News: July 2008
Posted July 29, 2008After his outstanding solo concert at the St. Germain Church in Paris, the high point of the Saint Germain Jazz Festival, which earned him a standing ovation, jazz pianist Yaron Herman will travel far and wide this summer: dates are booked at major festivals in France, Austria, Spain (Vittoria), Canada (Montreal) and the US (Monterey), in time for the US release of his latest album, “A Time for Everything” end of September. And he will record his new album with the same trio of Matt Brewer and Gerald Cleaver and some surprise guests in August, for a release in March 2009.
Also on the road during a good part of the summer are the universal gypsies of La Caravane Passe: amongst many exciting dates, the Sziget Festival in Hungary and the Prague festival Barbakan – to be followed by a German tour including an appearance at the Pop Komm Convention in Berlin, beginning of October.
La Caravane Passe will have a new, audio only version of their “Velkom Plechti!” (previously a DVD/CD double) on release in September 2008, which will be called “Sacha Mona Velkom Plechti!” . The album will, in addition, contain remixes by DJs of the stature of DJ Click and DJ Tagada as well as a video of their title SACHA MONA. The audio only version of Velkom Plechti will be on release across Er
The eminent gypsy musician Titi Winterstein, a brilliant violinist based in Germany – though he travelled constantly – and extremely well known there has left us at the young age of 51, on June 13. Titi Winterstein was much appreciated by fellow musicians including Yehudi Menuhin who invited him to his concerts, and has, over the years, been invited with his quintet to many eminent festivals all over the world, as well as touring constantly in Germany and Europe. One of his last engagements was an invitation for the 80th birthday of Nobel prize for literature recipient Günter Grass, in October 2007, one of many occasions that Winterstein has been invited to perform at events organized for and by the writer. Grass has been engaged in pleading the cause of Sintis and Romas in Germany for many years. Titi Winterstein has recorded many albums in his relatively short life.
Giovanni Mirabassi’s trio (Gianluca Renzi on bass and Leon Parker on drums) have finished the recording of their next album which is due for release beginning of 2009. In Japan, this album will be taken care of by the excellent company Videoarts and the release will coincide with several concert dates there.
Esbjörn Svensson’s death at the very early age of 44, victim of a diving accident, deeply affected the jazz world and the music world in general. All the jazz and generalist media saluted an artist who marked the spirits attracting a very wide audience and making the US jazz media aware of the European scene. Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström had just finalized e.s.t.’s 12th album, LEUCOCYTE, which will be out beginning of September. The legacy of a great artist and a person will be appreciated by all those who had the chance to meet him and appreciate his music.
Coming to play for us from the Balkans, the much lauded and very popular Rumanian brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia will be playing “at home” at the Paris venue Cabaret Sauvage as well as playing some big festival dates across France this summer. They can also be found on the soundtrack accompanying the book “Princes amongst Men”, a journey with Gypsy musicians from the Balkans, written by Garth Cartwright.