LifeLines #3: Rubén Rada
With Jazzanova, Juana Molina, Javier Malosetti 
08 - 10 April 2010
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Latin rock pioneer, jazz-funk legend: The third round of the series LifeLines pays tribute to Uruguay's musical music star Rubén Rada. He was one of the first musicians to show the decisive role Africa has played in the music of Latin America and to make it seen and heard. Admired by Milton Nascimento and Paul McCartney, the composer, singer, percussionist and band leader’s musical career spans over 40 years, and has had an enormous influence on Latin American pop music. „LifeLines #3“ is inviting to an encounter with Rubén Rada, his fans and companions ,including the NuJazz-/Funk formation Jazzanova, the Argentinian bassist Javier Malosetti bassist, the singer-songwriter Juana Molina and El Negro Rada’s band.

Thu 08.04.2010, 8 p.m.: Jazzanova live & Guests + Javier Malosetti + Jazzanova DJ-Set "Diggin' South America" (Concert) | Admission: 13 € / 10 €  more

Fri 09.04.2010, 8 p.m.: Pablo Schanton (Lecture) | 9 p.m. Juana Molina (Concert) | Admission: 10 € / 8 € more

Sat 10.04.2010, 8 p.m.: Rubén Rada & Band + Jazzanova Contemporary Club Set (Concert) | Admission: 13 € / 10 € more

More information
Onlinetickets LifeLines #3: Rubén Rada is part of the Bicentenario program.

Jazzanova Releases New Digital Edition of Their Hit Album "Of All The Things"

The last twelve or so months had been especially exciting and busy months for Jazzanova. Since they released their brilliant second album, "Of All The Things", in October 2008, the Berlin-based DJ collective had little time to take a breath: one month after the album release they started a remix contest which resulted in more than 400 remixes they had to listen to; at the same time, Jürgen von Knoblauch, Alexander Barck, Claas Brieler, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer, and Roskow Kretschmann had to rehearse with the musicians of their newly formed Jazzanova Band for a couple of exclusive live performances; and following the enthusiastic worldwide reviews of "Of All The Thing" they were even more in demand as DJs, remixers, and producers.

Now this frantic year comes to an end, and Jazzanova took their time to work on a new digital edition of their latest masterpiece. In addition to the twelve tracks of the original album, this exclusive digital edition features seven remixes: three of the second single "I Can See" (Mark E Remix, Holy Ghost! Remix & Instrumental Mix), another two of the first single "Let Me Show Ya" (Henrik Schwarz Remix & Instrumental Mix) and - as a very special treat - two brand new remixes of the track "Look What You Are Doing To Me" (Christian Prommer Remix & Motor City Drumensemble Remix). "I really love the Jazzanova album and especially the tune 'Look What You Are Doing To Me'", says Christian Prommer. "It's my favorite party tune of the album. Great voice! I had a great time remixing this tune."

"Of All The Things" (Deluxe Edition) on iTunes

Kaleidoskop: Jazzanova Resident Night at the Lido in Berlin

For several years, the legendary Kaleidoskop club events took place at the notorious WMF club. In these years, Jazzanov, being the Kaleidoskop's resident DJs, invited to their club nights in Berlin the "Who's Who" of the downtempo/freestyle scene: a.o. Gilles Peterson, Peter Kruder, Richard Dorfmeister, Masters At Work, LTJ Bukem, King Britt, Carl Craig, IG Culture, Dego (4Hero), and DJ Spinna.

In January, Jazzanova's Alex Barck will present the one and only Rainer Trüby."Compost's star turn and the trainspotter's trainspotter, Rainer Trüby has always had the record box that makes others weep with envy," BBC's Paul Clarke once wrote in a review. Since the 1990s Trüby is travelling the world in order to spread his vision of "good dancefloor music". As a stylish music connoisseur with strong roots in soul, jazz, funk, and Latin music, he is a real master in blending theses organic sounds with electronic dance music.

