Volker Worlitzsch

Some songs are so deeply rooted in the attitude to life of a region that one can rightly call them 'Hits.' Broadway and its motion picture shows and theaters were synonyms of national cultural identity for New York and the American way of life. The names and melodies of composers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman were omnipresent in New York. They are part of national history, just as the film in Babelsberg in Berlin developed a unique cultural flowering after the First World War. Talented composers such as Friedrich Hollander, Walter Jurmann, and Peter Kreuder became famous overnight through films like 'The Blue Angel.' The famous hit 'Falling in Love Again' (the German translation writes literally: 'I am attuned to love from head to toe') and the legs of the beautiful Marlene Dietrich enchanted Berlin and the whole world. With the invention of sound film, a new, sparkling musical genre emerged: dance and film music, which developed its specific sound through jazz bands.

Motéma Music, now celebrating its 20th year as one of the world’s premier jazz/world labels, will release FlamenKora, a self-titled debut album from a new trio that unites West African Mande music with authentic Spanish flamenco guitar and American and Euro jazz trumpet to create a transglobal collaboration unlike any other. FlamenKora features German-born, New York-based trumpeter Volker Goetze, Senegalese-born, Paris-based kora master and vocalist Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko, and the rising Madrid flamenco guitar sensation, Alejandro Moreno. Following a series of sold-out shows in Europe, FlamenKora will introduce their cross-genre global music to the masses with their Motéma release on Friday, June 9th, 2023.

One of the great piano duos of recent decades presents a new CD on GENUIN "in praise of God": musical works based on the "Laudate Dominum" that kept Johann Sebastian Bach preoccupied throughout his life. Volker and Hans-Peter Stenzl span four centuries, from the Baroque era to the present day. Bach's "Jesu bleibet meine Freude" can be found here as well as a rarity by Martin Gustav Nottebohm, Igor Stravinsky and Astor Piazzolla appear alongside each other, and György Kurtág and Michael Denhoff take a new look at today's visions of God – an exciting and original combination of moving music performed to the highest standard!

The Jazz Club series is an attractive addition to the Verve catalogue. With it's modern design and popular choice of repertoire, the Jazz Club is not only opened for Jazz fans, but for everyone that loves good music.
Guitarist Volker Kriegel was widely considered the father of European jazz-rock thanks to his influential stint with the Dave Pike Set as well as a subsequent series of pioneering solo LPs for the MPS label. Born in Darmstadt, Germany, on December 24, 1943, Kriegel was studying sociology under the famed philosopher Theodor W. Adorno when he began playing in a Frankfurt-based group with German jazz legends Albert and Emil Mangelsdorff, eventually abandoning his education to pursue a full-time career in music…

From day one, it was normal practice for travelling virtuosos to perform fantasies on the famous operas of the nineteenth century. After Volker's successful release of Pablo de Sarasate's complete fantasies and paraphrases (MDG9031819) the highly sought-after Schwerin concertmaster once again broadens our horizons with his piano partner Ralph Zedler and presents virtuoso opera arrangements spanning 150 years: discoveries are guaranteed!