[engl] The Empty Foxhole is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman released on the Blue Note label in 1966. The album features Coleman's untutored violin and trumpet as well as performing on his usual instrument, the alto saxophone, and marks the recording debut of his drummer son Denardo Coleman, who was ten years of age at the time.

[engl] A more of world music, a more of ethno and definitely a more of progressive fusion rock approach is what marks „Masterless Samurai“, the second album by Japanese prog warrior Osamu Kitajima. He takes his vision of his country's traditional music being merged with the progressive rock and jazz music of the west even one step further, than he did with his previous albums. Excessive flute lines of Eastern origin, funky intricate grooves and fiery synthesizer eruptions are the basic ingredients for most of these impressive instrumental downhill. The fusion share in this sound is strong and still all the exotic elements from Japanese classic music pull each song far out of the mass of similar acts emerging in the late 70s. Now we leave behind the PINK FLOYD comparison and go for the Canterbury jazzrock scene with CARAVAN and SOFT MACHINE as leading figures and Osamu Kitajima definitely fit in between these giants due to his creativity and manifesting vision of a progressive world rock music. Don't take the rock element as utterly physical heaviness. The album rocks but in a more delicate way. The sparkling lines of the electric piano can tell where this record goes. And even a rather gentle tune like the instrumental ballad „Floating garden“ shows a wicked and progressive edge with expressive sax runs, cool twists and turns despite the all in all relaxed atmosphere.

[engl] This is the third album by Osamu Kitajima, one of Japan's most prolific artists from the ethno rock, world music and progressive department. You can certainly not divide all the mentioned stylistic aspects from each other for they were all incorporated in a homogenious sound and complex arrangements. It is the same with his other albums like „Benzaiten“ and or his fourth „Masterless Samurai“; traditional Japanese music meets Western jazzrock and progressive sounds to form a new style unheard by most people in Western countries at the time. Osamu Kitajima easily plays with elements of reggae and funk, fusion jazz and colorful pop while staying true to his Japanese roots with bits and pieces of traditional melodies and the use of old Asiatic instruments. The Japanese influence makes this music uniqe and still it gets as close to Western rock and pop sounds as it could. An adventurous journey through the world from East Asia to West Africa and to the steaming metropolises of the UK and USA is your reward when you put this perfectly produced album onto your turntable. The former PINK FLOYD comparison coming with „Benzaiten“ is not totally out of place with this selftitled 1977 album here but there is much more latitude in the allover style. Osamu Kitajima gathers a few well talented musicians around him on this record despite playing and arranging most of the instrumental passages himself. He, the multi instrumentalist who discovered progressive rock music in the early 70s during a stay in London where he released a first album under the monicker „Justin Heathcliff“ before moving to California around the mid 70s. And this group of musicians creates something special that sticks out of the mass of similar art pop and fusion bands in the late 70s. Osamu Kitajima is something like the Japanese answer to Mike Oldfield, and others equal in vision and output!

