Björn Schumacher

Experience Kai Schumacher's transcendent music as he defies boundaries and surpasses limitations. With his unique compositions, he merges heaven and earth, embracing the essence of nothingness. Each note intertwines harmoniously, inviting you to compose your own melodies. From captivating collaborations to mesmerizing rhythms, his music transcends genres. Let his hands guide you through a transformative journey, where techno, party, trance, and classical converge. Join Kai Schumacher on an extraordinary musical expedition that will leave an indelible mark on your soul.

An accomplished versatile virtuoso baritone saxophone player, Chicago native Dave Schumacher has been a mainstay on the New York jazz scene for more than forty years. His big, bold baritone first came to international attention during the eighties, spending much of those years touring the world with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra. Schumacher garnered further notice following that with nearly two decades as a member of the orchestra of Harry Connick, Jr. In the 90's he also toured with T.S. Monk’s Monk on Monk band and the Tom Harrell Octet, as well as freelance work with many others in New York and on the road.

Is it a love story? Undoubtedly. Is it a play about the strange relationship between people and their computers? Likewise (after all, among other things, quite a few annoying spam emails are given musical honors in it). Is it experimental literature? Indeed, at least in part, because one of the actors from the Oulipo circle of authors around Raymond Queneau and Georges Perec is involved in it. Is it film music for an abstract film with letters instead of actors?

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was basically a singer-songwriter. Only he left the writing to others. During the day, Schubert composed songs. In the evening he sang them to his friends, sometimes accompanying himself on the piano. From time to time, the great Viennese Mozart singer Johann Michael Vogl was a guest at the salons called "Schubertiads" and took over the singing part. Over wine and cigars. Not always great art. Rather: eternal melodies. In the 31 years of his life, Schubert wrote about 600 songs - and in these he seems to speak directly to us. The undisguised voice of a human being. Perhaps hoarse. Harassed by everyday life. With little feedback from the large community - and disappointed by many a swarm.

A trio of contrasts pursue a common cause: with the vibrancy of pioneering spirits, Khalife-Scumacher-Tristano release their first album. Worlds encounter one-another. Now living in Paris, Bachar Khalifé’s familial roots are in Lebanon. He represents the musical moments of the Near East, anchored in Arabian culture and colored by the variegated sound-world of the French scene.

For several years now, the guitarist and lutenist Björn Colell and the Baroque violinist Georg Kallweit, Konzertmeister of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, have formed a noted duo called Ombra e Luce: ‘With only two musicians and two instruments, we aspire to a perfect rapport and a permanent dialogue. We have access to a rich repertory of original pieces from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries for violin and lute/theorbo: this was a widespread combination, essentially before 1700. We work a great deal on tone colours and nuances, spontaneity and improvisatory playing – a flexible and sensual interpretation of the works we perform, giving full value to chiaroscuro: ombra e luce! We are convinced that, played in this way, our “early music” can speak directly to the hearts even of listeners who are hearing it for the first time. This new recording, “Passagio”, is the result of our recent musical journeys. Setting out from Italy to go farther north, we have virtually and musically crossed the Alps with our instruments. The works on this recording shed a different light on the music of the courts of Modena, Bologna and Venice.’

Norway meets Iceland in wildly inventive ambient-gothic improvisations recorded in an abandoned Reykjavik warehouse Jo Berger Myhre and Ólafur Björn Ólafsson have created a strikingly original sound-world that, while it may have its antecedents, doesn’t really remind you of anyone else.