
-> www.musikindustrie.de
"Swiss saxophonist Christoph Grab’s quintet is steering towards a
playground located in the middle of the sci-fi milieu of the swinging 1960’s.
Using trashy guitars, lots of electronic gurgling, whining, and just plain noise,
the crew has set down their space ship smack dab in the middle of sector B. Voice
samples of American politicians and other contemporaries darken the horizon,
with the second track at the very latest you feel like you’ve landed in
a vintage German TV series, and in the end an imaginary screen fills up with
characters straight from Ennio Morricone. Grab’s lonely saxophone howls
to soul minor chords, the bass clarinet wanders through a low-life bar gig beside
wobbling conga beats, a synthesizer sounds out messages from outer space. Still,
all the nostalgic tunes the oldies fans think they are recognizing here only
serve these seasoned musicians as a ground for surprising little outbursts of
noise, cultivated urban twang, and every now and then mini-interludes of the
sheer Zappa-esque - just for fun." (ul) Jazzthing #82, 2/2010
Pianist and composer Nicolai Thräichen conglomerated some of Berlin's
best jazz musicians into a body of sound that he bent and kneaded until his
compositions became dancing sculptures that could rear up to a thundering big
band, only to slim down neatly the next moment to something akin to Giacometti's
chamber music. And he tops the whole thing with Michael Schiefel's voice, androgynous,
sensuous, wired, virtuoso, in a nutshell: totally manic. The Süddeutsche
Zeitung (prominent German newspaper) praises Thräichen's Tentett as "the
most compositionally successful, most sophisticatedly arranged and most humourously
presented music that Germany has to offer from a big band at the moment". And
major Frankfurter newspaper FAZ says about vocalist Michael Schiefel: "Germany
has perhaps never had such a jazz singer".
Cinema for the ears
According to the reaction of the press since their 2009 release "Lost In Your Head", Patty Moon are ranked amongst those internationally successful artists, who position themselves skillfully between profound singer/songwriter aesthetics and accessible pop. "Stern" magazin called the production a "magical album", the magazine "Audio" was enthralled by
the inspiring "feathery folk-pop" and "Jazzthetik" described "Lost In Your Head" as a "genuine gesamtkunstwerk."
Their new EP "Dream Up" - a collection of songs from the early years is scheduled for an October 23 release.
Concerts, Workshops
5 to 16 October 2009
Johannesburg, Antananarivo, Dar es Salaam, Maputo
The Trio TUOMI, comprising alto singer, piano and double bass, is one of the
most remarkable products of the great Berlin jazz melting pot.
German-Finnish vocalist Kristiina Tuomi and pianist Carsten Daerr first started
setting Shakespeare sonnets to music while studying jazz together in Berlin.
Portuguese bassist and Berlin transplant Carlos Bica, who has been making quite
a splash for some time now with his band Azul, then completed the trio.
Their debut album Tightrope Walker, already acclaimed in insider circles, was
followed in 2007 by the CD "Th‘ Expense of Spirit", which proved
once and for all that TUOMI is not about putting on song recitals with accompaniment,
but a congenial trio at work, with a unique blend of Scandinavian folk, jazzy
pop, Shakespeare-inspired art song and Mediterranean Saudade.
”
TUOMI enthrals listeners,” raved one radio reviewer under the spell of
their latest album. Audiences south of the Equator will be likewise spellbound
by their upcoming Africa tour.
Pianist and composer Nicolai Thärichen conglomerated some of Berlin's best jazz musicians into a body of sound that he bent and kneaded until his compositions became dancing sculptures that could rear up to a thundering big band, only to slim down neatly the next moment to something akin to Giacometti's chamber music. And he tops the whole thing with Michael Schiefel's voice, androgynous, sensuous, wired, virtuoso, in a nutshell: totally manic. The Süddeutsche Zeitung (prominent German newspaper) praises Thärichen's Tentett as "the most compositionally successful, most sophisticatedly arranged and most humourously presented music that Germany has to offer from a big band at the moment". And major Frankfurter newspaper FAZ says about vocalist Michael Schiefel: "Germany has perhaps never had such a jazz singer".
With its Quarterly Critics' Choice ("Bestenliste") the German
Record Critics' Award recommends new releases which merit special attention
either for the quality of interpretation or creativity, or for their value
to the repertoire. These lists provide a candid picture of new releases which,
in the jury's opinion, are of outstanding importance when judged on purely
artistic grounds.