[engl] First-time vinyl release. Old-style gatefold LP with liner notes by Kahimi Karie, Otomo Yoshihide & Tonoyama Taiji. Eric Dolphy's final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-'60s post bop. Its reputation is purely one of backwards significance. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and his all-too-brief life ended less than two months after that. Though likely he never held a copy in his hands or heard any critical opinion of it, it marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considered his apex. It is fascinating to consider whether he would had moved past or away from the album in 1965, had he lived. Though Dolphy should not be considered an avant-garde musician by the term's most common definitions, most interpretations of Out To Lunch have been done by players working squarely in that area. So it is with this album, the most ambitious in its recreation of the five-tune disc (with one original added to the final "Straight Up and Down, extending the piece to almost thirty minutes). All five compositions from the original quintet LP are revisited in the same order, the record sleeve even duplicates the old album jacket, down to the typeface and black-and-blue color scheme, although a photo taken by Daid? Moriyama inside Tokyo's massive (and massively busy) Shinjuku railway station replaces the Dolphy's album's enigmatic "Will Be Back" sign, whose clock hands indicated no conventional time of expected return. Otomo Yoshihide first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a variety of contexts, ranging from free improvisation to noise, jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical. The always surprising and sometimes confounding turntablist, sound artist, onkyo improviser and now avant jazzer heading up a 15-piece aggregation of Japanese and European experimentalists. Who better to grapple with Dolphy's legacy -- so idiosyncratic in its day and yet so influential to creative improvisers who followed -- than a musician with his own singular take on how sounds can be organized in the jazz realm over 40 years later and half a world away? In other words don't expect the conventional from Otomo any more than you would from Dolphy himself. That's not to say that recognizable themes ("Hat and Beard," "Out to Lunch," "Straight Up and Down") don't appear, or that individual players -- including Alfred Harth on bass clarinet bursting into the mix and leaping across the instrument's tonal range in a way that recalls the master himself -- don't carry forward echoes from the past in the spirit of a sincere and heartfelt homage. However, a good deal of the time all bets are off; in addition to the usual brass, reeds, bass, and drums (and of course a bit of vibraphone, here played by Takara Kumiko in far less prominent role than that of Bobby Hutcherson) are such sonic paraphernalia as sine waves, contact mike, no-input mixing board, and, of course, "computer." (Otomo himself plays skronky electric guitar.) From composition to composition and even during episodes within compositions, the band takes radically different approaches. There are blasts of free jazz energy not too far removed from the Peter Brötzmann Tentet, an impression reinforced by the presence of spluttering wildman Mats Gustafsson on baritone sax. Not surprisingly and often in contrast with the Dolphy original, the music is dense and filled to overflowing with sounds -- sometimes due to fundamental reworkings in structure rather than just the larger size of the ensemble. The middle section of "Something Sweet, Something Tender" somewhat belies the original's title with elongated howls and cries from the horns over slo-mo bass, drums, and electronic noise poised somewhere between dirge and drone, and the sudden explosion of punk-ish rock energy in the following "Gazzelloni" is a startling contrast. At times, the feeling is that of listening to the original Out To Lunch while a séance is going on to contact Dolphy's ghost, with supernatural sounds swirling around the stereo. The effect is disconcerting, as is the post-apocalyptic cloud hanging over the arrangements, but it makes the effort more than an unnecessary tribute album. Instead, Dolphy is transported into the 21st Century and allowed to romp through modern developments in music. An inspiring concept and an album that will stretch the boundaries of anyone who comes into contact with it.

[engl] 1964 seemed to be a great year for jazz music in general and this special piece from a quartet led by the great tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves who was a long time member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra confirms this once more in an astonishing way. This record is a typical instrumental post bop album still not on the verge of progressive and free jazz filled to the max with memorable yet steaming compositions. Gonsalves nails it as a saxophone player and his backing crew consisting of piano, stand up bass and drums joins in to create a stream of sound that drags your soul away directly when you put the needle in the groove. The playing feels easy with sweet but rather melancholic melody lines from piano and sax. It seems like they were singing love songs to each other while the rhythm section lays down the beat both lead instruments dance to. The swinging sleaziness of the one or another passage heats up your blood to a simmering level. As if you were swallowed into a scene of Jack Kerouac’s “On the road”, where a sax player goes wild in a small and dusty club somewhere at the West Coast. Paul Gonsalves and his guys take their listener onto a journey due to these very expressive and strong melodies. This should have been a shining crown jewel of jazz where swing benignly turns into bop. The new and often more radical streams within the genre just oppressed this development and “Boom-Jackie-Boom-Chick” whose title was inspired by the name of Mr. Gonsalves’ regular heroin dealer became an underground classic for those who like to dig deeper into a genre to discover the real treasures. This is pure magic put into music!

[engl] A compelling slice of Canadian funk from the late 70s – a group and album who were inspired by the righteous power of James Brown's famous Payback album – but who come across here with a warmer, clubbier feel overall! There's a nice degree of boogie in the mix, but the overall approach is definitely funk – with bumping basslines underneath tight horns, including plenty of sweet Fred Wesley-styled trombone. Yet other club elements come into the mix too – keyboards and a bit of strings at times, which warm things up nicely alongside the tighter bottom rhythms – but always in a way that's still relatively funky overall. Most cuts have an instrumental focus – but there's also female chorus vocals on a number of tracks too.

