info_koester_momentaufnahme_en

TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D-13597 Berlin Germany
030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de
Release March 4, 2011
Frederik Köster Quartett
Momentaufnahme
Frederik Köster: trumpet, flugelhorn
Tobias Hoffmann: electric guitar, effects
Robert Landfermann: doublebass
Ralf Gessler: drums, percussion v
Gast:
Niels Klein: bass clarinet and tenor saxophone on
"Arabesque" and "Schaltjahr"
indigo cd 932012
upc 705304551228
file under: Jazz
Winner of the
WDR Jazzpreis 2010
Frederik Köster Quartet – Momentaufnahme (Snapshot)
Time is one of our world’s strangest phenomena: it has both physical size as well as being a philosophical construct, measurable by fine apparatus, yet barely captured by human experience. Frederik Köster has alsways been
fascinated by „time“, by mind games such as „Minority Report“ as well as by the traces of contemporary history
reaching up to our present.
Even his quartet’s debut was programmatically named „Constantly Moving“ and documented the first years of the band
after it was founded in 2003. On the follow-up album “Zeichen der Zeit” Signs of Time (2009) the Frederik Köster Quartet
adopted a position of its own using an outspoken mixture of honest rock guitar and elastic jazz trumpet, delightful improvisation and songwriter storyteller qualities. “This is the band as it sounds today and it includes all our influences, the signs
of the present times and the past times”, the bandleader explains. And the signs of the times are looking good for Frederik
Köster. In 2009 he received - as a soloist as well as his quartet - the New German Jazz Award, and in 2010 the ECHO and
the WDR Jazz Awards. The third album of the band now follows, developed as a constant “work in progress”: “Momentaufnahm (Snapshot)”.
“It’s clear that we sound different every day” comments Frederik Köster. “That’s jazz…” The album’s title refers in reality to
the late summer/fall of 2009 when the four-part suite was created that now forms the central focus of the album. The first of
the four segments - “3x211”- conveys the third mode of Olivier Messiaens’ theory of composition in a beguiling trumpet
melody that reminds one of Miles Davis/Gil Evans “Sketches of Spain, only to instantly turn into a compact pas de deux
with Tobias Hoffmann on the electric guitar.Frederik Köster dedicates the gentle flugelhorn ballad “Liebeslied” Love Song to
his wife Kasia. Here the musicians’ individual contributions circle and merge with one another, literally melting into a mutual
song.
But it would be too easy to regard Frederik Köster as an esoteric snob from the l’art pour l’art ivory tower. “The entire network has always fascinated me: art, music and contemporary history,” he says before “2.Juni”. “I was born in the ‘German
Autumn’ of 1977. I recently read Stefan Aust’s “The Bader-Meinhof Complex”, wherein the unrest on June 2, 1967 is
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de
described as the initial impetus of the students’ revolt. I wanted to capture the energy of this period and the passion of those
people who took to the streets back then.”
Is it a coincidence that the guitar solo’s robust power on top of the ostinato rock patterns finally unwinds in the both powerful
and lyrical trumpet line of “Prayer” (and its open soundscapes)? The meditative basic attitude of this piece marks Köster’s
preoccupation with Buddhism.
The four parts of the suite for a quartet are framed by two pieces for an enlarged ensemble: Niels Klein joins in as a second
wind player on saxophone and bass clarinet. Even though “Arabesque (Prologue” and “Schaltjahr” Leap Year were created
temporally independently from one another, there appears to be strong connections: “The previous album ‘Zeichen der Zeit’
was often described with terms like jazz rock or fusion”, Frederik Köster says laughing. “But that’s not enough. I want to show
more facets; the kind that were inherent to music back then. This time I wanted even more interaction, more of a collective, in
a nutshell: to connect freedom and composition.”
“Momentaufnahme” (Snapshot) is hereby a portrait of a group of friends who have already worked intensely together. In the
meantime each of them in their own right belongs to the most renowned younger generation of musicians. For example, the
guitarist, Tobias Hoffmann: he autodidactically learned to explore the diversity of guitar sounds, whether it be complex sound
collages of clean jazz or scratchy alternative rock. Or the drummer, Ralf Gessler, who also played in Hoffmann’s band “Fallschirm” Parachute, providing the emotional foundation. Or Robert Landfermann (WDR Jazz Award winner 2009) who staged
some of the most thrilling encounters in the free improvisation scene with his series “Not Without Robert” and who is internationally known, not only as bass player in the Pablo Held Trio. Last but not least, Frederik Köster, Tobias Hoffmann, Robert
Landfermann and also Niels Klein were the founding members of the KLAENG collective from Cologne.
