Meitz - Vertikal

http://volkermeitz.de

http://www.myspace.com/VolkerMeitz

Origine du Groupe : Germany

Style : Electro Jazz , Future Jazz

Sortie : 2003

From : http://jazzport.com

After a few vinyl EP‘s of his own and several remixes for other artists, Berlin based keyboarder and

producer Volker Meitz finally steps out to deliver his debut album. Entitled "Vertikal", it takes you on

an eclectic journey through a wide range of styles - from Soul, House and Funk via Brazil, Afro, Latin

and Fusion to 2-Step, Drum’n’Bass and Broken Beats, yet all coming together under the Jazz banner.

With vocals in different languages (Portuguese, Xosa, Zulu & English), both up-and downtempo

tunes, some atmospheric, some going straight to your feet, the album in it’s versatility appeals to

everyone between home listener and DJ.

"Vertikal" can’t deny reminiscensces to the electronic club scene and yet sounds very live and organic

at the same time. This comes as no surprise since the album features a lot of excellent vocalists and

instrumental players who are involved far more than just being "sampled". Plus, Meitz is an

experienced live keyboarder. Nevertheless, the whole album was produced electronically, where Meitz

also proves to be an amazing drum and percussion programmer. Even professional drummers thought

that some of the tunes had real drums to them...

The soaring ballad "My Love" is the only tune Meitz sings himself. Otherwise he relies on the

contributions of five other vocalists with different nationalities: Originally from Capetown/South Africa,

Vido Jelashe performs on four tunes - amongst them the new Single "Zwakalani" and "(Mayibuye I)

Africa", the title track of Meitz‘ first (and meanwhile sought-after) EP. U.S.-Jazz singer Twana

Rhodes, Soul singer Esther Cowens of Californian origin, Berlin based Daniel Mattar and

writer/Spoken Word artist Kent Evans from New York City complete the list.

Too numerous to mention are all the instrumentalists - to name but a few: Seeed’s trombone player

Jérôme Bugnon and Micatone’s bass player Paul Kleber of Sonarkollektiv fame.

"I seek to close another gap in the ever-growing web between club and non-club, electronic and live

music", says Meitz. "Especially the use of harmonies is mostly still treated with neglect, although

there is another whole world to explore". Tunes like "My Love" and the ambient-jazzy "Aprilwetter"

indeed illustrate that colorful approach. But also rhythmically "Vertikal" has a lot more to offer than

just straight feels in 4/4 - most obviously the three stage brazil track "Passo Em Frente", "Get On Up"

with it’s metric modulation in the epilogue, and "Africa", where the meter breaks down from 4/4 to 7/4,

6/4 and 5/4 in the end (which used to scare off some DJ’s... whereas you can still dance to it =o)

And if all this weren’t enough, you might be interested to know that Meitz‘ musical approach has been

compared to heroes like Herbie Hancock, George Duke or Stevie Wonder. Plus, you can actually go

and see Meitz perform live with an 8 piece band, and that without any sample loops or other

playback.

 

Tracklist :

1 - Can You Live

2 - Zwakalani

3 - Gloom

4 - White Powder Everywhere

5 - Awe Mzala

6 - Aprilwetter

7 - Passo Em Frente

8 - Get On Up (Original Classic Version)

9 - Epilogue (Get On Down)

10 - My Love

11 - (Mayibuye I) Africa (Edit)

12 - (Un Rien De) Mandelbrot

13 - (Mayibuye I) Africa (Restless Soul Remix)

14 - (Mayibuye I) Africa (Dixon's Alternative Version)

15 - Dimanche (DJ Deep Remix)