[engl] Spanish jazz–funk / prog–psych holy grail from 1976 featuring the crème de la crème of Spain’s session musicians of the time. Pepe Sánchez is a real legend when talking about drumming in Spain. From his beginnings in the 60s jamming with Pedro Iturralde, Tete Montoliu and Vlady Bas at the influential Whisky Jazz Club in Madrid, to recording in Miami with Diana Ross or Barbra Streisand; from working under the wings of Rafael Trabucchelli, Waldo de los Ríos, Augusto Algueró and Mancini to playing live with Barry White?Not forgetting his incursions in progressive rock with Araxes or doing session work for seminal Spanish albums like "Gipsy Rock" by Las Grecas among others. Pepe and his group of friends (Manuel Gas, Juan Carlos Calderón, Pepe Ébano, Tito Duarte, Juan Cano?) were the most requested Spanish session musicians of the time, appearing in countless recordings. In the mid–70s, he was approached by the Marfer label: the idea was to create an instrumental album based on Flamenco music and Spanish folklore but with a modern approach, adding electric guitars, electric bass, drums?Pepe recruited some his friends, all of them top session musicians with a jazz / pop background and the result was "Regresión", his first solo album, released in 1976. It’s an incredible fusion of jazz, funk, rock, flamenco and psychedelic / progressive sounds highlighted by the powerful drumming of Pepe, the wicked fuzz–wah guitar of Carlos Villa (Vainica Doble, Las Grecas), the sax / flute of jazz giant Pedro Iturralde and Manolo Morales (Jayme Marques, Bebu Silvetti?), the piano of Eddy Guerin (Tete Montoliu, Santisteban, Jayme Marques, Manuel Gas?), the trumpet of Juan Cano (Vlady Bass, Juan Carlos Calderón?) and José Luis Medrano (Dolores, Márquez?), the percussion of Pepe Ébano (Elkin & Nelson, Manuel Gas, Camarón, Max B, Santisteban)? Includes the monster rare groove /funk track "Sentimiento" and more!

[engl] 1965 funky Instro-Soul album from Chicago that originally came out on Mercury. It deals with new interpretations of James Bond themes and own Bond inspired compositions. Feat. Studiomusic Clarence Perry (tenor), Richard McCrea (organ) and Ed Townsend (Piano).

[engl] 2018 REPRESS! Popular and increasingly in demand, IZIPHO ZAM (my gifts) falls into the ?rare? category among record collectors and is a gift to fans of master Pharoah Sanders. This demand is partially galvanized by the fact that ?Prince Of Peace? has become an inspirational mine to Hip Hop artists and is much loved by samplers. Izipho Zam is Pharoah Sander?s 3rd album, initially recorded in january 1969, it was originally released on the Strata-East label in 1973. On Izipho Zam Sanders and his band take you on a journey into another world providing an amazing experience! Passionate, intense and free, Sanders saxophone especially, is exquisite, pouring out its soul telling a story of its own. Hailed by peers as the best tenor saxophonist in the world, Pharoah Sanders is a legend in Jazz music. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of free jazz and is the mentor of jazz giant, saxophonist Robert Stewart. Born in 1940 into a musical family as Farell Sanders in Arkansas, he first played the clarinet before switching to tenor saxophone in High school. After High school he moved to California to study music and art. In 1961 Sanders moved to New York where he often played gigs with a number of free jazz dignitaries including Billy Higgins, Sun Ra and Don Cherry. His name ?Pharoah? was given to him by Sun Ra, who was his bandleader then. It was during one of these gigs that he met John Coltrane who became his mentor. While playing with Coltrane, Sanders inevitably rose to prominence due to his very distinctive tenor saxophone sound. - Rachel Kinoti, www.everland-music.com > Licensed by Strata East Records, Inc.

