Audiosamples (click to start & stop):

Wie das Leben so spielt - How life goes

What does a musician in the time of Corona  do – what with no engagements, financial insecurity, and with the growing feeling that it may well be a long time before events managers and organizers feel confident enough to plan future concerts or events in the form we have heretofore been accustomed…? Does one give in to despair, quit entirely or find other work? Thomas Kramer decided to try to use this time meaningfully and creatively und began again to compose and with that,  to fulfill one of his fondest wishes: to bring my musical “Dream Team” with whom I had already worked for several years  into the studio.  So now here it is: a “sign of life” – certainly to be continued! With two wonderful friends and musicians, Erwin Schmidt on Hammond organ and Heimo Wiederhofer on drums, The Thomas Kramer Hammond Trio, he recorded 10 fine original compositions and shows his great musical craftsmanship with a great sound as well.

Audiosamples (click to start & stop):

Luny Tune Senza Fine  Minor Truth
Peace Groovin on Dr. John One for ST
Rumpelstilzchen Balkan Flood

Erwin Schmidt, Martin Fuss, Wolfgang Pointner and Vladimir Kostadinovic are all masters of their respective instruments in any case and these four musicians have more in common than their jazz expertise: what makes The Organ Champs unbeatable as a quartet is their shared grounding in the blues. Plus that a certain funky vibe always underlies their mellow songs and solos. Their debut recording required no major advance coordination, but they simply counted themselves in and turned it on. “Turn it on” is also the name of the album, which kicks off with a vigorous drumroll! At its epicentre is the earthy, vibrant sound of the Hammond organ, a recurrent feature throughout the history of jazz that gives the music an irresistible tingling warmth. The Organ Champs also like to make forays in the direction of soul jazz and hard bop, with classics by the likes of Horace Silver, Lee Morgan or Larry Young. In their own songs, though, they skilfully bring their wide-ranging influences bang up to date. 

1. Luny Tune - 2. Senza Fine - 3. Minor Truth - 4. Peace - 5. Groovin on Dr. John - 6. One for ST - 7. Way Up North - 8. Why does it have to be so bad - 9. Sonic Boom - 10. Rumpelstilzchen - 11. Balkan Flood - 12. Are You Serious

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Audiosamples (click to start & stop):

Waltz for Jonathan  Boppin` in D-Minor  
Ed`s Blues Go Wes!  Trikonasana 
Savoy Ballroom The Big Band Theory  
Velhos Amigos

The Austrian guitarist Roland Stonek is at home in several styles, like Jazz, Country and Latin. Here he finally presents his first album as a bandleader, of course with his favorite kind of music: Jazz in the tradition of Wes Montgomery. He chose the guitar/organ/drums-format, with Joris Dudli on drums and Erwin Schmidt on the organ and decided – since it is his debut – to expand the trio for this recording by a hornsection consisting of the creme-de-la-creme of Austrian musicians: Daniel Nösig/trumpet, Bernhard Wiesinger/alto sax & flute, Thomas Kugi/tenor & baritone sax and Robert Bachner/trombone. On six of his eight original compositions you can hear them blowing those great horn arrangements written by the gifted Thomas Kugi. These - together with the superb playing of those admirable musicians – add another dimension to his music. 

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