“Momentaufnahme” simultaneously presents a picture of the musician Frederik Köster – shot with depth of focus. On one
hand, as a trumpet player who is continually expanding his broad sound spectrum ranging from the pithy, gleaming of precious metal to warm, elastic singing and who has long been a master of his craft, and on the other hand, as a musician who
appears on stage with likes of Randy Brecker as well as with the rapper Curse. The experienced composer’s personal style
can be clearly heard as well. He has written large musical scores for his Frederik Köster Jazz Orchestra, thereby acting as
an improvising musician, a spontaneous inventor of sustainable melodies, not as a solitaire, but rather in close communication with his colleagues.
And finally, “Momentaufnahme” sheds light on the current state of music: mixing jazz concepts from Coltrane to Dave
Douglas with multilayered processes similar to Steve Reich’s minimal music, Messiaen modes, the rhythmic energy of heavy
metal from rock to Radiohead and narrative songwriting qualities from the Beatles to Nirvana. At the beginning of the 21st
century, young musicians are drawing on their abundant listening experience. It is a wonderful moment for jazz.
Links:
http://www.frederikkoester.de
http://www.myspace.com/frederikkoester
http://www.traumton.de/label/artists/?id=koester&lang=en
Selected discography:
Frederik Köster Quartett - Zeichen der Zeit (Traumton Records) 2009
Frederik Köster Jazz Orchester - Soundtrack - Live im Stadtgarten (CMO Music) 2008
Frederik Köster Quartett - Constantly Moving (Jazzthing/Next Generation Vol. 14 / Double Moon Records) 2006
Tom Gaebel - Don't Wanna Dance (Telemedia Music) 2008
Curse - Freiheit (ARR) 2008
Ein fliehendes Pferd - Original Soundtrack (Normal Records) 2007
Johannes Müller Jazz Mile - Subway To Downtown New York (CMO Music) 2006
Biréli Lagrene & WDR Big Band - Djangology (Dreyfus/WDR) 2006
Martin Schrack & Band - Number Four (Jazzfabrik) 2006
BuJazzO - Calling South Africa (Mons Records) 2006
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de
Press cuts CD Zeichen der Zeit
"„Has social unrest, the kind which we have been warned about again and again, now taken possession of German jazz?
When a CD is called "Sign of the Times", and starts off like a punk song - with an angry man’s voice counting in – we could
very well be led to think so. Cologne-based trumpeter Frederik Köster’s amazing quartet can, thanks to its convertible guitarist Tobias Hoffmann, indeed make noise – but that’s not what matters first and foremost to this group. The "Sign of the
Times", which the band is bearing witness to here must be interpretted thus: that contemporary jazz can do anything and
everything (or at least a lot): sound like alternative rock, or like chamber music, get lost in electronic wormholes and resurrect in storms of sound, be a familiar ballad, or a nervous folksong.
Frederik Köster‘s specialtiy is not to spread all this out over different compositions, but to be able to put it all into one piece
in a pleasantly inartificial way. His music for trumpet, e-guitar, contrabass, and drums brings the past ten, fifteen years in
improvised music together, all by itself: from grunge to ambient, all the way to songwriter-jazz. No small feat, which recently
brought Köster and co. the "New German Jazz Award", the most highly acclaimed distinction for professional jazz bands in
these parts."
Rondo, Josef Engels, 11.05.2009
"Cologne-based trumpet and flugalhorn player Frederik Köster has already been playing with this quartet in a fixed lineup
since 2003. An intimacy has developed out of this, ever-present and quite tangible, and it leads to an organic bonding of
diverse musical elements on the new CD ,,Sign of the Times". Tobias Hoffmann with his rocking electric guitar has his place
here, as well as jazzier bassist Robert Landfermann, and highly flexible drummer Ralf Gessler. Köster composed and arranged all the songs, proving himself to be the master of fusion. With his steely trumpet sound, for example in the title song, he
molds the music just as much as with his soft sound on the flugalhorn, like in „Ballade vom guten Menschen“(„Ballad of the
Good Human“).
The band is totally convincing live as well; winning the New German Jazz Award 2009 both for the quartet and for Köster as
a soloist certainly attests to this. The CD is an excellent example of the new wind blowing in the German jazz scene whipped up by the extremely talented newcomers in the last few years."
Jazzpodium, Hans-Bernd Kittlaus
"Use electronics and still sound organic - trumpeter Köster from Cologne manages to do exactly that with his quartet of five
years, consisting of hard-rock inspired guitarist Tobias Hoffmann, bassist Robert Landfermann and drummer Ralf Gessler.
The combo is an enrichment for the German jazz scene."