[engl] his album is one of a surprisingly large number of deeply funky releases that appeared in the late 60s and throughout the 70s by older players - usually associated with either blues or rock'n'roll. On the Modern group of labels alone there were albums by Joe Houston, Johnny Otis and an unreleased gem by Pee Wee Crayton. For years these albums have been treated with disdain by those who collect the artists as commercial sell-outs and were so obscure that they were unknown to funk fans. This has started to change as funk collectors dig deeper - and they have been schooled by years of digging out oddities with an open mind. No frontiers. An original copy of Omaha Bar-B-Q now sells for over ¬£60 in this country. Preston Love was not a straight R&B player-.-having been born in 1921 he came up playing his alto saxophone in the big bands during the latter part of the swing era. In his local area he played in bands led by Lloyd Hunter and Nat Towles and in September 1943 he replaced Earl Warren for six weeks in the Count Basie Band. He then rejoined Hunter and then began working with both Lucky Millinder and Harlan Leonard, before becoming a full time member of the Basie band between 1945-47. The swing era was well and truly over by that stage and so, after leaving Count Basie, he formed his own R&B band and made several recordings for various labels, including Federal. He carried on working in the R&B field and hooked up with Johnny Otis in the early 60s. They worked together regularly for the next two decades, and from the early 70s onwards switched between contemporary black music and the rock'n'roll revival. This album was recorded in 1969 by Johnny's regular band, which by this time included the blistering guitar playing of his 14 year old son, Shuggie. Shuggie's playing had first been heard on the album Cold Shot, notably on the single Signifying Monkey. Shuggie was only months away from the start of a solo recording career with Epic, which culminated in some beautiful Sly Stone-influenced music such as Inspiration Information and the original version of Strawberry Letter 23 that was a big international hit for the Brothers Johnson on A&M. This album and the rare single, first released on the tiny LA-based Hudson label, Cissy Popcorn, (not heard here) are proof positive that Love's blues-drenched soul alto is the perfect vehicle for a funk record. Pot Likker and Chili Mac are liable to keep you dancing with their tight funky grooves. The personnel on this LP comprise pretty much the band (augmented by horns) that played the 1970 Monterey Pop Festival. What a sight that must have been!

[engl] “‘Beaches in Your Soul’ is an album that is both great fun and full of depth as it conveys an incredible, life-affirming energy. Rolf Zielke describes his music as “daydreams and visions of the future that become sounds.” There is no doubt that this album is an impressive demonstration of his outstanding abilities as a composer, arranger and pianist, as well as his important role in European jazz.” Matthias Wegner, music journalist, November 2020

[engl] Everland Jazz have picked a real gem for a reissue here! Originally released in 1980, "A Safe Return" is the second album by the Surinam jazz flutist RONALD SNIJDERS. It is a strong alloy of soul, funk, jazz and smooth disco sounds! Mersmerizing musical craftsmanship! “Lenox” the opening track, has a playful haze escaping from every groove,with a solid hypnotical rhythmical base and haunting flute melodies that have the character of the lead vocals. Despite the slower pace, the jazzy approach of all instrumental parts brings in enough edge to capture the listener’s attention. The few dreamy vocal lines add the slick pop element that takes this song to a different level and keeps it accessible. “Surinam Lady“, the next tune, on the other hand has a lightweight feeling with a beautiful lead melody from the flute and easy slow dance rhythms with a latin touch. All instrumental lines are tightly intervowen in arrangements that make this a perfect tune. Easy to listen, easy to enjoy, but still a complex soundscape with captivating changes in the melodies and instrumental dialogues that tie up your senses to the composition. „Kaseko attack“ the third tune really does justice to it’s title.The rhythms are powerful, the pace is faster. Bass and percussions create a whirlwind of groove due to another quite complex web of different instruments like maracas, drums, tambourines and whatever can be used to make rhythmical noises. There is even a guitar straddling into the footing of grooves and the electric piano joins the guitar. For most of it’s running time this song is about groove and nothing else. The melodies from the flutes are sparsely used here adding a completely different character, rather dreamy and floating. Both worlds flow and blend beautifully. „Sisa“ follows and shows an affinity for spiritual free jazz. In it’s opening section flutes, acoustic guitars and other instruments tumble into the scene. The song then opens into a funky base forming the fertile soil on which the fluttering flute melodies can grow to a colorful size. The middle section is a gentle passage with an utterly beautiful flute harmony that turns into a playful and quite progressive sounding part before it fades away. „Tukayana“ is an impressive journey to unknown landscapes with even a mystical turn from time to time. With „Soweto friend“ you enter a lounge or bar after returning to your place of accomodation from the trip. You sit in the roof garden, take a zip from your long drink and look out to the ocean during the twilight time. This song starts with such a relaxed and easy atmosphere but soon twists the lightweight latin grooves into a jazzy rhythm figure that shows a fractured structure being kept in one piece by the enthralling flute melodies and some moony synthesizer carpets. With zippy „Djamba“ with the flute going wild on a base of samba grooves from drums and bass guitar, plus a little support by the electric piano. This tune stays instrumental during it’s running time but that’s certainly fine. A dreamy finale comes with the title track of the album. Flute and electric piano float around another, interact like two loving souls in a gentle dialogue. A beautiful way to end such an exciting yet still accessible album. You can either turn on the stereo and turn off your mind swaying to the music, or you may as well listen closely to the many little details that make this record so intense. The playing and the sound are extraordinary! The reissue comes with a slightly improved sound by Ronald Snijders himself with the whole package retaining the spirit of the original release. For all fans of jazzy fusion and funk sounds that peep at disco music from time to time, this 1980 classic is a must have!

