Kenny Werner - p.(USA)
Peter Erskine - dr (USA)
Benjamin Koppel - sax. - (DK)
Johannes Weidenmueller - b. (USA)
THE ART OF THE QUARTET ist der Name einer All-Star-Band, bestehend aus vier der begehrtesten, vielseitigsten und hochkarätigsten Jazz-Musiker der Szene.
Zusammen haben sie mit Who's Who im Jazz gearbeitet, aber dieses Mal haben sie beschlossen, zusammen zu kommen und das Potential der klassischen Jazz-Quartett-Formation zu verfeinern.
THE ART OF THE QUARTET is the name of an all-star band, consisting of four of the most in-demand, versatile and topclass jazzmusicians on the scene today.
Between them they have worked with who’s who in jazz, but this time they have decided to come together and refine the potential of the classic jazz quartet formation.
All four musicians contribute compositions, which draw inspiration from expressions as diverse as sax legend John Coltrane, the classical composer Charles Ives, “Hawaii Bathing Opportunities” and “Odd-Meter Fusion”. The works are tied together by four virtuosos who have taken interplay and collective musical dialogue to a new level.
For almost a decade, one of the most prominent European jazz soloists, saxophonist Benjamin Koppel and the iconic American jazz pianist Kenny Werner have had a long and fruitful collaboration. Their work together comprises more than 10 albums, including a widely praised duo album ”Walden,” and an album by their collective ”Coalition” with Lionel Loueke and Miguel Zenon.
They have played and recorded together numerous times alongside greats like Jim Hall, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker, Chris Potter, Bobby Watson, Davíd Sanchez, Avishai Cohen, and continue to challenge each other musically with new and innovative projects both in the US and in Europe.
Since 2012, Benjamin Koppel has recorded several albums with the trio collective he created with drummer Brian Blade and bassist Scott Colley. Koppel and Erskine have played and recorded together; in 2011 they released the album ”OneTwoThreeFour.”
And Peter and Kenny go way back.
All in all, these four musicians know each other more than well, and are both musically and personally tight connected.
It is therefore only natural that they formed ”The Art of the Quartet,” a new band that premiered at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. And now the musicians as well as audiences have demanded a re-run, more concerts, touring, and eventually albums!
-Kenny Werner has been a world-class pianist and composer for over forty years. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world. In 1996 he wrote his landmark book, Effortless Mastery, Liberating The Master Musician Within. Werner has since created videos, lectured world-wide and authored many articles on how musicians, artists or even business people can allow their “master creator” within to lift their performance to it’s highest level, showing us how to be spontaneous, fearless, joyful and disciplined in our work and in our life. Kenny was recently awarded the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for his seminal work, No Beginning No End. No Beginning No End is a musical journey exploring tragedy and loss, death and transition, and the path from one lifetime to the next. Utilizing over 70 musicians, Kenny’s third album for Half Note Records is an expansive composition featuring Joe Lovano, Judy Silvano, Wind Ensemble, Choir and String Quartet. Born in Brooklyn, NY on November 19, 1951 and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Kenny began playing and performing at a young age, first recording on television at the age of 11. Although he studied classical piano as a child, he enjoyed playing anything he heard on the radio. In high school and his first years of college he attended the Manhattan School of Music as a classical piano major. His natural instinct for improvisation led Kenny to the Berklee School of Music in 1970. There he sought tutelage of the renowned piano teacher Madame Chaloff. A Her gracious wisdom and inspiration became a driving force in Kenny’s conception: A music conscious of its spiritual intent and essence. From Boston, Kenny traveled to Brazil with the saxophonist Victor Assis Brasil. There he met Victor’s twin brother, Brazilian pianist Joao Assis Brasil. He studied with Joao, who provided another piece of the puzzle for Kenny’s conception that would lead to Effortless Mastery, his landmark opus on how to allow the master musician from within to manifest.
-Peter Erskine has played the drums since the age of four and is known for his versatility and love of working in different musical contexts. He appears on 700 albums and film scores, and has won two Grammy Awards, plus an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee School of Music (1992).
