INFO  "All Cats Jammin'..."

It is the believe of Berlin-based Mixmaster Hans Kroier a.k.a. Pickadelic that far from being played out the topic of electronic jazz is actually still in its beginnings. While in the pat few years he has only played sporadically to present excerpts from his diverse sampling projects, this year he has developed a completely new program revolving around the idea of jazz, and especially that kind of jazz you can dance to. The sources of inspiration of his new live set and the associated album with the working title 'All Cats Jammin...' range from jive and swing from the twenties and thirties to the groove-jazz of the sixties. The term jazz here refers not so much to smooth bar tracks, nor to virtuoso excesses of experimental programming. Rather, 'All Cats Jammin...' is an amusing and surprising ride through jazz history, on the back of fat beats and bass-lines. The collision between these beats and bass-lines and an historical esthetic of sound and ´true´ swing is what interests Hans Kroier: the changes in the listening perspective that are provoked by this uncommon context. Was Duke Ellington playing breakbeat? Was Louis Jordan a rapper? Was Charles Mingus a funk bass player, or Sun Ra a producer of ambient techno? You can spend a lot of time studying old records in this way! That this slowly ripening enterprise finally took shape in a way that considers the needs of the dance-floor is due to some deejaying friends: DJ T-Ina, who is exploring the combination of swing jazz and electronic beats in her own way; Swingin´ Swanee with her unbeatable repertory; and others who brought me to hear jazz music anew. Currently the project is proceeding into its next stage: Pickadelic live mixing as an element of jam sessions that involve 'real' musicians.                                           (BACK)