THE STORY OF JAZZ - "Duke's Place"

Saturday, 09 September 2023 13:46
Written by Portal Editor

In the first chapter of the season, themed "Portraits of the Lions", I go to "Duke's Place" with my trio and hand-picked soloists to pay homage to Duke Ellington, the most influential musician in jazz history.

I will sketch the life and creative powers of this pre-eminent Creator of American Music and examine him in his roles as pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. Well-tried faces and a newcomer support me in this challenging undertaking.

Star guest at the INTERNATIONAL OPEN AIR SUMMER FESTIVAL 2023

The bassist Joe Abentung and the drummer Dusan Milenkovic have been with THE STORY OF JAZZ since the beginning of 2015, they are perfectly attuned to each other and know all my musical subtleties and peculiarities.

Christof Zellhofer and Tomy Molnár have been my first choice since 2016 when it comes to playing trumpet/cornet/flugelhorn or the saxophone family (alto/tenor/soprano) and clarinet.

The singer Lady Lili Mae, who has been expressing her admiration for the great female vocalists of jazz history at THE STORY OF JAZZ since 2021, is acknowledged by world stars like Howard Curtis as having made quantum leaps in their musical development within just a few months.

Newcomer is the trombonist Karel Eriksson from Estonia. From 2004 to 2007 he studied trombone at the Södra Latins Music Academy in Stockholm, then moved to Prague for further jazz studies and ended up at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in 2009, where he completed his studies in 2014 with Ed Neumeister, my star guest at the INTERNATIONAL OPEN AIR SUMMER FESTIVAL 2023, graduated with distinction.

Karel has already worked with world stars like Dave Liebman, Ed Partyka, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Cobb, Stjepko Gut, Luis Bonilla, Don Menza and Matthias Rüegg has performed at international jazz festivals in Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Spain and the Czech Republic and has received several international awards for his solo performances and his band work.

You can look forward to a wealth of arrangements

Just as Duke Ellington mostly tailored his compositions and arrangements exactly to the special abilities of his band members and extremely demanded and promoted the creativity of his protagonists, this time I also give every single one of my extraordinary "Horn Section" an important say in the orchestral design the title tailor-made for him have a say. You can look forward to a wealth of arrangements that map the Ellington big band sound to a Prohaska combo.

There are still a few annual subscriptions for all 4 concerts of the 2023/24 season (5-7 Oct, 23-25 Nov, 22-24 Feb, 11-13 April) at sensational EUR 92, as well as combination tickets for two or three concerts for EUR 25 each, and of course tickets for exactly one concert for EUR 27. You are welcome to reserve tickets through me, Kurt Prohaska. An e-mail is enough and I will arrange everything else.

THE STORY OF JAZZ - "Duke's Place"
Thu 5 to Sat 7 October 2023
Kurt Prohaska Trio