Who: Alex Barck (Jazzanova) plus special guest Rainer Trüby
When: Saturday, 16. January 2010, Doors:11:00 PM
Where: Kaleidoskop at the Lido in Berlin

The Kaleidoskop club events take place every two months at the Lido (Cuvrystraße 7, 10997 Berlin)

Daniel Brühl is the whiz kid of the German cinema. Blockbuster films like "Good Bye Lenin", "The Bourne Ultimatum", "Rabbit Without Ears", "Krabat", and Tarantino's " Inglourious Basterds" brought him international fame. Brühl's most recent film is the charming comedy "Lila, Lila", in which he plays David, a waiter, who finds an unpublished manuscript in a dresser drawer. To impress a girl, he claims to be the author. When the novel becomes a best-seller the real author introduces himself in his life and begins to take-over David's life.

"Lila, Lila" is a very smart comedy who promises to become a big success. Even smarter is the soulful and tasteful film soundtrack provided by Jazzanova. Now, the digital media store iTunes offers an exclusive pre-release of the "Lila, Lila" soundtrack. From January 15, 2010 on, the songs will also be available at Finetunes and other online music stores.
purchase it here...

All Good Remixes Come In Threes - We proudly present the three winners of the Jazzanova Remix Contest

As the excellent works of the three winners of Jazzanova’s Remix Contest show, today’s remixers don’t limit themselves to fooling a bit around with the buttons, knobs, and controllers of their soundboards. All three impressed us with their very unique musical approaches that paid due respect to Jazzanova’s original vesion of “I Can See” while at the same time heading into a completely different direction stylistically, ranging from deep house via jazz to a mix of country, soul, and reggae. Actually, two of the three winning contributions are rather instrumental reworks than remixes in the traditional sense.

“Since so many astoshingly good remixes had been submitted, it was no easy task for us to come to a final decision,” says Jazzanova’s Jürgen von Knoblauch . “We dicussed the matter over and over again and finally agreed on three winners who had very different approaches and represented the stylistic variety of all submitted remixes. However, we had to draw the lucky winner of  Ableton’s software package and Soundcloud’s premium membership. Once again, we would like to thank all the remixers/producers who participated in our remix contest and submitted their excellent works.”

All three winners will be offered a digital release on Jazzanova’s label Sonar Kollektiv. So let us briefly introduce you to these lucky guys:

The only winner which made a remix in the more traditional sense was the DJ/producer collective D.Construction (Bailey a.k.a. Filou - producer & deep house DJ / Chocolate - producer & technical mastermind / Six Sigma - producer & tech house DJ) from Halle/Saxony-Anhalt, which specializes in deep house, jazz, and electronic music. With their relaxed “D.Construction Reconstruction” of Jazzanova’s “I Can See” they made it to the Top 3.

Berlin-based trio Ye:Solar featuring e-piano player Random Rhodes, double-bassist Steve Bass, and drummer Groovemaster7 took a completely different approach. The band once started as an almost classic jazz trio but soon also experimented with electronic sounds and samples of their own recordings. Today, their tracks and remixes are included in the playlist of renowned international DJs such as Nicola Conte (Italy), Kid Loco (Paris, France), and Drumagick (São Paulo, Brazil). With their irresistibly swinging yet still pretty progressive rework of “I Can See” Ye:Solar certainly delivered the most jazzy contribution to this remix contest.

