Over the last months I have been working on a famous solo by Lennie Tristano. The tune is called "Line Up" and is based on the chord progression of the Jazz standard "All of Me". Most notably, the recording is originally overdubbed on a bass and drums track, but also allegedly recorded at half speed an octave below and then sped up for the final recording. The timbre of the piano and the abundance of micro-accents within lines at the speed of the recording are obvious traces of this process.
I found it to be a compelling task to record the solo in the original tempo on tenor sax. It forced me e.g. to use circular breathing within the lines and to find alternate fingering combinations for difficult parts. I decided to retain the result of this eternal practice process in a video. Here it is:
ANIMA Interview - Jazzpodium
The German Jazz Magazine "Jazzpodium" published a nice article about Philipp Brämswig and myself, our latest release ANIMA and our mutual development over the last years. Thanks to Dietrich Schlegel for the interview and the kind words. (click HERE to download article)
Shannon Barnett Quartet // past, present & future
One of the most exciting projects I have the honor being part of is the fantastic Shannon Barnett Quartet with Shannon on trombone, David Helm on bass and Fabian Arends on drums. Three months ago we played two beautiful gigs at the PENG Festival in Essen and the KLAPSMÜHL in Mannheim. The WAZ newspaper wrote these kind words about our concert in Essen:
"Geradezu genial die australische Posaunistin Shannon Barnett, jüngstes Mitglied der WDR Big Band, die in subtilen Dialogen mit dem beeindruckenden Saxophonisten Stefan Karl Schmid den Modern Jazz neu definierte - große Kunst und die Entdeckung eines Festivals, das man schon jetzt nicht mehr missen möchte."
Now Shannon released a little EP on Bandcamp from a concert we did last year at the Loft in Cologne. Not only the cover art is worth having a look, also the music sounds very good. It can be examined/ purchased/ consumed HERE.
From the past through the present to the future: We are doing a 2 week Australia tour in October this year and afterwards we will record our first CD. I'm very much looking forward to this!
Subway Jazz Orchestra - PRIMAL SCREAM
in New Albums, News
A few days ago the SUBWAY JAZZ ORCHESTRA released its debut album PRIMAL SCREAM on FLOAT MUSIC. It features 8 compositions by the 4 orchestra arrangers Johannes Ludwig, Jens Böckamp, Tobias Wember and myself. Everybody involved put a lot of effort in the working process and we are very pleased how it all came out. Thanks to the beautiful acoustics of the Kammermusiksaal at Deutschlandfunk, the masterful work of sound engineer Christian Heck and the great orchestra performance the CD is really audiolicious. More Info here.
Artwork by Nadine Targiel
New ANIMA review
Here's a nice review by Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen from the german magazine Jazzpodium (11/2015).
Schmid's Huhn ON TOUR
This weekend SCHMID's HUHN will play two concerts in Berlin and Wuppertal to present the latest LP as well as brand new stuff. Come by if you are around.
Nov 28th @ Barkett, Berlin, Jazz im Kiez, 9pm
Nov 29th @ Cafe Ada, Wuppertal, Advent-Jazz, 5pm
Schmid/ Brämswig Quartet @ Dell Jazz 2015
in Pictures
We had a great ANIMA CD release concert at DELL JAZZ Festival in Cologne, Delbrück feat. Matthias Nowak and Oliver Rehmann. Norbert Berghaus took some nice pictures of us - never played in a carpenter's shop before :-)
Reviews, Reviews, Reviews
Here are two nice feedbacks of all the playing and composing I have been doing over the last months. The first one is a review of my latest release STEFAN KARL SCHMID/ PHILIPP BRÄMSWIG - ANIMA by the fantastic author Hans-Jürgen Linke which appeared in the german magazine Jazzthetik and the other one is a look on a MICHEL REIS QUARTET concert we played as part of the Münsterland Festival on a beautiful castle in Kolvenburg. Check it out...
European Composers Scholarship (GEMA)
in News
This week I had the opportunity to participate in a great workshop by trombonist and composer Nils Wogram at the GEMA headquarters in Munich. The workshop was part of the EMAS-series conducted by the german GEMA. We had a great time discussing all kinds of music related topics and also got an inside view of the amazing work the GEMA is doing for us.
Jazzthing Review ANIMA
Here's a short review of the ANIMA album that has been published in the latest Jazzthing magazine:
WDR Big Band - Solidarity of Arts Festival
Two weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to play with the great WDR Big Band during the Solidarity of Arts Festival in Gdansk, Poland. We featured various polish musicians along with Kurt Elling and Patti Austin. The stage and scenery was amazing as well as the sound of the band. Here are some nice pictures by photographer Anna Rezulak.
ANIMA Korea Tour in September
I'm very excited about the upcoming tour with my quartet. Philipp and I will be traveling to South Korea to present our new CD ANIMA. The fantastic Manuel Weyand (dr) and Sean Pentland (b) will join us in Seoul. Thanks to the great support of the Goethe Institute and and the Federal Foreign Office we could realize this tour!
Stefan Karl Schmid/ Philipp Brämswig - ANIMA on tour in South Korea
Daejeon (9/3)
Trattoria del Arte, Tongyeong (9/4)
Jazz Alley, Seoul (9/5)
All That Jazz, Seoul (9/9)
Coda, Wonju (9/10)
Bottom Line, Incheon (9/11)
Photo by Nadine Targiel
Subway Jazz Orchestra
in News
The new SJO concert season starts next month (Sept 9th). Great artist have been invited to play their music with us. We will start with Hendrika Entzian and Monika Roscher in September and October followed by Jan Schreiner and David Grottschreiber (Nov & Dez). You should check our new homepage for updates and more info: www.jazz-im-subway.com
SCHMID's HUHN in Mannheim
Last week we had a wonderful concert for IG Jazz at Klapsmühl', Mannheim. To get an impression you can read the newspaper articel by Rainer Köhl and watch the great photos by Frank Schindelbeck.
Stefan Karl Schmid / Philipp Brämswig ANIMA
in New Albums, News, Videos
This week my new quartet CD STEFAN KARL SCHMID/ PHILIPP BRÄMSWIG - ANIMA is going to be released on META records. We produced this record at the Deutschlandfunk Studios in Cologne with a fantastic bunch of people. Thank you very much Robert Landfermann, Jonas Burgwinkel, Christian Heck, Christoph Rieseberg, Michael Fossenkemper, Harald Rehmann, Nadine Targiel and Jana Heinlein for your contribution.
First release concerts will be:
05/03: Ambiente, Worms
05/07: Studio672, Köln
05/09: Thorn, Netherlands
The CD can be ordered through my shop. More information and music here.