Laut & Leipzig - the blog of the Leipzig Jazz Days.

"I wasn't born with jazz": Interview with Moritz Renner

Photos: Lukas Diller

The fact that jazz is popular across all generations is not only evident in the audience at the Leipzig Jazz Days - it is also reflected in the festival's line-up. In addition to established greats, young, up-and-coming acts are also given a stage to present their own music every year. This year, these included Susi Lotter, Marina Schlagintweit and Moritz Renner, who all received this year's BMW Young Artist Jazz Award. Our author Juliane Eiserbeck met up with 23-year-old Renner from Munich before his concert at the naTo. They talked about his personal relationship to music and the current status of jazz.

What does jazz mean to you?

For me, jazz is first and foremost a passion. It means having the freedom to express emotions through playing and improvisation and not just through written music. Usually there are mostly composed parts and improvised solo parts in the pieces. I find it exciting to show certain emotions through my solo and take the audience on a journey. In general, jazz is very versatile and also politically and historically significant. But for me personally, it's more important what jazz does to me and how it touches me. I simply feel 100 percent at home in this music.

You started taking trombone lessons at the age of 13. Is that how you got into jazz or was it something you were born with?

I was not born into jazz. My parents didn't expose me to jazz, but they did expose me to other music. My dad is a church musician and my whole family is generally very musical. As a result, I came into contact with church choirs, orchestras and gospel music at a very early age. I started playing the piano at the age of seven.

How did you end up turning to jazz?

Through school. I went to an artistic grammar school, where both classical music and jazz played a big role. My brother Valentin, who is three years older than me, also went to grammar school. He is also a jazz musician and plays the drums. I often listened to jazz music with him. My first trombone teacher Christofer Varner was also a big influence. Although he studied classical trombone, he was very experimental in the avant-garde direction. He generally knew a lot about jazz music and history and kind of threw me in at the deep end very early on. At some point, this made me want to write my own music and so it became clear that it was going in the direction of jazz. I believe that everything you experience brings you to where you are today - regardless of whether you like it or not. Everything is an experience at first and what you make of it is up to you.

And why did you learn the trombone in particular?

I used to sing a lot, also professionally in the theater and musicals. The trombone and the human voice are very similar. I had the feeling that I can express what I have to say even more with the trombone than with a piano. It doesn't work without actively blowing air into the instrument. That's why I started playing the trombone. I also found it incredibly exciting to play in an orchestra and classically, but I always liked improvising with the piano back then too. Improvisation has therefore been part of my life for a long time. Then I went to my first concert at Jazzclub Unterfahrt in Munich and heard my future professor Adrian Mears for the first time. I just thought: Wow, the trombone can sound like that! That touched me immediately. I was fascinated by the emotions he was able to convey with it. I found it exciting that you can both shout and play a love song with the instrument.

In your opinion, what significance does jazz still have in the German and international music landscape today?

In any case, not the way it used to be. If you go back further in history, there was swing music, which was dance music back then. Today, you go dancing in a club where DJs play techno, hip-hop or house, which I also like myself. But back then, people danced to swing music. This musical evolution and development is of course very important. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that jazz has become more niche. I myself try to convince people that jazz is not just fast and confused, but that at its best it is music that touches you and takes you on a journey. At least that's important to me in my music. I'm not interested in impressing people.

Some people think that's what jazz is all about...

People who think that should just go to a jazz concert. The live experience of seeing musicians on stage and watching how they transfer energy to the audience is of course very different to watching a DJ. I also have the feeling that jazz clubs have become a dating venue again. It's often not primarily about actively listening to the music, but it does create a point of contact with the music, so in the best-case scenario, they'll go again.

How can you get young people interested in jazz these days?

There are already some great concepts. For example, I play a special jazz program for children with a band. That's great, because children are a great audience as they are so wonderfully open-minded. They see people making music together on a stage, hear the sounds and think it's great.

But jazz is often less accessible than standard radio music...

Yes, people are often very comfortable and if you don't put out feelers yourself and think outside the box, it's very difficult to gain access. One way to change that is to combine different musical genres. There are many bands that combine jazz with other musical genres, such as a techno big band from Munich, which I also play in. And listening to jazz live is much more accessible than through headphones anyway. In the end, I think music only works through a community, not individually.

You recently received the BMW Young Artist Jazz Award. What role do such awards play for you personally or for artists in general?

On the one hand, this is of course an important financial aspect, which plays a major role in the award. On the other hand, it's also the attention that you get - even if it's only for a short time - and that you can use to book concerts yourself or to try something out. I now have the chance to play at the Leipzig Jazz Days. Generally speaking, prizes are an appreciation of your own work and the effort you put into it. But that doesn't mean that I deserve it more than someone else - there's always a bit of luck involved. Of course I'm very happy about the prize, but I don't expect too much from it.

How did the award come about? Did you apply for it?

No, you couldn't apply for the BMW Young Artist Award. You simply receive an award. I received the news by phone and was totally surprised. I didn't expect it at all, even though my brother had won the award last year. In addition to 5,000 euros in prize money, the award also includes two concerts: Here at the Jazztage and at the renowned Jazzclub Unterfahrt in Munich.

What would you still like to achieve as a musician?

I would like to become even better known as a soloist as Moritz Renner and, ideally, never forget where I come from and who I have to thank for that. To continue touring with my own band, to fill larger concert halls and to be able to make a living from music - that would be my dream! I'm also really looking forward to the release of the new RENNER album - the trio I play in with my brother - and the Germany-wide tour next year. I just love being on stage. If I can think ahead, a professorship would be pretty cool at some point. But at the moment I'm very happy. Turning my hobby into a career and doing what I love day after day is actually the best thing for me.

INTERVIEW: JULIANE EISERBECK

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