Browse by Label: ZAMA RECORDINGS (GERMANY)

Artist:	VESNA
Title:	A New One
Label:	ZAMA RECORDINGS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	ZAMA 001CD

This is the debut full-length release by Vesna on new Essay Recordings imprint, Edition Zama. Inspired by her childhood's family singalongs, the Serbian-born Vesna Petković has crafted powerfully emotional songs with a strong jazz backing. She studied jazz voice in her hometown and later at the reputable Graz University of Music and Performing Arts, considered the breeding-ground for the finest musicians of the Balkans. Vesna graduated with the Federal Ministry of Culture's prestigious "Würdigungspreis" in appreciation of her achievements. Almost immediately, she started performing in musicals and soon met like-minded musicians who formed the Sandy Lopiçiç Orkestar and embarked on a meteoric career -- releasing two CDs that met with critical acclaim, especially for the vocals. Vesna also came to the attention of Bucovina Club creator Shantel, who signed her up for his Bucovina Club Orkestar. The band, still going strong, did several highly-acclaimed tours and played some epochal gigs, including the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2000, Vesna got together with some of the best musicians of her home region (Serbia and Austria) to found her own band, all the while quietly writing and arranging the music that she now presents on A New One. Influences from the musical cosmos of her childhood meld with the jazz she loved and studied. The little girl under the kitchen table and the experienced performer, the traditional music of her homeland and cutting-edge jazz, melancholy and unfettered lust for life -- all of these can be heard and felt on this exceptional debut.

Artist:	RUGER QUARTETT, TOBIAS
Title:	Interlude
Label:	ZAMA RECORDINGS (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	ZAMA 002CD

With his fully-acoustic quartet, Frankfurt's Tobias Rüger explores the musical possibilities of the most classic of jazz outfits. Traditional in set-up and modern in musical language, spontaneous expression and improvisation blends into precisely-arranged compositional ideas. Tobias Rüger has taken on three outstanding musicians for this project: Daniel Stelter, guitar, is neither a jazz, nor pop, nor classical guitarist, although his playing is borne out of all these styles without being eclectic. His playing is exceptionally gentle both in sound and harmony and thus provides a perfect link between melody and rhythm. Hanns Höhn, bass, is a member of numerous jazz projects, including those of German jazz masters Oli Bott and Torsten de Winkel. His tone is voluptuous and smooth. Furthermore, his uncannily secure intonation allows him to apply his bass frequently for melodic purposes. Kay Lübke, drums, has recorded with Efrat Alony and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky. He is an exceptional drummer in the sense that he makes the very most of the whole range of sounds the drum-set has to offer. According to Rüger himself, "Adjusting my compositions to their musicianship became a responsibility, a responsibility to translate the spectrum that exists between solo performance and accompaniment, between formal composition and uninhibited improvisation. In 'Zeitloch' (Timewarp) or 'Die Stimme der Vernunft' (The Voice of Reason), Hanns casts new light on the motives introduced by the saxophone in wide solo passages, whereas the guitar and double bass almost merge into one in 'Im Zimmer der Zauberin' (In the Room of the Sorceress). In 'Der Besuch der alten Dame' (The Visit of the Old Lady), Kay explores the melodic potential of the drum set, accompanied by guitar and bass, while I use some so-called new playing techniques such as multiphonics and circular breathing on the sax." These special compositions were recorded in an 18-hour studio session, and are the result of careful interaction between four personalities and their ideas.

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