Podcast

I enjoyed recording the audio commentary to my latest record “Ascent” so much that I made the plan to do this for each one of my albums. This time I’m talking about my record “The Trio Meets John Scofield” which was released on Pirouet Records back in 2014. It features my trio buddies Robert Landfermann & Jonas Burgwinkel + our hero John Scofield and it was recorded live at the Philharmonic Hall in Köln.

When we got offered to play a concert featuring a special guest, Sco was at the top of our list and to our surprise he accepted to play with us! After 2 days of hanging and rehearsing we went on stage with our hero, in a packed Philharmonic Hall in our home town — a night I’ll never forget! We initially recorded it just for our own remembrance, but in the following weeks, Sco and me kept getting back to it and finally decided to put it out.

It was nice to revisit this experience and share my memories and feelings about the music. I hope you enjoy it, too.

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Talking to master bassist Ben Street was a great experience for me. Right from the start I felt a connection with him, which allowed for a very candid and in-depth exploration of Ben’s musical process and experiences. He also asked me a couple of questions, including some about previous episodes and the process behind this interview series. Our conversation went on for about 4 hours and it felt like it wouldn’t have been a problem for us to go on even longer. For days I was busy processing all the inspiration I got from him, and I guess I still am.

It has been 2 years since I started doing these interviews. Together with my producer Till Moses Kammertöns we decided this would be an ideal celebratory episode for the 2nd anniversary. Here’s to many more!

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I’m happy to share my interview with the great Aaron Parks. I first heard him sometime 2004 on Terence Blanchard’s “Bounce” album. Being very impressed by his playing I began to investigate more and came across lots of recordings that featured his playing. Too many to list here, but I’ll say that especially during that time “Bounce” and “Flow” by Terence Blanchard, Gretchen Parlato’s eponymous record and lots of bootlegs of Kurt Rosenwinkel’s bands with Aaron were particularly inspiring for me. I’ve closely followed Aaron’s music every since. As I tell him at some point during the interivew, I really think that Aaron introduced a fresh new approach to the piano that wasn’t there before he came on the scene.

We also talk about what he’s working on at the moment, his relationship with Thomas Morgan and Ben Street, the different approaches in his trios with Ben Street & Billy Hart vs. Thomas Morgan & RJ Miller, finding a personal approach on the piano, different piano players who are on the scene today, his process of strengthening his musical foundation, listening habits, and daily practices… lots of things! It’s always great to talk to Aaron. I’m happy he agreed to do this interview and that we can share it with all of you. Enjoy!

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