Congratulations to Strom & Wasser and smiles and thanks to
the jury for recognizing what we've been believing in for quite while now!
Congratulations to Frederik Köster, winner of the New GErman Jazzward 2009 ind both categories, best band and best soloist!
05.02.2009
Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis
- New German Jazz Award
Next to Angelica Niescier & André Nendza feat kay:kay
Traumton artists Carsten
Daerr Trio and Frederik
Köster
Quartett are nominated for the
New German Jazz Award, Mannheim. The
competition concert of the three bands and the public voting takes place Saturday,
February 14, in Mannheim at Alten Feuerwache.
Meet Traumton @ Midem at the booth of
Traumton @ Midem, Jazz&WorldPartners, # R29. 11c
11.10.2008
Bunky Green The Salzau Quartet live at Jazz Baltica
"The Saxophonist from New York enjoys an almost legendary reputation, not least from his time with the visionary Charles Mingus in the sixties. At his dynamic festival performance of Summer 2007, Green was accompanied by the trio set up especially für his occasion." Lufthansa, Mediaworld 10/2008
Patty Moon's "Me and the moon", taken from the album "Clouds Inside" will be
included in
les ambassadeurs vol. 3 - compiled by and Raphaël Marionneau & bliss
Release:
september 2008
CD 4512-2
file under: Jazz/piano trio
Record Release Concert March 28, 2008 D-Berlin, B-Flat
12.03.2008
German Jazz Meeting 2008 with Carsten
Daerr Trio and Johnny La Marama
The second German Jazz Meeting will take place from 18th to 19th April 2008 during the music fair jazzahead! at the Congress Centrum Bremen. The showcase festival will present current German projects chosen by a jury consisting of experts, club promoters, radio and print journalists as well as representatives of the Goethe- Institut. German Jazz Meeting is a bi-annual showcase festival presenting the richness and variety of the contemporary German jazz and improvisation scene to an international audience. We are glad to announce that Traumton artists Carsten Daerr Trio and Johnny La Marama have been invited to participate in this event.
For more information visit
www.germanjazzmeeting.de
With its Quarterly Critics' Choice ("Bestenliste") the German
Record Critics' Award recommends new releases which merit special attention
either for the quality of interpretation or creativity, or for their value
to the repertoire. These lists provide a candid picture of new releases which,
in the jury's opinion, are of outstanding importance when judged on purely
artistic grounds.
Congratulations to Erika Stucky and Strom & Wasser and smiles and thanks to
the jury for recognizing what we've been believing in for quite while now!
Kalle Kalima · guitar, Chris Dahlgren · bass, Eric Schaefer · drums
JazzFest@A-Trane, November 4,2007
KALLE KALIMA OMNIBUS
"For four nights, the A-Trane will provide the ‘playground’ for
Finnish guitarist and adopted Berliner Kalle Kalima. ... read more
Moderator: Mark Sutherland International Bureau Chief, Billboard
Speaker: Sioen, Michael Monroe/Hanoi, Robin Sato & Lene Toje/Sanagi, Jon Tufnell
Managing Director, Hill Valley Records Ltd
Conference Room 2, Hall 22
September 20th, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
CD 4505-2
file under: Pop
Release June 29, 2007 digital only
CD "Mental
Radio" available from the
website
of Bobo In
White Wooden Houses
and via mailorder from Traumton's cd shop.
Worldwide digital release scheduled for June 29, 2007.
Finally! Bobo In White Wooden Houses is back with a new album – and
it seems like she had not even been away. Almost ten years have passed since
her highly successful 1990s releases on Universal Music and her appearance
as the angel’s voice on Rammstein’s famous song „Engel“.
But Bobo’s most beautiful voice – crystal clear, fragile, unique – still
sends shivers down your spine.
„Mental Radio“ seamlessly hooks up with Bobo’s earlier works. Once
again she presents an inexhaustible source of timeless melodies and brilliant
pop arrangements which you would never want to miss.
Welcome back, Bobo. We hope you’ll be around for a while.
CD 4504-2
file under: Folk / Pop/ Other
Release May 11, 2007
Have a listen at MySpace
"A pretty serious candidate for album of the year is what vocalist Bobo presents
us under the title of "Lieder von Liebe und Tod" /"Songs of Love
and Death" (Traumton 4504/Indigo). German folk songs and most especially
some of the great German poems, mostly classical or from the romantic era, are
congenially put to music and very sparingly arranged here by Sebastian Herzfeld.
