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Jan Zehrfeld

Studied jazz guitar at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria (with Karl Ratzer), the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland (Raul Björkenheim), at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, Germany (Peter O’Mara), and was a member of the National Jazz Orchestra (under Peter Herbolzheimer). He has performed with Klaus Doldinger’s Passport, Uwe Ochsenknecht and band, the Hilliard Ensemble, Wolfgang Schmidt, Roberto DiGioia, Martin Schmitt, Wencke Myhre, The Croonettes, etc. Zehrfeld formed Panzerballett in 2004 driven by a desire to combine his hard rock roots with his deep understanding of and extensive experience with jazz and thereby find the common denominator within the two essentially different sound aesthetics.

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6
Catching Up With

Jan Zehrfeld: Heavy Jazz

Read "Jan Zehrfeld: Heavy Jazz" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


The German group Panzerballett may have a metal edge on much of their music, but there's no mistaking that by any rational judgment this is also a definitive jazz band. Fans can always count on unpredictably adventuresome twists to the standard form on classics like “Birdland" or “Take Five" amidst inspired originals. Much of the group's foundation comes from front man guitarist Jan Zehrfeld's formative years in ensembles ranging from the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Peter ...

268
Album Review

Jan Zehrfeld's Panzerballett: Starke Stucke

Read "Starke Stucke" reviewed by John Kelman


Those who bemoaned the breakup of the short-lived quintet version of mid-1990s group Lost Tribe which, along with saxophonist David Binney, bassist Fima Ephron and drummer Ben Perowsky, featured the twin guitar salvo of David Gilmore and Adam Rogers, will welcome the ACT debut of guitarist Jan Zeherfeld's Panzerballett. With a similar lineup, Panzerballett is as intrepid as Lost Tribe ever was in finding unexpected ways to bring together styles many would consider incompatible.

Unlike Lost ...

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