Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic
“Eternal Baroque”

Before long, Lhotzky had joined the exclusive international circle of pianists who perform the spectacular and highly virtuosic styles of the old masters. He has demonstrated this ever since as a soloist, as an accompanist, and for 20 years with the groundbreaking quartet Echoes of Swing, which propelled early jazz into the present day.

Beyond his own performances, Lhotzky has focussed on ensuring that what he calls “the harmonically and melodically so rich, technically so masterful jazz music from the time before Bill Evans” is not forgotten. He has done so as founder and artistic director of festivals at Schloss Elmau and in his former hometown of Oberhaching. He has also served as artistic director of projects such as the homage to legendary trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, presented a few years ago in the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series, or as mastermind and composer of new settings of Shakespeare’s sonnets for the award-winning vocal debut of actress Birgit Minichmayr on the album As An Unperfect Actor.

Lhotzky was enthusiastic about the idea of the Eternal Baroque evening. “When you listen to Siggi Loch and George Gruntz’s Jazz Goes Baroque, it still sounds totally fresh, even if of course it carries the spirit of the 1960s. It’s a huge joy to bring that idea into the present,” says Lhotzky. This began with practicing on the harpsichord but above all meant engaging deeply with the composers of the Baroque—from the Germans Pachelbel and Handel, via the English Dowland and Byrd, the French Couperin and Lully, and the Italians Vivaldi and Corelli: “It’s above all the simplicity and the primal quality that fascinates and lends itself perfectly to translation. Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso RV 156, for instance, is pure jazz to me.”

The challenge then was to live up to the outstanding lineup of the original project.  Joining him is bassist Henning Sieverts, originally trained as a cellist, taking the place of the late Peter Trunk, himself an exceptional figure of versatility and openness as arranger and composer. Eric Schaefer takes over the drums in place of Klaus Weiss, who was very successful in Japan in his time, and Émile Parisien steps into the role of German saxophone star and fusion pioneer Klaus Doldinger.  Flautist and woodwind player Frédéric Couderc completes the ensemble, taking the role once held by Emil Mangelsdorff, who, together with his younger brother Albert, was one of the defining figures of German jazz.

His exceptional reputation is founded not least on his focus on the soprano saxophone – an instrument which most saxophonists play only as a second or third option after the alto or tenor sax. In addition to his instrumental prowess, he is unusually open in his musical style. His work ranges from tributes to Sidney Bechet, the most famous soprano saxophonist of all time, to avant-garde and world music projects with major artists such as Michel Portal, Jacky Terrasson, Yaron Herman, Joachim Kühn, Manu Codjia, and of course Vincent Peirani. In his own quartet, which looks back on a history of almost 25 years, his compositions reveal inspiration not only from John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter but also from the influence of classical figures such as Berlioz, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Wagner.

After studying at the National Conservatories in Bordeaux and Paris (in the jazz class of François Jeanneau), Couderc embarked on an intensive search for new timbres and sonorities – with extraordinary results. On his 2007 album Kirkophonie, for example, he paid tribute to Roland Kirk by playing two or even three saxophones at the same time. His 2011 release Coudoponie, created in collaboration with drummer André Ceccarelli, explores sound textures and coloristic blends in depth. His musical partnerships further testify to Couderc’s versatility, openness, and virtuosity: they range from the Paris Jazz Big Band and the Paris Swing Orchestra to Fred Pallem’s Le Sacre du Tympan and the bands of Christian Escoudé and Michel Legrand, extending to collaborations with artists as diverse as Ray Charles, Wynton Marsalis, John Lewis, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Turner, Tania Maria, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Natalie Cole.

Sieverts is also a graduate of the German School of Journalism and works part-time as a radio presenter. His projects are characterised by unusual, playful ideas: sometimes his compositions echo birdcalls in the manner of Messiaen, sometimes they are musical palindromes, sometimes they pay homage to Bach through the note sequence B-A-C-H. Since Sieverts originally trained as a cellist – studying the instrument in Berlin from 1977 to 1985 – his bass-playing, especially when using the bow, boasts a rare lightness and technical ease. 

Schaefer has been a member of the trios of Joachim Kühn, Arne Jansen, and Carsten Daerr, of Michael Thieke’s bands Unununium and Nickendes Perlgras, as well as of Kalle Kalima’s Johnny La Marama. At the same time, he has consistently led his own groups, such as the fusion band The Shredz, the quartet Demontage, and the string-based ensemble Henosis. Already one of the most rhythmically driven drummers on the scene, Schaefer draws from a wide range of styles – punk, hip-hop, hardcore, modern jazz, and Japanese music. This last is a special passion of the practicing Zen Buddhist, expressed in such projects as the album Kyoto Mon Amour and the octet Hayashi.

Classical music, however, has always played an equally important role for him – not least because before studying jazz in Berlin he studied classical percussion and contemporary music in Cologne. This background has shaped his work through numerous references and projects, including his contribution to the Wagner anniversary program Who Is Afraid of Richard W. in 2013. All of which makes him, in Bernd Lhotzky’s words, “perhaps the most important figure” for this evening’s Eternal Baroque: “Because in the end, it’s all about rhythm.”