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andreas schmidt

improvisation is everything...

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andreas schmidt - pianist/composer/arranger/educator


2008 springtime NEW CD „andreas schmidt + david liebman + friends in berlin“ JAZZHAUS MUSIK cologne
2008 new CD and scores of andreas schmidt (piano-solo) "slow motion emotion " www.myspace.com/slowmotionemotion
some little chill-out project of mine with mr. creative dirk grezius.... www.myspace.com/insoulinmusic
still playing and developing my trio with „hommage á tristano“ with john schroeder (drums) + christian ramond (bass)
new recording october 2008 @ RBB radio in berlin with barbara buchholz (theremin), christian kögel (guitars), andreas schmidt (piano), britta flechsenhar (vocals), jonas schoen (bassclarinet, bandoneon) : songproject theremin
also me 2gether with
www.myspace.com/bossanovathree
www.myspace.com/dandiegotrio
Andreas Schmidt: Hommage à Tristano (Konnex Records KCD 5180)
“Nothing is static. Improvisation is all.” These key sentences from the liner notes to “The New Lennie Tristano” are still effective and valid today, 57 years after that album’s release. Especially when writing about this eventful and emotional “hommage” to the blind American Piano-pedagogue, Bebop-philosopher and Free Jazz-pioneer Lennie Tristano – an oftentimes unrecognized genius in this day and age, even “the mystery man of Jazz”, as Rolling Stone-author Robert Palmer calls him. The almost seventy minutes of these thirteen improvised musical-pieces have a very conscious and concentrated sound, absolutely in and for the moment. That they are also essential and relaxed, reaching the listener with perennially newer melodies and “lines” while bearing fruit in an almost telepathical interplay, speaks for Tristano’s ideas as well as for their virtuosic realisation. The spectrum reaches from a Bach-prelude via Tristano-melodies and masterpieces by his students Connie Crothers and Jimmy Halperin to two consequential standards and a host of fascinating compositions by Andreas Schmidt himself. The album ends – typically Tristano – in an almost ten-minute long loop – meditative and magical. The top-notch trio convinces with an unparalleled consistency in sound and musical truthfulness. You inevitably hear it and without fail start to really listen. There are quite a few reasons for this. Pianist and arranger Andreas Schmidt is well known in Europe for his highly lauded and deeply felt work with the Lisa Bassenge Trio, the Katja Riemann Octet and Ute Lemper, as well as via recordings and appearances with Michael Schiefel, Lee Konitz or Gary Peacock. Colleagues praise the “surprising beauty and originality” of his music and his “lyrical virtuosity with deep personal feeling” (Connie Crothers), even his “inner sense of lyricism” (Borah Bergman). “Hommage à Tristano” is Andreas Schmidt’s third album, but his first recording in a piano-trio setting. The teacher and répétiteur at the Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin recorded this CD at Berlin’s A-Trane on September 19th 2005, the very club in which he played a few hundred sessions (almost every Monday) and concerts over the last few years. In this trio with John Schröder on drums and Christian Ramond on bass Andreas Schmidt expands the teachings of the Tristano-school, enjoyably respectful and, at other times, enjoying the necessary disrespect. Schmidt, who keeps playing and/or communicating with Tristano-students like Connie Crothers, Jimmy Halperin, Paul Bley, David Liebman and Lee Konitz (check out their album “Haiku”) emphasises the essence of improvisation. His “hommage” expands the playing of the master through “the interactive, interwoven and at times abstract improvisations of the three musicians”. These are spontaneous snapshots with a deep feeling for the truth and realness of the music, independent of trends or concepts. “We are documenting the genesis of the music, the improvisation, life in the moment”, Andreas Schmidt explains. “It is a very conscious experience in which every note counts.” Or, as Lennie Tristano once said: “It’s not instant composing; it’s not following any kind of a formula. All you do is hear music in your head and reproduce it.” How true and well, stirring and overwhelming this can sound, can be heard all over this extremely exigent “Hommage à Tristano”. A successful concurrence of creativity and competence - nothing is static, improvisation is all.
Goetz Buehler
The pianist, composer and arranger Andreas Schmidt was born in 1967 in Berlin. He took piano lessons from the age of 13 and also saxophone lessons from age 16. In 1987 he met the Japanese pianist Aki Takase and the American pianist Walter Norris, both of whom taught him and encouraged him to devote himself to the piano. At this time he began to compose. Numerous TV and concert appearances in Germany followed. He has worked with his own groups, including such artists as Céline Rudolph, Horst Nonnenmacher, Jan von Klewitz, Paul Imm and Christian Kögel. In 1994 Andreas Schmidt met up with the famous alto saxophone player Lee Konitz – the co-founder of Cool Jazz – with whom he later released the CD Haiku. In 1995 Andreas Schmidt was awarded a composition scholarship by the Berlin Senate and spent six months in New York working with Jim Black, Jane Ira Bloom, D. D. Jackson, Suzie Ibarra and Joe Fiedler, amongst others. There he also met the pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged collaboration with the bass player Gary Peacock. Their joint project, the CD Berlin, was released in 1999. Schmidt’s regular appearances in the A-Trane jazz club in Berlin made it possible for him to work with David Friedman, Mark Murphy, Steve Davis, Jasper van..t Hof, Till Brönner, Peter Fessler, Judy Niemack, Peter Weniger, Paul Brody and many other colleagues. In 2001 Minor Music produced the first of three albums of the Lisa Bassenge Trio, in which Andreas Schmidt is pianist, arranger and musical director. Tours with the Katja Riemann Octet and a world tour with Ute Lemper followed. In 2004 he was awarded the Jazz Performance Prize of the Karl Hofer Society. In addition, Andreas works as piano teacher and coach at the Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" Berlin.
visit these sites:
schmidt-music.com
note-to-note.com
konnex-records.de /Pieces for a Husky Puzzle