Fifty albums have been released under his own name or as co-leader. He has played with the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson Big Bands, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Kenny Wheeler, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Brecker Brothers, The Yellowjackets, Pat Metheny and Gary Burton, John Scofield, et al, and has appeared as a soloist with the London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Frankfurt Radio, Scottish Chamber, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Royal Opera House, BBC Symphony, Oslo and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Peter premièred the double percussion concerto Fractured Lines, composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage, at the BBC Proms with Andrew Davis conducting, and has collaborated frequently with Sir Simon Rattle. He also premiered the Turnage opera “Anna Nicole” at the Royal Opera House in London. Turnage has composed a solo concerto for Peter titled “Erskine,” which received its world premiere in Bonn, Germany in 2013, with a US premiere at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Peter has been voted ’Best Jazz Drummer of the Year’ ten times by the readers of Modern Drummer magazine and was elected into the magazine’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
-Benjamin Koppel’s musical background is deeply rooted in his family and can be as well compared to the musical heritage from the famous Jacksons 5 or even the world known Bach family from Germany. He is the grandson of famous Danish classic composer Herman D. Koppel, and the son of musician and composer Anders Koppel, who had a great success worldwide with the band Savage Rose and is well known for being the greatest Danish beat musician of his generation. The music genre of the family spreads out from classical to jazz and pop genre and Benjamin Koppel masters all the genres with the outmost perfection.
He formed his first band, when he was 15 years old, and has appeared on more than 50 recordings. The variety of his musical collaborations is wide, and has established him as a sought after musician internationally. As a soloist and bandleader, he has performed/recorded with Phil Woods, Kenny Werner, Jim Hall, Joe Lovano, Scott Colley, Daniel Humair, Palle Danielsson, Alex Riel, Miroslav Vitous, Anders Koppel, Inger Dam Jensen, Michala Petri, Adam Nussbaum, Randy Brecker, Chano Dominguez, Charlie Mariano, Portinho, David Sanchez, Sheryl Crow, and others.
In 2000 Benjamin Koppel formed his own independent record label, Cowbell Music that releases high quality jazz music as well as classical, cross over and pop music. Today the business has developed into a music and event bureau producing concert and unique musical experiences in cooperation with different Danish and international enterprises and cultural institutions.
Twice a year, Cowbell arranges two independent jazz festivals – Summer Jazz and Winter Jazz – with a significant trademark of mixing genres and generations on stage. The aim is to communicate jazz in a modern and understandable way – always with some of the most well-renowned jazz musicians in the world.
-Bassist Johannes Weidenmueller has been a first call performer with a long list of jazz greats since settling in New York City 20 years ago He has been a member of the Hank Jones trio, Ray Barretto’s New World Spirit, the Carl Allen-Vincent Herring quintet, the John Abercrombie quartet, the Joe Lovano trio and the Kenny Werner trio. Other associations include Brad Mehldau, George Benson, John Scofield, Dewey Redman, Randy Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, Toots Thielemans, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Gary Bartz, Jonny Coles, Clifford Jordan, Joe Chambers, and many others.
His warm full sound, his mastery of time and his flexibility and openness have made him one of most sought after bassist in a wide variety of musical settings. He has collaborated with the National Orchestra of Spain, the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra and choir, flamenco musician Chano Dominguez, the Indian music ensemble of Gaurav Madzumdar, tabla virtouso Ty Burhoe, New Orleans keyboard legend Dr.John, and singer Madeleine Peyroux.
Born in Heidelberg, Germany Johannes was introduced to music early on. He started playing cello at the age of 6 and kept a busy performance schedule throughout his high school years, participating in many local and regional chamber music and orchestral events. After switching to the double bass at age 16, he went on to study jazz bass at the Conservatory in Cologne and soon after made the move to study at the prestigious Jazz and Contemporary Music program of the New School University in New York. Here he was able to study with jazz greats such as Ron Carter, Dave Holland and Buster Williams. In 1991 he joined the trio of legendary pianist Hank Jones and performed with him throughout North America. Playing with Hank Jones paved the way to becoming a full time professional bass player and countless performances with many other jazz greats have since followed.
While being busy performing over 200 concerts a year around the world, Johannes is also a committed educator. He has been on the faculty of the New School’s jazz and contemporary music program since 1997 where he teaches bass and ensemble and ear-training. He also is in demand as a clinician, teaching workshops and clinics at the Banff Center for the Arts, NYU, New England Conservatory, U of Green Bay, the Amsterdam Conservatory, U of West Virginia, U of N.C Chapel Hill and many others. In addition he is also the author of two bestselling books on metric modulation published by Mel Bay .
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the young European jazz artist of the year award in 1993 and 1996, the Hennessey jazz prize 1996, grants from Arts international and the New School faculty development grant.
Eintritt/ Ticket : 27€
Ermässigt/Reduced: 23€
Beginn 21:15 Uhr( Einlass 20:00 Uhr)