Composer - Marita Goga music arts conception – Die Künstlerpersonalberatung

Isabelle Bodenseh

Frithjof Siebert — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 13:37:45 +0000

Isabelle Bodenseh

The flutist moves fluidly across the boundaries of jazz, rock, classical, and world music. After Flowing Mind (GLM), the successful album of her formation, the Isabelle Bodenseh Quartet, this exceptional musician of the jazz scene has a surprise in store—one that will reveal her full artistic spectrum. Even her résumé shows how Isabelle Bodenseh draws on her extensive and profound musical knowledge in diverse ways.

Isabelle Bodenseh loves and lives music.

From an early age, the half-French musician realized that a classical music degree with the goal of becoming an orchestral musician was not enough for her. The freedom she sought was neither found in classical music nor in the role of an orchestra player. She found it in jazz and improvised music. After setting aside her orchestral studies and pursuing a degree in music education in Frankfurt in the early 1990s, Isabelle Bodenseh continued the path of free music, studying with jazz flutist and composer James Newton in Los Angeles.

After half a year of studies in the homeland of jazz, she moved on to Cuba. In Havana, with the help of a one-year DAAD scholarship, she not only learned Latin flute from the most renowned Cuban musicians but also studied composition with Andrés Alén and toured with Cuban bands. Since then, Isabelle Bodenseh has incorporated her global musical expertise into numerous projects. She has performed in ensembles such as Chantal, Verquer, Son Aché, La Serena, and Sisters in Jazz International, as well as working as a theater and studio musician on over 30 CD productions, including playalongs for the renowned Schott music publishing house.

In 2016, alongside her role as an improvisation lecturer at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts—where she has been teaching since 2000—she founded the Jazz à la Flute platform to bring the flute further into the jazz spotlight. This initiative not only led to the creation of an improvisation academy but also to her heartfelt project: a duo with guitarist Lorenzo Petrocca. She expanded the flute family beyond the standard concert flute to include the alto and the particularly intriguing bass flute.

The Isabelle Bodenseh Quartet, founded in 2018, featuring flute, guitar, Hammond organ, and drums, evokes the sound of 1960s recordings with guitarist George Benson and flutist Joe Farrell.

Bodenseh’s band—featuring Lorenzo Petrocca on guitar, Thomas Bauser on Hammond organ, and Lars Binder on drums—forms a swinging rhythm section over which the flute can fully unfold and take soaring solo flights. Alongside radiant melodic passages, the funky and percussive aspects are not neglected. Tours have already taken the lively flutist and her band across Europe. The new, now fifth album, with her lyrical flute voice, will also be presented live.

Jens Gebel

Frithjof Siebert — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 12:59:16 +0000

Jens Gebel

Composition | Jazz | Music

Jens Gebel, the sound painter of jazz, who as a composer and arranger writes his pieces for the musicians on “the instrument”. He has been working in the various facets of the music business for over 30 years. He looks back on a wide-ranging award portfolio as a blind musician, such as “STYLIST OF THE YEAR”, MIT Los Angeles, GERMAN JAZZAWARD , Bassist of the Year German Rock and Pop Award, ZMF Sponsorship Award.

Debut CD “Tunesday”: South American sound for all seasons — composer and musician Jens Gebel presents his audience with a wide range of sounds as a “sound painter” in a quartet

When you listen to his compositions on his debut CD “Tunesday”, you are momentarily reminded of relaxed summer evenings or South American nights. And there is a reason for this, because Jens Gebel, who was born in the Black Forest, was drawn to Los Angeles at the age of 23, where he performed with guitar greats Scott Henderson, Jacob Phillips and Joe Dioro and studied at the Musicians Institute.

The blind autodidact also discovered his love of Brazilian music there, playing with many Brazilian musicians. His performance at the MI with Carol Rogers is legendary. The cheerfulness and positive energy of the Brazilian grooves and melodies inspired him to found the “Jens Gebel Quartet”. Beautiful melodies as well as harmonic and rhythmic sophistication are very important to him. He wants to bring the spirit of Brazilian music, combined with melodious jazz, to a wider audience.

At the same time, there is something about his compositions that echoes the lightness of the transatlantic variety of sounds of George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein.

In 2023, he recorded a debut CD with the “Jens Gebel Quartet”. Alongside Jens Gabel as bassist and band leader are: Michael Arlt, guitar, Domenic Landolf, bass clarinet and saxophones and Daniel Schay, pandeiro.

