Ted the Bellhop Stefan Schultze Large Ensemble

• 1 Ted the Bellhop 05:46
• 2 The Morning After 08:22
• 3 Skala 55 04:27
• 4 Arkona 08:26
• 5 Fleur Carnivore 08:00
• 6 Blues Lee 06:22
• Total Runtime 41:23

Info for Ted the Bellhop

A number of souls in one chest and off we go to a courageous and emotional roller coaster ride, rougher this time and, as a matter of principle, less clean. Stefan Schultze’s Large Ensemble opens new doors in the top class of Jazz.

Unexpected things are happening behind closed doors. But more and more of these doors are opened. This is where the title of this new entertainment program comes from. Ted is the page boy in the episodic movie “Four Rooms” from 1995. During one of his night shifts, the four directors send Ted to various hotel rooms where unbelievable things are happening.

Ted is the central theme in the elaborate, again and again stunning compositions of the new album by Stefan Schultze. A man in his mid-thirties, he has been socialized with various forms of music: jazz, rock, pop, new music, classical music, ethnic sounds, minimal, noise etc. He is part of the “click culture” generation, but it is exactly against this generation that he competes. His elaborate, again and again stunning compositions draw from a great pool, but they require a detailed examination that YouTube cannot offer.

With all its voltes and twists Stefan Schultze‘s music remains extremely alive, agile, full of catchiness and piercing force. And all of this without losing itself in simplicity. The power and contagious vitality of these big screen sounds result from this accurately built agility. This is by all means music from today that has not forgotten about its roots.

And it is exactly the way Ted navigates through this mess, arising from it as a rewarded winner in the end, that shows parallels to these big band adventures. A number of souls in one chest and off we go to a courageous and emotional roller coaster ride, rougher this time and, as a matter of principle, less clean, almost like a live session. Afterwards it does not matter anyway how much of this pressure wave was planned and how much improvised. Important are the emotions and how deeper dimensions are written into what is happening.

Kati Brien, saxophone, clarinet
Benjamin Weidekamp, saxophone, clarinet
Ben Kraef, saxophone, clarinet
Vladimir Karparov, saxophone, clarinet
Viktor Wolf, saxophone, clarinet
Benny Brown, trumpet
Florian Menzel, trumpet
Dima Bondarev, trumpet
Johannes Böhmer, trumpet
Simon Harrer, trombones
Daniel Casimir, trombones
Alistair Duncan, trombones
Friedrich Milz, trombones
Christian Koegel, guitar
Oli Potratz, bass
Christoph Hillmann, drums
Stefan Schultze, conductor, composition

Stefan Schultze
Es braucht Querdenker wie Stefan Schultze, um dieses vielleicht spektakulärste Format des Jazz, das Band-Abenteuer Big Band, am Leben zu halten. Big Bands sind Institutionen des Jazzganzen und Lehrinstitute für den Einzelnen. Big Bands haben einen leichten Hang zum Größenwahn und einen schweren zu Disziplin und Konzept. Big Bands sind schwer zusammenzuhalten, doch in den besten Fällen kein bisschen aus der Zeit.

Stefan Schultzes Large Ensemble ist so ein bester Fall. Sozialisiert ist der Mittdreißiger mit diversen Musikformen: Jazz, Rock, Pop, Neue Musik, Klassik, ethnische Klänge, Minimal, Noise usw. Er gehört zur Generation der Klickkultur, doch genau gegen die tritt er an. Denn seine ausgefuchsten, mit immer neuen Finten verblüffenden Kompositionen, schöpfen zwar aus dem großen Fundus, setzen aber eine detaillierte Auseinandersetzung voraus, wie sie über YouTube nicht zu haben ist.

Mit all ihren Volten und überraschenden Wendungen, behält Stefan Schultzes Musik etwas Springlebendiges, Agiles von hoher Eingängigkeit und Durchschlagskraft, ohne sich je im Simplen zu verlieren. Aus dieser genau gebauten Wendigkeit resultieren Kraft und ansteckende Vitalität dieser Breitwandklänge. Das ist ganz und gar Musik von heute, die jedoch um ihre Ahnen weiß.

This album contains no booklet.