Sunday, December 11
9 pm Liveclub Telegraph
Admission 8/5/3,50 EUR

Lisbeth Quartet

Charlotte Greve - sax
Manuel Schmiedel - p
Marc Muellbauer - db
Moritz Baumgaertner - dr
Higher, further, faster. Yes, there is this strange conviction: Jazz has to be fast-paced, worldly and non-committal like a businessman on the road. Exuberant virtuosity often seems more decisive than sustainability, a dazzling concept more important than modesty.
The Lisbeth Quartet from Berlin must seem all the more astonishing. Three of the four members are in their early 20s, but when you listen to the music of the formation founded by saxophonist Charlotte Greve, you think you're dealing with nothing but old souls to whom all false hecticness is completely foreign.
Let there be no misunderstanding: the pieces of the quartet are thoroughly modern, they live from the grooves and compositional principles of the jazz present. But in the melodies and in the solos a sovereignty and calm curiosity is revealed that has nothing to do with the hectic low-cost mentality of our days. Greve, pianist Manuel Schmiedel, bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Moritz Baumgärtner are old-school travelers. Thoughtful, attentive and always in the moment - seekers off the broadly trodden tourist paths of improvised music.
The Lisbeth Quartet is also a stroke of luck for German jazz because four instrumentalists have come together here who allow, challenge and complement each other. There are very different experiences that come together in the fellow musicians of the multiple award-winning band leader. While Manuel Schmiedel is considered one of the most sought-after pianists on the Berlin scene and is currently working with U.S. guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, drummer Moritz Baumgärtner, who is also extremely busy, is also active beyond the jazz scene as part of indie rock and electro bands associated with the influential formation "The Notwist." Finally, Marc Muellbauer, a member of the Julia Hülsmann Trio among others, is undoubtedly one of the most important bassists in the country.
As part of the renowned "Next Generation" series, which is the responsibility of "Jazz Thing" magazine and the "Double Moon" label, the Lisbeth Quartet released the recording "Grow" in 2009. The CD debut earned the band a lot of attention. Clarinetist Claudio Puntin praised the "natural, infectious power" in the bandleader's playing, and saxophonist David Binney attested to a wisdom in ballad interpretation that was far beyond her years. Concerts for the Lisbeth Quartet followed at the 12 Points Festival in Dublin, the Burghausen Jazz Week, the European Jazz Meeting in Berlin and the JazzBaltica Festival in Salzau, where saxophonist Greve was awarded the "JazzBaltica Förderpreis 2010".
"Constant Travellers", the new album released by "Traumton", can be described as an organic further development of "Grow". The quartet has grown, become more open. The four instrumentalists go there on an expedition to the origin of music, to melody. They set out on a similar path as their fellow explorers in spirit, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans, Charlie Haden or Paul Motian, but they come out somewhere completely different.
The suite-like title track "Constant Travellers" is the best example of this. The theme, simple in itself, is carefully passed from musician to musician; the result is a kind of quirky canon that feels like a cross between a Bach fugue and Ornette Coleman Harmolodics. With quietly glowing intensity, the band plays itself into a veritable frenzy - only to dissect the piece motif in slow motion afterwards in the second, ballad-like section of "Constant Travellers." In this suite, everything that makes up the Lisbeth Quartet can be found: a dexterity that is never used as an end in itself, an immense concentration, but also a playful shrewdness that avoids any pathos.
There is no other way to put it: the Lisbeth Quartet is unique in our hectic mobile world. Constant Travellers, with sense, heart and mind.
Admission 8/5/3,50 EUR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JscaNEjWfoc