Jens Gebel says about his quartet:

“… the most important thing for me was to form a band with its own sound with recognition value. I achieved this through the special selection of the instruments pandeiro, bass clarinet and micro bass as well as the skilled playing of the instrumentalists. I wanted to make handmade music with few technical aids — the music should be very relaxed and pleasant to listen to, even for listeners who are not used to jazz. At the same time, the atmospheric pieces and improvisations are a nice challenge for us musicians.”

With “Tunesday”, Jens Gebel demonstrates that he creates his own band sound with his band and that everyone shares his enthusiasm for this style. He himself says: “I want to create previously unheard soundscapes with my music…”

Furthermore, he lives with his wife, saxophonist Veronica Reiff, in Freiburg. There they run the “citysoundstudio”. Jens Gebel is also committed to accessibility by enabling blind people to access the digital world. Since 2010, he and Veronica Reiff have been offering courses on how to use computers, smartphones, and music programs with screen readers on the website www.zumsprechendenapfel.de. Since then, they have held more than a hundred training courses in Germany and Austria.

KLANGLYS

Frithjof Siebert — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 18:25:38 +0000

KLANGLYS

Composition | Jazz | Music

With a variety of timbres and a sensitive mix of instrumental and vocal arrangements, the musicians of KLANGLYS (in German: KLANGLICHT) share their passion for jazz harmonies, rhythmic ostinatos and natural sound patterns in various formations.

“IN HINDSIGHT”: Johannes Käsbach and his intercultural jazz ensemble, KLANGLYS now also in Germany with their DEBUT Album

With diverse sound colors and a sensitive blend of instrumental and vocal arrangements, the musicians from KLANGLYS (which means, sound light) share their passion for jazz harmonies, rhythmic ostinatos and natural soundscapes.

With their individual backgrounds, they develop multicolored and stylistic sonic universes. Bandleader and composer Johannes Käsbach considers himself a musical architect, where the music is built on a construct of each musician’s character and notion of improvisation. His personal affectation for chord instruments – ranging from guitar to violin – and the human voice, are both a clear signature of his sound.

Making listening both, perceptible and tangible, this is what it’s all about for Johannes Käsbach!

From the anatomy of the ear to everything that has to do with sound, the acoustician, jazz guitar player, vocalist and composer, is navigating his audience through a world of music and languages. His music tells stories in a very soulful way and reflects thoughts about life decisions and choices. Like an architect, he develops compositions across musical styles, and builds harmonic sound sculptures that are made for listeners to stay and to shape their dreams. To make these constructs perceptible and tangible, the use of pictures, light, and colors is as important as the drawing of landscapes, transcending the listener through time and space as they wander rhythmically in synchronization with the music. Johannes Käsbach values the interrelationship with his band members and his audience because he has a mission for KLANGLYS, to be inclusive and accessible.

Born in Leverkusen, Germany, the versatile musician, composer, and arranger with a master and PhD in Acoustics and hearing science, studied as well at the conservatory of Hamburg and at the Centre Des Musiques Didier Lockwood (CMDL) in Paris. Eventually, he settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he founded KLANGLYS in 2019. IN HINDISHT is their debut-album that was released in October 2021 by GATEWAY MUSIC, produced by Mr Cheesebrook Productions.

After a big resonance in Denmark, KLANGLYS with Johannes Käsbach is now also represented in Germany by Goga Music Art Conception.

KLANGLYS, this is:

Johannes Käsbach (DE) – guitar, vocals, compositions, arrangements, production

Wojciech Morelowski (PL) – trumpet

Aleksandra Raczyńska (PL) – violin and vocals

Alejandro Gispert (CU) – bass

Jan Kadereit (DE) – drums and percussion

Featuring musician:
Sebastian Zawadzki (PL) – piano

Miriam Ast

Frithjof Siebert — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 12:22:19 +0000

Miriam Ast

Music | Composition | Jazz | Vocal

The German-born jazz singer and saxophonist Miriam Ast graduated in 2016 with distinction from her master studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She quickly established herself as an up-and-coming jazz vocalist and improviser in the city

Miriam Ast’s biography stands out for its plethora of musical and geographical boundary-crossings. The German born jazz singer and saxophonist Miriam Ast graduated in 2016 with distinction from her master studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She quickly established herself as an up and coming jazz vocalist and improviser in the city, collaborating with musicians such as Stan Sulzmann and releasing her debut album Secret Songs in 2018 to critical acclaim.

Having moved back to Germany in 2021, Miriam Ast has now formed a new unconventional trio with jazz pianist Daniel Prandl and crossover cellist Jörg Brinkmann.

Her new album consists of modern jazz arrangements of folk tunes from throughout Europe. In this project, Miriam Ast draws from her musical and cultural experiences from her time in London and explores Europe’s rich heritage with her own distinct voice.