Home » Jazz Musicians » Jan Roder
Jan Roder
Anna Kaluza / Jan Roder: Am Frankfurter Tor
by Mark Corroto
The remarkable debut Am Frankfurter Tor by the duo of alto saxophonist Anna Kaluza and double bassist Jan Roder is both an introduction (sort of) and confirmation (absolutely) of two complete musicians. It is a sort of introduction because listeners are more likely to be familiar with the recorded output of Roder in ensembles such as Die Enttäuschung, JR3 with Olaf Rupp and Rudi Mahall, the Silke Eberhard Trio, Ulrich Gumpert's ensembles, and Alexander von Schlippenbach's Monk Casino. Kaluza, is ...
read moreBroede Schirmer Unit: Berlin, Germany
by Troy Dostert
Listeners continually on the search for new instrumental configurations in jazz would be well-advised to check out the Broede Schirmer Unit. On the one hand, these four Berlin-based musicians walk in well-trodden territory, with a commitment to working within both composed and free musical forms; bassist Jan Roder and drummer Bernd Oezsevim have extensive experience in the European free jazz circuit. But it's the unique textures provided by the other half of the quartet that give the music its distinctive ...
read moreSilke Everhard Trio: Being The Up And Down
by Mark Corroto
Sometimes one must pass through the flames to get free. That thought has shadowed the career of Silke Eberhard. The saxophonist has been consumed with the firebrands Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and Ornette Coleman for years now. She has recorded Dolphy's complete oeuvre with her band Potsa Lotsa, both in small and large configurations. Covered Mingus in the trio I Am Three. She also took on a large chunk of Coleman's music in duo with pianist Aki Takase on Ornette ...
read moreRuf Der Heimat: Secrets
by John Sharpe
Originally an outfit exploring perspectives on free jazz from either side of the Berlin Wall, Ruf Der Heimat continues to thrive on Secrets, only its fourth release over the near three decades since its 1992 birth. Leader and reedman Thomas Borgmann remains at the helm beside his longtime accomplice drummer Willi Kellers but, in the meantime, the former East German contingent of saxophonist Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky and bassist Christoph Winckel has departed to be replaced in the current incarnation by ...
read moreKeys and Screws: Some More Jazz
by John Eyles
In Berlin, in June 2010, a trio calling themselves Boom Box recorded the album Jazz (Jazzwerkstatt, 2011) which was released to considerable acclaim; that group comprised Thomas Borgmann on tenor, soprano and sopranino saxophones plus harmonica, Akira Ando on double-bass and Willi Kellers on drums and percussion, each of whom penned two of the album's six tracks. Collaborations between Borgmann and Kellers date back at least as far as 1995, when they recorded the album Erste Heimat (Konnex, 1995) by ...
read more