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![téchne]( "téchne")
Jazzrausch Bigband
Jazzrausch Bigband
téchne
VÖ: 26.03.2021
Genre: Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Bigband
“Jazzrausch Bigband is making jazz sexy again” (Bayerischer Rundfunk)
Jazzrausch Bigband
featuring:
Jelena Kuljić, Nesrine, Viktoria Tolstoy, Wolfgang Haffner, David Helbock’s Random/Control, Kalle Kalima, Nils Landgren & Jakob Manz
“Jazzrausch Bigband is making jazz sexy again” (Bayerischer Rundfunk). Downbeat has singled out not just the band’s “high-voltage performances” and “party atmosphere”, but also the amount of experimentation going on. The ensemble’s ingenious mix of techno and big band jazz has proved to be just as accessible to people listening to the band from the comfort of their seats in a concert hall as it has to those sweating it out on the dance floor. Since 2015 Jazzrausch Bigband has been in residence at Harry Klein in Munich, a club renowned for its house and techno acts as well as for its stunning live visuals; this cooperation between a techno club and a big band is truly unique in the world. From its base at the club, the pioneering ensemble has defined a completely new genre, “techno jazz”. The band’s music is getting noticed on the other side of the Atlantic too: Jazzrausch Bigband has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, and Downbeat magazine has pinpointed this unusual band’s remarkable strengths: “A high-voltage performance with party atmosphere and yet plenty of experimentation. The mix of jazz and techno initially might seem surprising, but actually makes perfect sense.”
On their previous albums “Dancing Wittgenstein” and “Beethoven’s Breakdown”, Jazzrausch Bigband impressively demonstrated its process of finding new perspectives on the artistic interaction of themes and elements from a wider cultural context. The focus of all the group’s trailblazing creativity has now turned to “téchne”. This ancient Greek term, “τέχνη”, is still significant in today’s European-influenced philosophy and its understanding of the arts, science, and technology. Indeed, the element which was decisive in sparking Jazzrausch Bigband’s interest in “τέχνη” was the fact that the original concept of both ‘making’ and ‘doing’ can be applied indistinguishably to any of the three.
The idea of “téchne” was particularly appealing to composer Leonhard Kuhn because it drew him into a musical exploration not just of the relationship between art and technology, but also made him want to go further and work his way through bigger questions in science and philosophy, and notably existentialism. Thus, “What It Is” looks at the politics of widening wealth inequality in the current Corona crisis. He shows in Sartre‘s words, that there is an alternative to the famous “It is what it is”. In “Der Literat” Stravinskyesque harmonies are in-terwoven with complex rhythms and melodies, as Kuhn places words by Dada poet Hugo Ball into a wild techno setting. In “AI 101”, the technology of Artificial Intelligence is combined with the art of music by the use of AI as a composition tool: “This piece raises the question of whether AI is progressively taking on more of the characteristics of human beings, or whether in fact it’s the reverse. Don’t we some-times
Jazzrausch Bigband
featuring:
Jelena Kuljić, Nesrine, Viktoria Tolstoy, Wolfgang Haffner, David Helbock’s Random/Control, Kalle Kalima, Nils Landgren & Jakob Manz
“Jazzrausch Bigband is making jazz sexy again” (Bayerischer Rundfunk). Downbeat has singled out not just the band’s “high-voltage performances” and “party atmosphere”, but also the amount of experimentation going on. The ensemble’s ingenious mix of techno and big band jazz has proved to be just as accessible to people listening to the band from the comfort of their seats in a concert hall as it has to those sweating it out on the dance floor. Since 2015 Jazzrausch Bigband has been in residence at Harry Klein in Munich, a club renowned for its house and techno acts as well as for its stunning live visuals; this cooperation between a techno club and a big band is truly unique in the world. From its base at the club, the pioneering ensemble has defined a completely new genre, “techno jazz”. The band’s music is getting noticed on the other side of the Atlantic too: Jazzrausch Bigband has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, and Downbeat magazine has pinpointed this unusual band’s remarkable strengths: “A high-voltage performance with party atmosphere and yet plenty of experimentation. The mix of jazz and techno initially might seem surprising, but actually makes perfect sense.”
On their previous albums “Dancing Wittgenstein” and “Beethoven’s Breakdown”, Jazzrausch Bigband impressively demonstrated its process of finding new perspectives on the artistic interaction of themes and elements from a wider cultural context. The focus of all the group’s trailblazing creativity has now turned to “téchne”. This ancient Greek term, “τέχνη”, is still significant in today’s European-influenced philosophy and its understanding of the arts, science, and technology. Indeed, the element which was decisive in sparking Jazzrausch Bigband’s interest in “τέχνη” was the fact that the original concept of both ‘making’ and ‘doing’ can be applied indistinguishably to any of the three.
The idea of “téchne” was particularly appealing to composer Leonhard Kuhn because it drew him into a musical exploration not just of the relationship between art and technology, but also made him want to go further and work his way through bigger questions in science and philosophy, and notably existentialism. Thus, “What It Is” looks at the politics of widening wealth inequality in the current Corona crisis. He shows in Sartre‘s words, that there is an alternative to the famous “It is what it is”. In “Der Literat” Stravinskyesque harmonies are in-terwoven with complex rhythms and melodies, as Kuhn places words by Dada poet Hugo Ball into a wild techno setting. In “AI 101”, the technology of Artificial Intelligence is combined with the art of music by the use of AI as a composition tool: “This piece raises the question of whether AI is progressively taking on more of the characteristics of human beings, or whether in fact it’s the reverse. Don’t we some-times
"With the Jazzrausch Bigband, jazz is sexy again" (Bayrischer Rundfunk). The album title refers to the ancient Greek term "τέχνη," which remains significant in European philosophy for understanding art, science, and technology to this day. Alongside their guests, the Jazzrausch Bigband reflects their awareness of the fluid boundaries of these domains—compositionally and lyrically through the exploration of mathematical, philosophical, and literary themes, and sonically through the fusion of jazz, classical, and techno. Featuring Nesrine, Jelena Kuljić, Viktoria Tolstoy, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Haffner, David Helbock, Kalle Kalima, and Jakob Manz.
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Jazzrausch Bigband
The driving forces behind the project are Munich-based trombonist and music manager Roman Sladek and guitarist and composer Leonhard Kuhn, who also lives in Munich.
The starting point of their musical journey is a Munich institution: the ‘Harry Klein’, one of the most renowned electro clubs in Europe. In 2015, just one year after it was founded, the Jazzrausch Big Band became artist in residence at Harry Klein and the young Munich audience went crazy. A big band in a techno club. Truly unique. For Munich and the world. The stages quickly became bigger, the band filled rock venues such as the Muffathalle as well as high-culture temples such as the Munich Philharmonic Hall and made guest appearances at renowned festivals throughout Germany.
So it is no exaggeration to call the band a phenomenon. One that shows in its very own way what has long been bubbling and working in this music that calls itself ‘jazz’: today more than ever, it is the pigeonhole for what otherwise doesn't fit into any pigeonhole. And everyone, the musicians and the audience alike, have fun tearing down boundaries with relish. The music of the Jazzrausch Big Band, it seems, fulfils several longings in this context: those of clubbers for something more genuine, handmade, fresh and original.
Jazzrausch Bigband
