Michael Van Vlymer

Michael van Merwyk released this new studio album in 2024, which was recorded in Hamburg and Bielefeld. Together with musicians such as Abi Wallenstein, Martin Röttger, Georg Schroeter and Marc Breitfelder, he presents an eclectic mix of blues pieces. The "Hamburg Sessions" offer lively tracks such as "Abi's Boogie" and "All Because Of You", with the "Bye Bye Blues" with Schroeter's piano and Breitfelder's harp playing particularly standing out. The Bielefeld sessions are quieter but still impressive, with tracks like the bass-heavy blues "Raise Your Voice". "Feel Like Going Home" impresses with van Merwyk's lap steel sounds and the relaxed Americana feeling of Jennifer and Andreas Grove.

Ein Songster ist sowas wie ein Vorgänger des Bluesman, mit einem wichtigen Unterschied: Er spielt nicht nur den Blues, sondern alles, was er will - und genau das tut Michael van Merwyk auf seinem neuen Album „Songster“. 15 Songs hat sich der Gitarrist und Sänger vorgenommen, für den Genregrenzen keine Rolle spielen. David Bowie, Judas Priest, Depeche Mode, traditionelle Folk-Songs aus vergangenen Jahrhunderten: Michael van Merwyk übersetzt alles lässig aus dem Handgelenk in seinen eigenen musikalischen Dialekt.

MvM is a highly decorated and well established figure in the european music scene and has paid his dues on numerous tours and sessions all over Europe.

You can be angry with the injustices of life, complain about them, surrender to them - or you can tell them to fight! Michael van Merwyk has opted for the second variant. With "Fight The Darkness" presents the 2-meter man with the emotional, rough voice his first solo album. And that comes uncompromisingly reduced - a man, a guitar. Everything recorded "live" in the studio. One take per song, no overdubs.

Seit 1984 ist Michael van Merwyk mit zahlreichen Projekten wie „MvM & Bluesoul“, „Dozzler & Merwyk“, „Garner & Merwyk“ und vielen weiteren Könnern der Blues-Szene international erfolgreich unterwegs. 2011 belegte er mit Bluesoul den ersten Platz bei der German Blues Challenge. Darauf folgte 2013 als erste europäische Band ein zweiter Platz bei der International Blues Challenge in Memphis/USA, bei der sich das Quartett mit ihrem eigenständigen Euro Style in einem Teilnehmerfeld von 124 Acts aus 16 Ländern durchsetzte. Auch in diesem Jahr hatte van Merwyk die Ehre von der Fachjury nach Memphis eingeladen zu werden. 2016 kührten ihn Jury und Publikum bei den German Blues Awards zum besten Blues-Sänger und besten Blues-Gitarristen Deutschlands. Nun kommt sein vorläufiges Best Of als Smart Record.

This is the first album with piano works by Georg Schumann, who was the director of the Sing-Akademie in Berlin and a professor of composition at the Prussian Academy of the Arts! Today he is being discovered as a late Romanticist, but during his lifetime he was regarded as a Neoromanticist. Although Georg Schumann was not a descendant of Robert Schumann, he was from the same productive Saxon cultural landscape and from a highly musical family. Early in his life he developed into a brilliant pianist who already as a youth was able to perform challenging piano concertos. It is thus not surprising that the »master of the keys« also composed quality character pieces, impressive “atmospheric pictures,” and more works for this instrument. This release traces Schumann’s path from his first piano compositions through to his more mature late works; in them we not only hear influences from Wagner, Liszt, and Chopin but also witness his gradual discovery of his own personal style.

MvM is a highly decorated and well established figure in the european music scene and has paid his dues on numerous tours and sessions all over Europe. Over the years he earned several awards like „Best Blues Singer“ or Best Guitarplayer“ in germany and even placed 2nd at the IBC in Memphis in 2013 as the first european Band in the long history of the award. His encounters with international greats and local heroes have led to an ever deeper understanding of blues and roots music. He played Pubs, Cafés, Bluesfestivals, Singer/Songwriter Festivals and private Parties and has always the right songs for the right occasion. It ́s always about the music and the people.

Michael Nyman (born 1944) is one of the most famous and successful film music composers of our time. His music, although inextricably connected with the visual action of a film, has the quality to stand on its own, to evoke and express the visual emotions in sounds only. Nyman’s most famous film score is of the film “The Piano” , becoming an instant hit. Its openness and its deceptively simple musical lines appealed to a mass audience. The music featured on this recording is either originally written for piano or arranged by the composer himself. Minimal Music champion Jeroen van Veen has been fascinated by Nyman’s music his whole life, and the recording of it was a logical step. He is the ideal interpreter of this seductive, mind opening music.