BAND VITA
They are back! GROOVE GROOVE GROOVE is the order of business now. The soulful saxophonist Katharina Maschmeyer and her longtime (musical) partner Nils Pollheide have been a confident, almost telepathically compatible team – with the excellent reputation of their jointly led KaMa Quartet / Katharina Maschmeyer Quartet, delighting audiences at festivals and big clubs alike in recent years, already preceding them. This is why they have repeatedly been awarded the title of one of the “leading and most innovative formations of the local jazz scene”.
The last album, dedicated to John Coltrane, was voted one of the best albums of the year by renowned magazine, Die Zeit. Now the band is waiting in the wings with a new, exciting cast, devilishly clever grooves, and crisp new compositions penned individually and collaboratively by guitarist Nils Pollheide and saxophonist Katharina Maschmeyer.
Their groove-oriented and at the same time eminently complex, yet never complicated modern jazz now gets added musical input from two fantastic new band members: Please welcome Dirk Schaadt on the Hammond B3, who has already teamed up with Nils Pollheide on his his debut album, and Marcus Möller on drums. Dirk Schaadt and Marcus Möller have been playing together for many years, as have Katharina Maschmeyer and Nils Pollheide in a well-established team, and just like them, they groove phenomenally.
“Fetch The Stick” is the title of the new album, which will be released on VINYL LP in autumn 2023 and will also see a digital release. In line with this title, one may imagine a Labrador mix with a drumstick in its mouth. This great, playful companion was not just the namesake for the new exciting project by Nils Pollheide and Katharina Maschmeyer, but has also significantly inspired the “animalistic“ groove of their music. So quite clearly, some compositions had to be named after the beloved comic figure Wicky The Viking. A formidable, multi-layered new concert program has slowly and organically arisen during the long, artistically fertile Covid phase – in combination with an equally traditional (sometimes reminiscent of the best Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott albums) as well as amazing new band sound.
Check it out!
Katharina Maschmeyer - Tenor Saxophone
Nils Pollheide - Guitar
Dirk Schaadt - Hammond Organ
Marcus Möller - Drums
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Following three regular studio albums the quartet (formerly KAMA Quartet or Katharina Maschmeyer Quartet) released their first tribute album on 09/02/2016. It features a new interpretation of John Coltrane’s legendary suite A Love Supreme. The album also features a very special guest: legendary Indonesian percussionist Nippy Noya, one of the most renowned and sought-after conga players in Europe.
With its refreshingly unconventional and very groove-oriented stylistic blend, KAMA has made a name for themselves all over Germany. To hear jazz played with such an exuberant joie de vivre, dancing ever so effortlessly between improvised music and funk-infused rock, is truly a rarity. The unpredictable mixture of soulful grooves and inspired, surprising twists and turns makes for an intriguing listening experience.
The recent amount of attention she and her quartet has gotten from the press after their first studio albums, such as „Duck On Ice, Flying Cow“ (features in Jazzpodium, Sonic, Jazzthetik, among others) indicated already they really are “on to something”. Following quite a few albums and two Live VINYL LPs released worldwide, concerts at prestigious festivals such as the Leverkusener Jazztage, Jazzfestival Karlsruhe, Jazzfestival Saarbrücken, Jazztage Kraichtal, Winterjazzfestival Brelingen, this band has grown into a tightly knit unit with an equally multi-faceted and open sound.
The latest album „A Love Supreme / Universal Tone“ got such many great reviews!
• it was featured in the „The best albums of 2016“ by „Die Zeit“ magazine
• listet in the "25 best albums of the year 2016" in blog.about-music.de
• featured on BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk)
• Album of the Week on NDR Info Play Jazz
• “Highlights in September“ at Deutschlandradio Kultur
• got Features in Jazz Podium & Jazzthetik magazines
"The saxophonist with the powerful sound is lauded as one of the best new German jazz artists, and rightly so. ... Her quartet has definitely proven it’s a winner."
- JAZZ THING
"KAMA are one of the most dynamic ensembles across the globe! (...)
Neuklang continues to serve up only the finest talents Europe has to offer and the Katharina Maschmeyer Quartet is no exception!"
- Brent Black/www.criticaljazz.com
HISTORY:
Kama (formerly KAMA Quartet or Katharina Maschmeyer Quartet) was founded in 2006. Many successful and reputable concerts in Jazzclubs like Club Voltaire in Frankfurt followed. 2010 the Debut Album which documents the first creative years of the quartet was released on the label Mons Records. The album received many good reviews and a feature in one of Germany's most well known jazz magazines „Jazz Thing“. For their second album the quartet invited WDR jazz award winner Frederik Köster on trumpet.
"Frederik Köster himself was very impressed by the recording: 'Katharina is not only an experienced saxophone player with many technical skills, but also a very talented composer.`" - Sonic
The third album of the quartet named "Duck On Ice, Flying Cow" was released in 2014 by Neuklang records and got many very positive reviews and features in different jazzmagazines (JazzPodium/Sonic/Jazzthetik). "With always creative arrangements, great manual skills and musical richness the quartet plays a very ambitious and exciting jazz which enthuses the audience." - ruhrjazz.net about a concert of the quartet
About „Duck On Ice, Flying Cow“ (2014)
Fast-paced unisono passages, intricate odd measures and elaborate bass lines alternate with improvised parts. There is always room for ballads and more quiet sections as well, as displayed on the group’s album „Duck On Ice, Flying Cow“, which is yet another fascinating aspect of this superb and highly recognisable quartet.
“The interaction with Nils Pollheide, g, Jens Otto, dr, and Philipp Rüttgers, Rhodes, is marked by mutual inspiration, empathy, groove and movement, harmony and intensive dialogues. The well elaborated, smart and angular profiled compositions of the leader show soul and hard bop aspects, rhythmic capers and melodic richness.” – JAZZ PODIUM