But the biggest surprise was the contribution by a Lithuanian production team none of us had ever heard of before. Due to lack of better information and a mistake made during the registration process they were listed as mstr4 (The team’s name, however, is actually VaiTaiTau). Only when they made it to the top 10 list, VaiTaiTau sent a mail to our partner Soundcloud: “Hello, we are very happy that our version is in the top 10.  But when we were uploading the file I didn’t name it correctly. It’s listed as ‘Jazzanova - I Can See mstr4’.  However, we call ourselves VaiTaiTau. So our remix should be listed as ‘Jazzanova - I Can See (VaiTaiTau Remix)’. Hope this is not a big problem and you’re still able to fix the name.” What caught our ear was the brilliant guitar playing of Eduardas Armonas who sounds as if he had a couple of lessons from the likes of Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Ernest Ranglin. We were equally impressed by the ensemble’s stylistic range which includes elements of country music, soul, jazz, and reggae. For their rework VaiTaiTau’s members Alvydas Maciulskas, Leonas Somovas, Gediminas Andriskevicius, and Aurimas Rimeikis teamed up with guitarist Eduardas Armonas, bassist Domas Aleksa, drummer Vytis Vainilaitis, and guiro player Liutauras Janusaitis. By drawing lots Jazzanova picked VaiTaiTau as the winner of Ableton’s Live 7 software and a one-year premium membership at Soundcloud.

Last but not least, JazzEcho as well as their partners from Ableton and Soundcloud would like to congratulate all three winners and thank all the other participants in the contest for their incredibly creative input.

Jazzanova Remix Contest produced more than 400 remixes!

Mission accomplished! In the last few days before the deadline for participating in our Jazzanova Remix Contest expired, we surpassed the really fabulous mark of 400 remixes. In the two months that went by since the beginning of the contest, exactly 410 remixes from all over the world were uploaded. Now all participants, curious listeners, and we ourselves are looking forward to learn whose remix will be the big winner. As announced, the winner will be picked by the Jazzanova expert team itself.

And even though there are six clever, fast thinking, and highly qualified heads behind Jazzanova, it still will take some time until they have listened to all remixes and sorted out the winner. After all, they're very busy preparing their first ever live show with a band at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards ceremony at the Cargo in London, which will take place on January 24. Therefore, we ask for your understanding that the announcement of the winner will only happen in February.

Jazzanova Remix Contest - Submission Deadline Closing In!

Breathtaking, thrilling, marvellous - these are just a few adjectives to describe the remixes that have been submitted to our Jazzanova Remix Contest. When last November we and our partners from Soundcloud and Ableton invited DJs, producers, and remixers to participate, we had no idea that the response would be so overwhelming: in just two months almost 430 remixes from all over the world were uploaded, and most of them reveal an astonishing creativity as well as excellent sound quality. Since the deadline expired on January 15th, we would like to thank all participants for their fantastic input and dedication. One can listen to all their brilliant works on Jazzanova’s remix contest site www.jazzanova.de/remixcontest. And soon we will be able to announce the lucky winner who will be picked by the Jazzanova expert team itself.

Meanwhile, Jazzanova have been busy doing DJ gigs all over Europe and preparing themselves for a very special performance: On January 24th they’ll present the songs of their widely praised sophomore album “Of All The Things” in their first ever live show with their own band at Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards ceremony at the Cargo in London. “I’ve supported Jazzanova since the beginning and have been greatly inspired by their productions, remixes and general approach to this scene”, says Gilles. “They’ve been a key ingredient to my club and radio sets from day 1 and are a collective who I consider truly ‘world class’, so it was with great excitement that I heard they’d be going live in support of their second, brilliant album ‘Of All The Things’ - its gonna be momentous!” The Worldwide Awards, hosted by Gilles Peterson, are an annual celebration of all the best new music that has come through this year on his radio show, with some of the best new acts performing on the night. This year it will be a very special celebration as it marks the start of the 10th anniversary of the “Worldwide Radio Show”.

Jazzanova: stirred, shaken, and remixed

Just a couple of weeks ago, on November 12, JazzEcho and Universal Music Jazz Germany along with their partners from Soundcloud Soundcloud and Ableton invited DJs, producers, and remixers to participate in a new remix contest: Berlin-based DJ and producer collective Jazzanova had put the tracks of its latest single "I Can See" at everybody’s disposal for remixing. The response was overwhelming: until now more than 90 skillful remixes from all over the world have been uploaded. You’re welcome to check them all out on Jazzanova’s remix contest site.

