Tamara Lukasheva, NICA artist since 2019, is awarded the WDR Jazzpreis 2021 in the category composition! Motivation: ‘Tamara Lukasheva, born in Odessa in 1988, has developed a distinct signature as a singer, and keeps on further expanding this style as composer and arranger into a profound tonal language with Eastern European hints, expressive and urban.’ A radio portrait of Tamara as well as information on other award categories are available here; and, she will be featured in detail during today’s programme on WDR 3 Jazz & World starting at 22:00: https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/programm/sendungen/wdr3-jazz-world/titelliste-jazz-world-784.html

Congratulations to all award winners!

Photo: Foto: WDR 3

Elisabeth Coudoux’s quintet Emißatett has released its new CD »physis«.
Five outstanding musicians meet each other with high musical values such as equality, freedom, listening, and the common form of sound. The Emißatett is the realization of direct musical communication. A dense but transparent building of events is created, a complex structure. There is no intellectual definition for this experience. It is up to the listener’s state of mind whether he hears or thinks exclusively, whether he sinks into himself or looks, whether he analyses or swings into the music.

»The cello, otherwise better known as a slightly melancholic romantic, screeches, trembles and jumps into time. Together with the piano as spaceship, the snare as satellite, the bass as nutrient and the trombone as transducer they blow up the nothingness. Sounds rush by, take us with them and set us down again with stretched perception. Destination Multiverse.«

The Emißatett has existed since 2013 and was included in the 2019 funding programme of the Ministry of Culture and Science for professional, independent music ensembles.

The album is digital available at bandcamp.

Introducing new community Stepping Stone

Stepping Stone is a new community aimed at empowering musicians towards sustainable international careers. The current music system has gradually lost its connection to the value of music and its creation. Stepping Stone enables an open dialogue with musicians and professionals: bottom-up, aimed at long-term relationships and committed to contribute and share.

During this year’s inJazz, Stepping Stone will be officially launched and opens a dialogue on a creator-centered approach. You are invited to step up and actively participate in this conversation together with Stepping Stone ’20 participants Berlinde Deman and Bram Stadhouders.
Stepping Stone is financially made possible by among others Grensverleggers – funding to support cultural collaborations between parties in Flanders, the province of Noord-Brabant, the province of Limburg and the province of Zeeland – and by Sabam for Culture. More information: Stepping Stone

With:
Berlinde Deman, artist-composer (BE)
Bram Stadhouders, artist-composer (NL)
Svenja Doeinck, project manager NICA, Stadgarten (DE)
Martel Ollerenshaw, Arts broker & creative producer, Sound Out (GB)
Sophie Blussé, Director, Jazz International Rotterdam (NL)

Host:
Sandra Gevaert, participatory leadership expert, coach, host, Morosoph (NL)
Lobke Aelbrecht, production manager, JazzLab (BE)
Rogier Telderman, artist, creative Powered by TINC (NL)

The online inJazz conference is English spoken.

This session takes place online via the platform NetworkTables. Please note that seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Save your seat now.

Pablo Held’s new album, Ascent, his second for Edition Records, is a collaboration between his long-running trio (with bassist, Robert Landfermann and drummer, Jonas Burgwinkel) and the great Brazilian guitarist Nelson Veras. Regarded as one of the most talented and adventurous pianists and improvisors in Europe, Pablo Held is building a formidable reputation, not only as a pianist of outstanding ability but also for his considerable musicality, energy and risk-taking. Ascent is highly anticipated new album, following their 10th album Investigations, praised internationally for its remarkable quality, deep communication and lyrical elegance, prompting All About Jazz to describe the group as »a world-class trio of exceptional talent«. The new album is a deeply satisfying fusion of the powerful and expressive music associated with Pablo Held’s trio and the fluid invention of Nelson Veras’s guitar stylings.

Live, Pablo Held will present his new CD with two concerts on April 3 & 4, 2020 at Stadtgarten Cologne.

Four Cologne musicians are the new Artists in Residence, who will help shape the programme in the Stadtgarten from 2020. On 17 December 2019, the four NICA Artists presented their current projects to the audience and invited organizers in a short performance at the Stadtgarten in Cologne.

With NICA artist development, a pilot project launched this autumn by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia to promote jazz musicians at the European Centre for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Within a funding period of three years, it enables the selected artists to build up a professional, international network as well as a long-term presence at home and abroad, to sharpen their artistic profile and to provide them with the necessary knowledge for a successful career.