[engl] Some albums show you right away what kind of spirit backs them. Ronald Snijders solo debut from 1977, „Natural sources“, is one of these. It begins with a free improvised, sometimes scatting flute and while the flute goes more and more crazy some scat vocals join in to make this first track a kinda strange affair. Jazz, free and spirited, seems the way but Ronald Snijders, son of Surinamese composer Eddy Snijders, outwits us in all our tiny minded expectations with the next song already. An evergrooving base of polyrhythmical grooves from several percussion instruments builds the ground from which captivating flute patterns arise. The foundation is a repetitive latin beat influenced by Brazilian dance music but the free jazz flute eruptions on top make it a wicked listening experience, even though this is just the middle section of the song and the beginning and ending themes show a rather lighthearted jazz sound with latin grooves. So here we go. Ronald Snijders explores the depths of his musical heritage, the latin and the jazz and really pulls it off here. The next tune even drifts into a kind of exotica direction with a rather picturesque approach that drags images of indigenous dances in a jungle surrounding to the listener’s mind but then Snijders falls back on free jazz with reduced arrangement and his fondness for avant garde sounds wins over. This is certainly a challenge for music lovers due to the fact that next we face the return of the latin jazz with a slightly more modern fusion feel. All instruments on all the songs get played only by Ronald Snijders by the way. I think this is important to mention if you want to understand the whole width of his talent. Latin jazz the way Snijders composes and performs is far from silky elevator fusion. He plays with passion and his creations might have a lightweight appearance from time to time but all those little percussion themes, the guitar harmonies, the time changes and sounds echoing from far beyond the surface make this a real challenge for the listener. This record has an accessible side but demands full attention. A thrilling masterpiece where latin jazz, free jazz and fusion flow into another for some great new music. Even elements of 1950s electronic music find their way onto this record and although just as an interlude. For those who dare this is the sacred progressive jazz fusion grail.

[engl] Impossible to find Spiritual Jazz / Funk / Groove / Psych rarity from France, 1973. Rupture was born when famous French songwriter Boris Bergman (France Gall, Dalida, etc) decided to record a conceptual album about the history of Israel. He approached ace drummer and singer Sylvain Krief (Airto Fogo, Michel Fugain, Aznavour, Clark Terry, Bud Powell, etc) and soon, other musicians joined: Jean–François Jenny–Clark (Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, etc) on bass, Georges Locatelli (Total Issue) on guitar, Jean–Pierre Mas (piano, organ, guitar, vocals...) In resume, Rupture was a kind of super–group featuring some of the best musicians from the Euro jazz / progressive / fusion scene. It also included collaborations by Michel Fugain and Nicole Croisille. The album was recorded over a period of three months and the result was released as a very limited private pressing with help from the Futura label. Arranged by Sylvain Krief and Jean–Pierre Mas, "Israel Suite" included a side–long suite on side A and shorter songs on Side B. An incredible mix of vocal / spiritual jazz, funk, progressive, jazz–pop, psych...

[engl] In 1965 - only a few months after recording „Ghosts“ with Albert Ayler - Sonny Murray released his first album as a leader. „Sonny's time now“ is one of the holy grails for collectors and aficionados of free avant garde jazz music from the 1960s and while original vinyl copies fetch prices up to 270,00 US$ and more ,even the first Japanese reissue from 1986 on vinyl and CD is rare as stardust these days and goes up to 100,00 US$ for a mint CD copy. Well, we will take a closer look at this album due to this current reissue, which is the first in 30 years. Albert Ayler and his „Ghosts“ album from 1965 were already a hard thing to swallow except for the most adventurous explorers of the furthest corners of the border districts of music. You need an unconventional view on onomatopeia to enter this world and drummer Sonny Murray went another step ahead on „Sonny's time now“. The lengthy piece „Virtue“ presents an ever pulsating wall of rhythm that reminds me of a wuthering ocean with the horn section going nuts on top. The saxes and trumpets are constantly erupting and it is a challenge for the listener to find the melodies among their output of sound. „Justice“, another lengthy piece divided into two parts, continues the quest „Virtue“ began. And soon you begin to understand what this is all about. The atmosphere of these free improvisations slowly swallows you and the shrieks of the saxophones and trumpets free your soul from your physical appearance. What feels like an impenetrable thicket of sound at first soon will offer you enlightenment and a memorable structure within all the chaos. The same year that John Coltrane took the last step away from traditional jazz and music in general this album was equally radical but seems to have disappeared within the depths of music history. The most radical piece on this record comes with the shorter „Black art“, a writing by activist and controversial poet Amiri Baraka underlined with freak out eruptions of Sonny Murray and his mates. This is the right soundtrack for a cathartic meditation and when the last tune is over you will be another person. For fans of Coltrane and the likes a must have.