Kulturspiegel, April 2009
"New German trumpet-blooming: chapter four: Frederik Köster.
Strong tone, untouched by mufflers, in a brew that becomes electric drama."
DIE ZEIT #12, 12.3.2009
"Completely furnished but not cluttered
The trumpeters sound the departure to new horizons – With his „Sign of the Times“, Frederik Köster has now given the movement its banner. Of course this CD belongs in context - what music doesn’t? Joo Kraus, Matthias Schriefl, Thomas Siffling, Sebastian Studnitzky, Nils Wülker in Germany, Lorenz Raab in Austria, Werner Hasler or Martin Dahanukar in Switzerland. Not to mention the rest of Europe. New trumpet players everywhere, who don’t do the orthodox theme-solo-themething, who flirt with pop and rock, with grooves and beats, and jump out of and away from the traditional pigeonhole so far
that a new one has to be coined for them. As if Frederik Köster wanted to find a label, he called his CD "Sign of the Times“,
and it once again stands under the sign of the trumpeters. When jazz went electric with Miles Davis it was like the afterquake and realignment of electronic beats caused by Nils Petter Molvaer almost three decades later. Now the trumpets sound
the departure. You can see it all on a banner, with the new sound unfurling right with it.
In the case of this remarkable, furiously masterful coup however, you don’t have to, because this music is unique from the
very start. A revolutionary attitude is not where it’s coming from, it is much more a distinct fanfare on top of the new mainstream, one that fills the clubs, bundles the zeitgeist, and makes you want to get down on the dancefloor. Finding the music
simply chic however, is completely missing the point. 31-year-old Köster not only studied his instrument, but also compositions and arrangement. As was fitting, he played in the Bundes-Jugend-Jazz-Orchester (National Youth Jazz Orchestra),
and in the mean time he’s already a music professor in Osnabrück. Well educated, like all of the above-mentioned, he has
seconded international jazz greats, and lent his voice to the world of pop - Nina Hagen and Sportfreunde Stiller. Why he
won the New German Jazz Award in February in Mannheim, and best soloist to boot, becomes clear when you hear "Sign
of the Times".
This is popular, plausible, intensive music that juggles with trust in wide waves of consciousness without getting caught up
in clichés. It can snuggle up into dreamy ballads and break out forcefully into the rocky open, it brings hardbop patterns
unnostalgically into the present and breaks the familiar with unexpected originality between contemplation and ecstasy. It
maintains a coherent transparency and doesn’try to hide the influence of alternative rock music on a generation. It opens
doors to rooms that are fully furnished, but not cluttered. Above all, Tobias Hoffmann gets the opportunity to play long, intensive, free-floating e-guitar solos that the trumpeter takes up attentively, and carries away. The drum and bass fundament
underneath is both elastic and stable.
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de
The CD is full to the very brim, and a lot of perserverence is demonstrated on the seven tracks, perserverence which makes
Köster’s compositional finesse evident. Breaks speak whole stories here, dramaturgies unfold, suspense is built up and
sustained, all without forgetting the listener."
Leipziger Volkszeitung,Ulrich Steinmetzger, 9.10.2009
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de
On tour:
22.01.2011
05.03.2011
09.03.2011
10.03.2011
11.03.2011
12.03.2011
17.03.2011
18.03.2011
19.03.2011
22.03.2011
24.03.2011
26.03.2011
27.03.2011
28.03.2011
30.03.2011
29.04.2011
30.04.2011
12.05.2011
18.05.2011
19.05.2011
20.05.2011
22.05.2011
30.07.2011
18.11.2011
19.11.2011
DE-Brelingen, Brelinger Mitte
NI-Managua, Nicaragua Jazzfestival
MX-Monterrey, Conarte
CR-San José, Jazz Café de Escazú
CR-San José, Festival Transitarte
HN-Tegucigalpa, Tegucigalpa Jazzestival
MX-San Luis Potosi, Festival Música Libre
MX-Puebla,
MX-Mexico Stadt, EuroJazz Festival
MX-Acapulco,
TT-Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Jazzfestival
DE-Hamburg, Birdland
DE-Berlin, A-Trane
DE-Leipzig, Liveclub Telegraph
DE-Köln, 672
DE-Bremen, Schlachthof : jazz ahead! German Night
DE-Euskirchen, Casino
DE-München, Unterfahrt
DE-Stuttgart, BIX
DE-München, Unterfahrt
DE-Karlsruhe, Tempel
DE-Mannheim, Alte Feuerwache
DE-Medebach, Kulturring
DE-Germering, Stadthalle
DE-Neuburg, Birdland
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
[email protected]
www.traumton.de