He works absolutely eclectically - sometimes it sounds like an acoustic version
of Pink Floyd, sometimes like Philip Glass's minimalistic film music - and yet
this music is primarily one thing: a picture artistically set in motion, or even
better: a scene of drama, perfected, crafted by means of music. Bobo interprets
these magnificent lyrics with a clarity and sincerity that doesn't only open
up the ears, but that which mythical tradition has inscribed in all these songs:
the soul. Her singing is a guide to sensibility. These unusual and not only commercially
risky recordings are of a consistant brilliance that literally gives you the
shivers. Whoever opens up to this grandiose miniature music theater, this common
people's cosmos , will leave it rewarded beyond imagination. New standards are
being set here." Jazzpodium, June 2007, Volker Doberstein
Echoes of home - on yelping and other forms of song Director: Stefan Schwietert
What does a baby's cry have in common with the echo of a mountain yodler, and
what connects the head tone of a Tuvin nomad with the stage show of a vocal
artist? The answer is: THE VOICE. Against a background of powerful alpine
vistas and modern city landscapes, „heimatklänge” enters
the wondrous sonic world of three exceptional Swiss vocal artists, - Erika
Stucky - Noldi Alder - Christian
Zehnder -. Their universe of sound extends far beyond what we would
describe as singing. In their engagement with local and foreign traditions, the
powerful mountain landscape becomes a stage as do the landscapes and sonic backdrops
of modern life.
Further information:
www.heimatklaenge.ch
Press kit: download
Screening Dates of "Echoes of home"
at Filmfestspiele Berlin 2007:
12.02.07 10:00 CinemaxX5 (press screening) EN
13.02.07 21:30 Delphi-Filmpalast EN
14.02.07 12:30 CineStar 8 EN
16.02.07 13:15 Arsenal EN
17.02.07 22:15 Cubix 9 EN
"Las Vegas Rhapsody - The Night They Invented Champagne"
Theo Bleckmann: voice
Fumio Yasuda: piano and arrangements
Basel Kammerorchester under the direction of Bernd Ruf
Winter & Winter CD 910116-2
"...moments of pure beauty in which Bleckmann’s
singing is so delicate that you stop breathing in order to not miss anything.
A vocal-CD that hasn’t been heard in a long time." Jazzthetik, 5
stars (out of five)
"
And because his wonderfully flexible timbre, his emotional dedication and vocal
competence go way beyond the usual measure of expression, the tribute to the
entertainment's Eldorado became a champagne album to kneel down to." Jazzthing
13.04.2006
cafesonique.com is the world's first and only 3D virtual music community that
connects members of the music industry from every corner of the globe. The completed site is scheduled to be launched internationally on April 24, 2006.
Traumton's artist Patty Moon will be among the featured artists for the launch
THE ELITE OF THE SCENE
New York has the densest population of talent in the world. That is why there
is only one chance: always being better. Theo Bleckmann, is considered
one of the top stars in the modern music scene in New York. The singer,
composer and performance artist uses his voice like an other-worldly instrument: "you're
going to a Theo Bleckmann concert? Forget everything you have heard before!" (Chicago Reader)
30.05.2005
Spring Cleaning
We've restructered our website
and the kingsize-credit
for
database programming, php scripts, patience and support goes to Eckehart Röscheisen, aiLab.
Hippie picnics in San Francisco¹s Golden Gate Park to a flowery soundtrack of the Monkees, Donovan and Nancy Sinatra. Then suddenly the scene changes abruptly to mountain valleys, yodelling choruses and polka folk in traditional Swiss costume with the Valais Alps looming on the horizon. How a child can handle such a disparate wealth of idyll, how a woman can finally create her own unique vocal universe from it, this we have been able to experience and enjoy in the past few years when the Alpine-American Erica Stucky blesses us with her stage and CD presence. Now she invites us to a third audience with "Princess"- and we hear a nutty, playful, royally profound soundwork with blue and hot-blooded prominence en masse. A big and robust rival to the frail princess of the pea. ... more
Huge is the boom Scandinavian singers have triggered in the past few years.
