Phil Donkin ( UK ) - Bass
Martin France ( UK ) - Drums
Joris Roelofs ( NL ) - Bass Clarinet
Wanja Slavin ( DE ) - Alto Saxophone

Ein Ton, der tief ins Erdinnere dringt und unvermittelt aus dem Gravitationszentrum wieder an die Oberfläche zurückkehrt – oftmals genau dort, wo man es am wenigsten vermutet. Ein Ton, den sich niemand ausgedacht hat, sondern der so alt ist wie die Schöpfung selbst und auf sein Medium gewartet hat, um sich zu manifestieren. Ein Ton, der plötzlich da ist, hypnotisch, zwingend, vehement und nicht mehr wegzudenken. Eigentlich sind es ja vier Töne, doch die individuellen Timbres von Bassist Phil Donkin, Altsaxofonist Wanja Slavin, Bassklarinettist Joris Roelofs und Drummer Martin France verschmelzen mit derartiger Wucht zu einer symbiotischen Einheit, dass das Wort Ensemble im herkömmlichen Sinne mit erheblichen Unschärfen behaftet ist.

Bassist Phil Donkin hat mit seinen 38 Jahren einen langen Weg hinter sich. Von Hause aus ins englische Jazz-Leben hineingewachsen, spielte er dort mit jedem, der Rang und Namen hatte. Mit Ende Zwanzig zog es ihn nach New York, wo er sich ebenfalls schnell einen Namen als gefragter Sideman machen konnte. Seit einigen Jahren ist als drittes Standbein Berlin hinzugekommen, wo er eine Fixgröße in der sich stetig verändernden Szene geworden ist. Die lange Liste der Musiker, mit denen er kollaborierte, reicht von John Abercrombie bis Nils Wogram.

Donkins neues Album „Value“ markiert eine Zäsur. Nachdem er sich auf seinem letzten Album „The Gate“ mit Musikern aus seinem New Yorker Umfeld umgab, setzt er mit seiner Band Masterfrown ausschließlich auf europäische Kollegen. Es gibt kein Harmonieinstrument, sondern Donkin setzt voll auf die Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten zwischen drei Melodieinstrumenten.

A sound that penetrates deep into the earth and suddenly returns from the center of gravity to the surface - often exactly where it is least suspected. A sound that is suddenly there, hypnotic, compelling, vehement and indispensable. Actually, there are four tones, but the individual timbres of bassist Phil Donkin, alto saxophonist Wanja Slavin, bass clarinetist Joris Roelofs and drummer Martin France merge with such force to a symbiotic unity that the word ensemble in the traditional sense is fraught with considerable blurring.

Bassist Phil Donkin has come a long way with his 38 years. Home grown in English jazz life, he played there with anyone who had rank and name. At the age of twenty nine, he moved to New York, where he also quickly made a name for himself as a sought-after sideman. For a few years now Berlin has been the third pillar, where it has become a fixture in the ever-changing scene. The long list of musicians he collaborated with ranges from John Abercrombie to Nils Wogram.

Donkin's new album "Value" marks a turning point. After embracing musicians from his New York-based environment on his previous album "The Gate," his band Masterfrown focuses exclusively on European colleagues. There is no instrument of harmony, but Donkin relies on the design possibilities between three melodic instruments.

Wanja Slavin started with clarinet and piano at the age of six. His first teachers were his father and Hildegard Niemann, later Nicolas Simion (Saxophon and Composition), Lee Konitz (Saxophon), Rolf Weber (Clarinet) and Kazue Suzuki (Piano).

At the age of 15 Slavin started at the Richard- Strauss Konservatorium studying Clarinet and Saxophon by Leszek Zadlo. Beside he’s studies at the Conservatory he also took lessons in composition by Vadim Werbitzky.

Wanja Slavin has been invited to festivals such as Münchner Klaviersommer and Moers Festival and worked with musician Joachim Kühn, Kenny Wheeler, Mederic Collignon, John Schröder, Rudi Mahall, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Tobias Delius, Marty Cook, Geoff Goodman,Paulo Cardoso, Wilfried Hiller, Christian Lilinger to name a few.

Joris Roelofs
born February 21, 1984 in Aix-en-Provence (France), raised in Amsterdam (Netherlands), plays saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet. He started to play classical clarinet at the age of six, and then started the alto saxophone at the age of twelve. He was a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra from 2005 – 2010. Joris also plays lead alto in the Jazz Orchestra Of The Concertgebouw in the Netherlands.

He graduated in 2007 as a Master of Music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2001 Joris won the Pim Jacobs Price.