The 2nd generation has started!
Another six outstanding musicians* have been selected as the 2nd generation to receive NICA funding for their careers. They were nominated by selected promoters and music journalists. The final selection of the ‘NICA artists 2020’ was the responsibility of an expert jury. The six artists are:

Heidi Bayer (trumpet, *Lichtenfels)

Leif Berger (percussion, *Münster) 

Sonae (producer/DJ, *Köln)  

Laura Totenhagen (vocals, *Bergisch-Gladbach)

Janning Trumann (trombone, *Uelzen)

Philip Zoubek (piano, *Tulln, Austria)

Click here for the press release.

Further information about the artists is available here.

Today our NICA magazine starts with a portrait series in which we present the NICA Artists in short video clips. We start with a portrait of the cellist Elisabeth Coudoux, who moves at the intersection of different musical genres such as free improvisation, experimental music, new composed music and jazz. The portrait as well as all upcoming formats of the NICA Magazine can be viewed here.

The NICA Magazine is produced by an experienced editorial team - consisting of Martin Laurentius (Jazz thing, “Deutscher Jazzjournalisten Preis” 2017) and Felix Klopotek (Kölner StadtRevue) - in cooperation with Klangmalerei.tv.

In his interview series »Pablo Held Investigates«, Pablo Held has been talking to his musical idols and companions since 2018. Some of the interviews from the successful series can be read in JazzThing magazine. Wayne Shorter, Joey Baron, Dave Holland, Bill Stewart, John Scofield, Norma Winstone, Larry Goldings or Dave Longstreth already talked to Pablo Held about their music and creative process.

After Pablo Held tried out something new on the occasion of his new album »Ascent« and published a audio commentary about the inspirations and working method for this album, the idea for a new podcast series was born.
His plan is to publish an audio commentary for each of his albums. In the current episode he talks about his album »The Trio Meets John Scofield«, which was released in 2014 by Pirouet Records.

In January this year the monthly series NICA presents at the Jaki started. Due to the current situation the series cannot be continued for the time being. As long as this is the case, there will instead be »NICA streams« every Thursday, which will bring the artists of the free Cologne scene to life digitally, curated and recorded by the NICA artists Elisabeth Coudoux, Pablo Giw, Pablo Held and Tamara Lukasheva.

On the occasion of the International Jazz Day, »NICA streams…« will network with the three clubs Moods (Zurich), Porgy&Bess (Vienna) and Victoria (Oslo) to create a joint programme. The programme will start at 19:00 in Cologne, continue at 20:00 at Victoria and continue at 20:30 at Porgy & Bess.
In Cologne, NICA Artist Pablo Held will host the evening. Due to the occasion, he will be supported by Mascha Corman, who will conduct interviews with the three above-mentioned venues as NICA foreign correspondent. Pablo Held has invited the following two duos as musical program points:

Landferman / Ramond

With Christian Ramond and Robert Landfermann, two generations of Cologne double bassists meet for discourse. Both are connected by a Bonn past and early lessons with the great German jazz personality Gunnar Plümer. As a duo, they weave together standards of the American jazz tradition with European improvisational music.

Simon Seidl / Veronika Morscher

Austrian-born songwriter Veronika Morscher presents a program from her own pen in a rare duo performance with jazz pianist Simon Seidl. The vocalist’s passion for storytelling and her penchant for poetry are shown to advantage in a very special way in the reduced setting and through the characterful and expressive accompaniment of the Ingolstadt-born pianist.

In January this year the monthly series NICA presents at the Jaki started. Due to the current covid-19 situation the series cannot be continued for the time being. As long as this is the case, there will instead be »NICA streams« every Thursday, which will bring the artists of the free Cologne scene to life digitally, curated and recorded by the NICA artists Elisabeth Coudoux, Pablo Giw, Pablo Held and Tamara Lukasheva.

The first livestream will take place on Thursday, April 2 at 18:30: NICA streams Lukasheva/Gramss & Coudoux/Giw
to the livestream:
culture-stream.cologne/videos/nica-streams

Starting in January, the four artists in residence Elisabeth Coudoux, Pablo Giw, Pablo Held and Tamara Lukasheva will regularly present their musical ideas, visions, cooperations or discoveries in the monthly concert series »NICA presents« on a Monday evening under their names in the JAKI Club of the Stadtgarten.

Tamara Lukasheva will start on 27 January 2019 with her new project Lukoshko.

Mon 27.01.20
20:00 JAKI
entrance free
more infos about concert