Rebekka Bakken, Kari Bremnes, Rigmor Gustafsson or Cæcilie Norby – Names
like these are currently luring German jazz audiences into music halls and
record stores, zealously forming a new definition of contemporary “Euro-Jazz” and
effortlessly cutting its umbilical cord from the US schools. Until now the
Finnish faction has been conspicuously missing on this new top team of noble
Nordic voices. Kristina Tuomi presents herself as an exciting and original
vocalist who puts Finland on the map of modern jazz song-writing – and
this with trans-European flair and poetry from Poe to Shakespeare. ... more
Oriental turns, trip-hop, jazz, electronic and drum 'n bass elements characterize
the atmospheric sound of sub.vison, band of Iranian saxophonist Gilda Razani.
Playfully, and with great ease, they design their "Future Sound of Jazz".
Velvety floating melodies of an almost casual coolness, sparkling solos,
powerful grooves of hypnotic force sprinkled with electronic sound splitters
create a sound between relaxed meditation and breakneck dramaturgies. ... more
"clouds inside" – the title of Patty Moon’s
debut album is a strangely graceful metaphor which automatically raises
questions like: What kind of clouds? The ones that darken the sky to
announce threatening storms? Ones that pass over like a fleeting thought?
Ones that majestically and gracefully reside in the heavens at the
side of the Sun King? Or are they feathery dream pillows you can float
away on in reverie? ... more
Biography Martin Koller Education:
Jazz Studies at the „Conservatory of Klagenfurt“ (Austria) with Guido
Jeszensky, Erich Kleinschuster, Harald Neuwirth
Studies at the „Berklee College of Music“ – Boston/USA 1993-1995
Graduated in „Professional Music“ with Summa Cum Laude
Teachers in Boston: Gary Burton, Mick Goodrick, George Garzone, Bret Willmott,
Steve Khan, ...
Awards:
Berklee Entering Student Scholarship 1993
William Leavitt Memorial Scholarship (Best Guitarist Of The Year) 1994
Berklee Achievement Scholarship 1994 and 1995
Berklee Guitar Department Achievement Award 1995
Winner of the „Austrian Jazz Award 1999“ in two categories:
„
Newcomer Of The Year 1999“ / „Album Of The Year 1999“
(CD „Martin Kollers Third Movement – Right Now“)
Played and/or recorded with international jazz artists:
Alex Acuna (Weather Report, ...)
Giovanni Hidalgo (Dizzy Gillespie, Michel Camilo, Peter Gabriel, ...)
Steve Houghton (Tribal Tech)
George Garzone (Bill Stewart, Marc Johnson, John Scofield, ...)
Denis Charles (Ornette Coleman, ....)
Wilber Morris (David Murray, Chico Freeman, ...)
Terri Lyne Carrington (Pat Metheny, James Brown, Herbie Hancock, ...)
Geri Allen (Five Elements, Jack Dejohnette, Betty Carter, ...)
Gary Thomas (Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, ...)
International cross-over music artists:
Nils Petter Molvaer (Khmer, Solid Ether)
Dj Soul Slinger (Liquid Sky Records)
Will Calhoun (Living Colour)
Matt Garrison (Mclaughlin, Chaka Khan, Zawinul, ...)
Robyn Schulkovsky (John Cage, ...)
Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon)
Jojo Mayer (Screaming Headless Torsos, Nerve, Quincy Jones, Meshell N'dege Occello,
...)
Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz)
Rebekka Bakken
European Jazz- and Experimental Music Scene:
Vienna Art Orchestra (Europes Most Exciting Big Band)
Wolfgang Puschnig (Carla Bley, Samu Nori, Harri Pepl, ...)
Peter Herbert (Dave Liebman, Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie,...)
Gerald Preinfalk (Klangforum Wien, Novelle Cuisine, ...)
Johannes Barthelmes (E. Sharp, Cindy Blackman, Marvin Peterson, ...)
Olga Konkova (Bill Bruford, Jojo Mayr, Adam Nussbaum, ...)
Per Mathisen (Terje Rypdal, Jon Christensen, ...)
Performances at International
Music Festivals:
Appearances at many international festivals in Europe, USA, Canada and Asia
-
Ranging from Jazzfestival Montreaux, North Sea Jazzfestival, Jazzfestival Saalfelden
to the Jazzfestival International De Jazz De Montreal, London Jazzfestival,
etc. ....
Concert tours and performances in Europe, USA and Asia
© Gina Folly
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