In 2003 he received, as a first non-American, the Stan Getz/Clifford Brown Fellowship Award in the US, organized by the International Association Of Jazz Education (IAJE). The IAJE also honored him with a ‘First Level’ price. In 2004 Joris received the first price of the prestigious Deloitte Jazz Award in the Netherlands.

In 2008 he was selected for the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition.

Among others, Joris played with Brad Mehldau, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christina Branco, Lionel Loueke, Eric Harland, Lewis Nash, Aaron Goldberg, Ralph Peterson, James Carter, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, WDR Big Band, Ari Hoenig, Matt Penman. In 2010 he was asked by Brad Mehldau to perform with him at the Carnegie Hall in New York and Sanders Theatre in Boston, along with Chris Potter, Joshua Redman, Chris Cheek, Greg Tardy, Sam Sadigursky, Timothy Andres and Becca Stevens. In a Dutch TV show, at age 16, Joris performed the famous clarinet introduction of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue with the Orkest van het Oosten, and was featured as a soloist with the Jazz Orchestra Of The Concertgebouw.

Also he recorded as a special clarinet soloist with the Metropole Orchestra with Laura Fygi (2004). As a leader he performed several times at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Smalls Jazz Club in NYC, among other places. In October 2008 he did a European release tour with Ari Hoenig, Aaron Goldberg and Johannes Weidenmueller to promote his debute album ‘Introducing Joris Roelofs’. In 2009 and 2010 Joris did a quartet tour in Europe with Aaron Goldberg, Reginald Veal, Joe Sanders, Greg Hutchinson.

Joris also plays in the Chambertones Trio, with Jesse van Ruller and Clemens van der Feen. They released two albums: ‘Chamber Tones’ and ‘The Ninth Planet’, and did a release tour in Japan for each album. Joris’ last CD ‘Live At The Bimhuis’ was released in 2011 and was nominated for a Edison in 2012. He founded another trio in 2011 with Ted Poor and Matt Penman, featuring Joris on bass clarinet. They did a tour in 2011 and 2013, and their new album will be released in January. As a sideman Joris has played at a large number of international jazz festivals and jazz clubs, all over the world. He moved to New York City in March 2008, and moved back to Amsterdam in 2011.

Martin France
Throughout a career spanning over thirty five years Martin France has performed and recorded with some of the world's finest and creative musicians. He has performed in all five continents including concerts and tours in over forty countries worldwide. He is currently Professor of Jazz - Drums/Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Martin began performing at the age of twelve backing singers in Working Men's clubs with Organ trios in and around Manchester in the North of England. He studied under Geoff Riley, Kenny Clare and Richard Smith - Principal Percussionist with the Halle Orchestra. After moving to London in 1983 he began his recording career performing on several records for Manfred Eicher’s ECM label. He has since gone on to record over one hundred CD’s for a variety of different artists since his ECM debut.

He has been invited to perform with many orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Wales, Liverpool Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Radio Big Band, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, ASKO Ensemble - Amsterdam, Danish Radio Big Band - Copenhagen, HR Big Band – Frankfurt, WDR Symphony Orchestra – Cologne, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, The European Jazz Orchestra – Portugal. He is also a regular performer with NDR Big Band in Hamburg.

He has been active for many years as a studio musician in London performing on numerous recording sessions with many of the world’s leading composers, conductors and arrangers for both European and American Film and TV productions. He is also involved in composing music for KPM/EMI Music in London, the music from which has been used extensively for worldwide TV and commercial broadcast.

Along the way Martin has performed and recorded with some of the world's most diverse and finest musicians including Elvis Costello, Evan Parker, David Gilmour, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, John Dankworth, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland, Arild Anderson, Mark Johnson, Steve Swallow, Bob Mintzer and The Yellowjackets, Norma Winstone, Nils-Petter Molvaer, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arve Henriksen, Mike Gibbs, Maria Schneider, Gwilym Simcock, Sidsel Endresen, John Paul Jones, Stephen Warbeck, Anders Jormin, Victor Bailey, Eivind Aarset, J. Peter Schwalm, Charles Hazelwood, Palle Danielsson, June Tabor, Claire Martin, Dave McKean, David Binney, Adam Rogers, Django Bates, Jason Rebello, Joanna MacGregor, Liane Carroll, Charlie Mariano, Charles Hazlewood, Paul Englishby, John Surman, Joe Lovano and Mark Feldman to name but a few.

His pioneering use of electronic and sequenced Drums/Percussion has resulted in performances and recording sessions for many contrasting musical projects for a variety of artists. He has also released two critically acclaimed CD’s with his own band - Spin Marvel. They recently performed a “return” performance at Cheltenham Jazz Festival in the UK with the line up featuring amongst others Nils-Petter Molvaer (tpt) and John Paul Jones (bass) of Led Zeppelin fame.

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EINTRITT
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