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Hommage à Tristano

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/23/2007
Band Website: www.note-to-note.com"schmidt-music.com
note-to-note.com
Band Members: andreas schmidt (piano) trio with john schroeder (drums) & christian ramond (bass)
andreas schmidt piano solo "slow motion emotion"
andreas schmidt & barbara buchholz & christian kögel: SONG PROJECT THEREMIN
felix astor bossa nova three
michael schiefel GAY trio

Influences: masabumi kikuchi, lennie tristano, paul bley, keith jarrett, warne marsh, lee konitz, connie crothers, liz gorrill, jimmy halperin, andy fite, sal mosca, don messina, bill chattin, roger mancuso, richard tabnik, carol tristano, lenny popkin, borah bergman, david liebman, sheila jordan, paul motian, herbie hancock, gary peacock, jerry granelli, walter norris, aki takase, kirk nurock, jimmy giuffre, charlie haden, charlie christian, roy eldridge, bix beiderbecke, lester young, roy eldridge, charlie parker, billie holiday, frank sinatra, fats navarro, louis armstrong, bud powell, arnold schoenberg, anton webern, alban berg, morton feldman, eric satie, richard wagner, richard strauss, carole king, joni mitchell, tori amos, sting, all my teachers in berlin and all musicians i played with in berlin and elsewhere...
Sounds Like: hopefully me
Record Label: Konnex, MinorMusic Records, JAZZHAUS MUSIK
Type of Label: None

My Blog

news 2008

www.schmidt-music.com NEWS 2008-------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --> 1 Aug 20087:30 pm andreas schmidt's THREE feat. l...
Posted by andreas schmidt on Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:38:00 PST

important "voices" in jazz by schmidt/tristano/crothers

unique "voices" in jazz..................a thoughtful essay on musicians of deep feeling.text: [email protected] & [email protected] berlin/nyc, november 2007andreas schmidt writes...
Posted by andreas schmidt on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:00:00 PST

press stuff from my TRIO CD "hommage å tristano" 2007

&heartsPressespiegel Andreas Schmidt Trio 2007hommage à tristanoInhaltPressespiegel 2007" Pressestimmen national" Pressestimmen international" Onlinekritik" Radio" ZitateKontaktnote-to-noteSuarezstr. ...
Posted by andreas schmidt on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 05:29:00 PST