New names - Shake Stew and Adam Ben Ezra
This week during the 23rd edition of the Sarajevo jazz festival, we listen to and talk about two phenomenon’s from the past couple of years, also taking part in this year’s edition of the festival – Shake Stew and Adam Ben Ezra. People, on top of the standard, that are not afraid to write new music, to experiment, to surprise and inspire.
Apart from this year’s headliners, Brian Marsella trio and Ambrose Akinmusire, whom we talked about some weeks ago, Sarajevo is a host to some of the most interesting names in contemporary music.
On November 7th, we met and heard live the experimental bassist Adam Ben Ezra.
He has been described as far from ordinary, non-standard, innovator. An examples gives as an idea as to why that is. And calling him a multi-instrumentalist is totally in order. You would ask yourself if it is possible for one person to play this music, to create such sounds from his double bass, to mix loops, to play with the pedals. Apart from his colourful live performances, Adam Ben Ezra is also popular for his YouTube channel, that can keep you updated to recent news and developments about him.
Today we listen to Adam Ben Ezra in three examples. Two live recorded pieces from Pin/Drop in a studio in Lichtenstein and one more funny coocing.
The Austrians from Shake Stew – a septet formed in 2016, led by Lukas Kranzelbinder, has turned into a European phenomenon during the past three years. Today we get to witness what two bassists, two drummers, two saxophonists and a trumpet player (three wind instrumentalists) can do. They already captured the attention of both critics, and the audiences with their debut album “The Golden Fang”. Their second album “Rise and Rise Again” also features the British saxophone virtuoso Shabaka Hutchings. Their third and most recent album came out this November, and it goes by the name of “Gris Gris”. We impatiently await seeing them this evening, November 8th at one of the best musical venues – the Sarajevo War Theatre, also known as SARTR.
Keep an eye out throughout the next couple of weeks on reporting from this year’s festival, just like last year.
November 2019
Photo ©MA