What blew our minds is not only the broad stylistic variety these remixes reflect, but also the professional quality most of them reveal. Since everybody seems to enjoy this contest so much, we decided to stretch the deadline to January 15, 2009. All DJs, producers, and remixers who have not yet contributed are once again invited to do so. There is a really attractive set of prizes waiting for the lucky winner! And all Jazzanova fans should take some time and listen to these remixes. There are quite a few talented remixers to be discovered!

Jazzanova’s second single out!

With their second full length album "Of All The Things" Jazzanova created quite a stir... not only in Germany and Europe, but also in the US. Especially flattering was the enthusiastic review AMG critic John Bush wrote: "Is it really possible that one of the most innovative collectives in modern music could stoop to making a throwback soul record? (Perhaps they should have recruited Joss Stone as a guest vocalist.) Sarcasm aside, it’s obvious that a soul record from a group like Jazzanova is quite a different proposition from the usual retro rot. So confident in their middle age that they feel no need to innovate (at least, purely for its own sake), the Berliner sextet ends up delivering one of the best soul albums of the era (or any other). True, the influences may be easy to spot - Philly soul here, Motown there, plenty of ‘70s progressive jazz with taut strings or breezy woodwinds - but with arrangements as accomplished as these are, and productions that crackle as gloriously as these do, the group can rest comfortably with their theft, genius as it is. Each track has a vocal feature, which might disappoint a few dance fans, but as with the first Jazzanova production LP (‘In Between’), listeners won’t spend long wishing they could hear instrumentals of these songs. The caressing vocalist Paul Randolph is responsible for a large share of the highlights, while Jazzanova must be proudest for snaring the smooth soul maverick Leon Ware to appear on a cover of his own ‘Rockin’ You Eternally’, with backing vocals from fellow Detroiter Dwele. (Still, Phonte from Little Brother is responsible for the record’s greatest feat - delivering a fine soul vocal on the opener ‘Look What You’re Doin’ To Me’, then rapping just as well for ‘So Far From Home’.) It’s to be expected that Jazzanova would turn in excellent productions with every track, but what’s most impressive about ‘Of All The Things’ is the work that Jazzanova haven’t made their forté in the past - songwriting, arrangements, and the pairing of each vocalist with a song that works perfectly for them. (Credit for much of the songwriting and arranging for horn or strings goes to Stefan Leisering.) Whereas in the past, Jazzanova’s preeminence was obvious on the surface, ‘Of All The Things’ displays their subtle powers for music_making."

Now Jazzanova released the new album’s second single, "I Can See", as a 12" vinyl maxi single and eSingle. The breezy, ear-catching song (which they also put at the disposal for our special remix contest) features London-based NuSoul crooner Ben Westbeech. The 12-inch contains the original album version, two remixes ("Holy Ghost! Remix" and "Mark E. Remix") as well as an instrumental version of the song. The eSingle, which is available for download at various online shops, consists of the original album version, the "Mark E. Remix", and the instrumental version. Only iTunes sells an exclusive eSingle which in addition contains the "Holy Ghost! Remix".

Invitation to the great Jazzanova Remix Contest

Jazzanova along with their partners from Soundcloud and Ableton invite everybody to participate in a new remix contest: This time the Berlin-based DJ and producer collective Jazzanova puts the tracks of its latest single 'I Can See' at your disposal for remixing. Which is kind of funny since normally it are the folks from Jazzanova that remix tracks of artists like Lenny Kravitz, Common, Ursula Rucker, 4hero, Master At Work, Fat Freddys Drop, United Future Organization, Azymuth, or Calixo. Now they offer one of their very own tracks to their 'competitors'. A really attractive set of prizes is waiting for the lucky winner: a package of Ableton's Live 7 software and a one-year premium membership at Soundcloud as well as the chance of a digital release on Jazzanova's Berlin-based label Sonarkollektiv. The remixes will be presented on the Jazzanova and Soundcloud homepages. And the winner of the competition will be picked by the Jazzanova expert team itself.

The Contest ends on December, 15th January, 15th

Participate in the remix contest here!