Jazzwerkstatt and Naxos of America, Inc. Announce U.S. Rollout of New CD Releases & Catalog
Naxos of America, Inc. and German jazz label Jazzwerkstatt announce the U.S. distribution of their catalog, including November 2010 releases by The Dave Liebman Group, the Perry Robinson Trio, The Ullmann/Swell 4, and Chris Dahlgren & Lexicon.
Jazzwerkstatt is a name that has a fine tradition deriving from the “Jazzwerkstatt Peitz”, which once was the biggest jazz festival in the GDR (German Democratic Republic) outside of Berlin. In the early ‘70s, the festival was organized by Ulli Blobel and Peter ‘Jimi’ Metag. Jazzwerkstatt Berlin-Brandenburg is picking up where the original left off. In 2008, a new annual festival was started in Berlin “A EUROPEAN JAZZ JAMBOREE”.
Jazzwerkstatt’s next logical step was to start its own label to complement the concerts, whose line-ups have included big names like Max Roach, David Murray, Steve Lacy, Mal Waldron, and others. In addition, historic radio broadcasts from Peitz in the GDR – which featured musicians such as Conny Bauer, Gianluigi Trovesi, Dietmar Diesner, and Tony Oxley – will be released on the label along with recordings from the concerts of Jazzwerkstatt.
JazzWerkstatt Wien (Jazz Workshop Vienna) was established in 2004 by Daniel Riegler, Peter Rom, Bernd Satzinger, Clemens Wenger, Wolfgang Schiftner, and Clemens Salesny. To document and distribute the musical output of this initiative, JazzWerkstatt Records was founded the following year. The unorthodox approach to jazz and improvised music of this new generation of Austrian composers and musicians produces a wide scope of artistry – work that transcends outdated genre classification, work that expresses the current Zeitgeist, or spirit of the times.
The November 16, 2010 Releases:
THE DAVE LIEBMAN GROUP
TURNAROUND / THE MUSIC OF ORNETTE COLEMAN
“In Ornette’s music there is a joyful spirit which permeates throughout and explains why people love his art as they do. His music expresses an irrepressible joie de vivre, uplifting and mournful at the same time, playful and deadly serious-a full view of the human condition. With deep respect to a true individualist and master of his art, I hope you enjoy our Ornette Coleman voyage.” -- Dave Liebman, September 2009
THE ULLMANN/SWELL 4
NEWS? NO NEWS!
“The voice coming from The Ullmann/Swell Quartet is saying listen, feel, and become the goal in these sonic excursions is to explore music in all of its moods, colors and shapes. There is also a strong investment in silence, space, and texture. The compositions are delivered in ten installments, four pieces written by Gebhard Ullmann, two collective composed pieces and four songs composed by Steve Swell.” -- William Parker, April 9, 2009
PERRY ROBINSON TRIO
FROM A TO Z
“Perry Robinson is a musician’s musician. He has been one of the most productive protagonists of the jazz scene for over half a century, and his creativity is still in demand internationally. If the public at large is less aware of his name than of his colleagues Ornette Coleman and Carla Bley, the reason may be that his instrument, the clarinet, is associated with the heyday of Benny Goodman, the king of swing. But Robinson’s roots run far deeper. They reach back into folk and blues, the ground water of American music, and to a time long before the division into old-time vs. avant-garde and black vs. white. This is the basis out of which, over the decades, a mighty trunk grew up and put out a crown of widely spreading branches. In other words, Perry Robinson tells living stories in that most universal of languages, music. From A to Z...” -- Tobias Richtsteig
CHRIS DAHLGREN & LEXICON
MYSTIC MAZE
“The music of “Mystic Maze” is based upon a selection written critiques against the music of the great composer Béla Bartók, who lived from 1881-1945. I wanted, in my own way, to vilify some of the very critics who judged Bartók’s incredible music so harshly by turning their own words against them- in other words, to turn their words into music.” – Chris Dahlgren
The Jazzwerkstatt label releases recordings from three sources:
1. Recordings from the archives of the East German broadcaster Rundfunk der DDR. These excellent recordings of exceptional Jazzwerkstatt Peitz concerts were made in the1980s. In most cases, the lineup was either brought together exclusively for Jazzwerkstatt Peitz or the musicians just got together for impromptu sessions.
2. Recordings of Jazzwerkstatt Berlin-Brandenburg concerts. Plenty of the jazz world’s big names have played in Berlin since jazzwerkstatt was first established and many of these concerts were recorded by the regional broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. The JazzWerkstatt label has released some of these recordings on CD and DVD.
3. Our third and most important mainstay are our recordings of Berlin-based musicians. At Jazzwerkstatt we devote most of our attention to the Berlin jazz scene – this enables local musicians to make quality recordings in a professional studio without being under pressure of time, whilst also offering them the facilities of a professional label.
Source: Michael Bloom PR