[engl] First ever LP/CD reissue of this private Dutch album from 1979: a latin- funk- psych- prog trip featuring groovy jazzy flute, superb acoustic / electric guitars, funky rhythm section, exotic percussion and some cool Oriental / Thai / Brazilian vibes. Angelo Noce Santoro is a guitar player with over forty- five years of musical career. A founding member of legendary psych- prog band Cosmic Dealer, Angelo has recorded and released albums under his own name and hes also behind projects like Palmeira (the first Dutch band playing Brazilian music), Santoro Brothers and Oriental Guitars among many others. His unique guitar playing, which incorporates surf, psychedelic, jazz and Oriental influences, has received praising from connoisseurs of obscure instrumental sounds such as Jello Biafra, who got in touch with Angelo after discovering one of his solo albums in a second- hand shop in the 80s. For You? was Angelos first solo effort, released as a private pressing in 1979 on ANS, his own label. Angelo played bass, acoustic & electric guitars, flute and percussion. He was joined by ace flute player Steven Bishop, drummer Herman Muller and Lodewijk Hulsman on acoustic guitar. Most of the tracks were written by Angelo prior to 1979, with some of them dating back to the early 70s when he was with Cosmic Dealer.

[engl] Found in the archives of FMP! The very first - never released - recordings of the SCHLIPPENBACH TRIO Alexander von Schlippenbach - piano Evan Parker - tenor and soprano saxophone Paul Lovens - drums Recorded by an unknown engineer april 2nd 1972 during the Workshop Freie Musik at the Acadamy of the Arts, Berlin. All music by Parker/Von Schlippenbach/Lovens Mastering by Olaf Rupp & Martin Siewert. Produced by Jost Gebers. Cover by Lasse Marhaug. Photos Dagmar Gebers.

[engl] Austrian band Shake Stew has become something of a phenomenon. With their premiere at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2016 and their following debut “The Golden Fang” they seemingly exploded into the scene out of nowhere. Since then their high energy mixture of hypnotic afrobeat and jazz grooves has made them enormously successful not only on home turf but across Europe. Led by rising star bassist Lukas Kranzelbinder they quickly became one of the hottest live acts on the circuit, while the impact of their second album “Rise and Rise again” (featuring Shabaka Hutchings) enabled them to spread their unique sound further afield, including an extensive tour of Canada, Mexico, Morocco and stand out shows at prestigious festivals like Montreal, Rochester and North Sea Jazz Festival. The band has also attracted the attention of Germany’s leading newspaper Die Zeit who, in an unusual move, sent one of its writers to spend 5 days with them to cover the formations summer residence at Jazzclub Unterfahrt; the resulting feature was euphoric in its praise: "What I heard blew me away. Captivating rhythms, melting brass, hypnotic funk-beat-swing-afro-jazz-rock-rhythm-and-something. I was glued to my seat and could barely get up. […] Meanwhile I know that other listeners had similar initiation experiences; something comes from this band that is new and special - and very attractive.” Despite being on the scene for only a short time, German Radio NDR already called them a “Cult Band” and everyone who could witness the septet's two-day residency at Viennese Jazz Club Porgy & Bess earlier this year might understand why: Both evenings sold out, a total of nearly 900 listeners, who crowded into the club to hear the latest sounds of a band whose journey has only just started. Riding on all this success Shake Stew are now releasing their third studio album Gris Gris on 1 November. Not content to do anything by halves (their first single was 19 minutes long), Gris Gris is a double album of what they do best: A high-octane mix of fiery jazz and trance-like groove injections combined with mysterious soundscapes and spiritual free jazz eruptions - or as one Austrian newspaper described them “an intergalactic road movie for the ears!”

[engl] 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“.