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Nicole Johänntgen

Alto and Soprano – Saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen has played with stars like Daniel Powter (Bad day), Roger Cicero, Eric Harland, Aaron Parks, Nils Landgren, Piet Klocke and is currently on CD-release tour with Scandinavian singer Cæcilie Norby. She has recorded and released 17 albums to date in the jazz genre with influences from classical music, film music and funk. She tours with her bands throughout Europe and is invited internationally as a soloist. After successfully completing her studies in jazz and popular music at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences and the Masters Class in Stroudsburg, USA, under the direction of Dave Liebman, she is now deepening her knowledge in the field of musicology at the University of Zurich. She is also currently training in beatbox saxophone technique. Nicole Johänntgen leads the music business workshop SOFIA for female musicians and gives workshops online and on site for children and adults with and without prior musical knowledge. She is currently working on two new albums that will be released in 2021 on her label Selmabird Records. Nicole Johänntgen has won seven international awards and lives with her family in Zuerich.

OVERVIEW. Nicole Johänntgen was born in 1981 in Quierschied, Saarland, Germany. She grows up in Fischbach surrounded by nature. Music plays an important social role in her family circle. The whole family spends a lot of time at the neighbouring Dachsbau Ranch and celebrates music festivals with lots of live country music. The father, master locksmith, plays guitar, trombone and sings. Nicole’s brother is a pianist. And the mother likes to dance and sing along. Her first instrument is the piano. In her early years, she was interested in classical piano literature and later switched from piano to saxophone without forgetting classical music. In her father’s group, the Joe Fuchs Band, Nicole Johänntgen plays live jazz to dance music for the first time with the saxophone. Piano lessons were her inspiration for the classical music world and with the saxophone new paths in music opened up for her. Both resonate in her musical expression to this day. Her participation in the Saarland Youth Jazz Orchestra ignited her great passion for improvisation and free playing in the 90s. A short time later she founded her first own band called “Nicole Jo.” with her brother Stefan Johänntgen, drummer Elmar Federkeil and Christian Konrad on bass. Needs 2B Funky”. Jazz leads her to study at the University of Performing Arts and Music in Mannheim. There she dedicates herself intensively to her saxophone and studies jazz/popular music and composition/arrangement. During this time and until today her great idols are Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane. Only at the age of nineteen she discovered John Coltrane and the sound of the soprano saxophone. During her studies in Mannheim she was part of the international jazz meeting of the jazz schools “IASJ” in Heslinki. In 2003 she was selected as lead saxophonist for the European Swinging Orchestra. In the same year Nicole Johänntgen is invited to play as the only European musician in the American further education program “Sisters in Jazz”. From then on she is invited as a soloist for tours in France by the Remi Panossian Trio and in the Netherlands by the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio. In 2005 Nicole Johänntgen moved to Switzerland and worked as a freelance musician. For her there is not one musical style. There are only musical colours, which she uses. The saxophonist sets silent films to music in Switzerland for the silent film institute “IOIC” and is part of the China tour. She is involved in the JazzBaragge association and is head of the press department there. JazzBaragge organizes the Zurich Jazz Jam Session every Wednesday. In 2016 Nicole Johänntgen receives the studio scholarship of the city of Zurich Culture and moves to New York. A very important and instructive time for Nicole Johänntgen. She takes saxophone lessons with the American saxophonist Sam Newsome, who is known for his expressive soprano saxophone playing and his special sounds. She deepens her knowledge of odd time signatures with the Indian tabla player Samir Chatterjee. She takes part in a percussion workshop for African rhythms in Brooklyn. As an extension to her profession Nicole Johänntgen completes the first level of “Martial Arts” at the “CHKA Schule” and a clown workshop with Daniel Passer in Manhatten. These activities have an impact on her future work in Europe. With her return to Switzerland she plays engagements with the magician Jamil and the renowned protest guitarist and cabaret artist Piet Klocke. From this time on she mixes music with other styles such as art, literature and magic. Nicole Johänntgen is committed to female musicians from the jazz and improvisation scene. Every two years she organizes the music business workshop SOFIA Support Of Female Improvising Artists in Zurich. This workshop is about learning self-management and networking among female musicians. Her goal is to get more female jazz musicians on stage. Nicole Johänntgen is booked as a lecturer for music and business workshops in Switzerland and abroad. She plays concerts worldwide and has received seven international jazz awards. Nicole Johänntgen now lives with her family in Zuerich.

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Radio & Podcasts

Nicole Johänntgen, Antonio Lizana, Henri Texier, Tiziano Tononi & More

Read "Nicole Johänntgen, Antonio Lizana, Henri Texier, Tiziano Tononi & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


This time we bring you jazz that refuses to respect boundaries, or “Somethin' Else from Somewher' Else." In this episode we illustrate how jazz is arguably the most welcoming music genre of all, perfectly blending with musical traditions from around the world, from Native American and Latin American roots to Fado, Flamenco, Baroque British music and more. Happy Listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Zenophilia feat. Dean Bowman ...

4
Album Review

Nicole Johänntgen: Henry II

Read "Henry II" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Two years on from Henry (Self-Produced, 2016), a pulsating set of contemporary tunes in the New Orleans brass band tradition, Nicole Johänntgen is once again bitten by the Nawlins bug on this vibrant follow-up. The Zurich-based German saxophonist is joined, as before, by trombonist Jon Ramm, drummer Paul Thibodeaux and sousaphone player Steven Glenn—their collective claws sharpened by two years of touring. It follows that the quartet's added road miles have deepened its intuitive language, resulting in music that fairly ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Jazz Renditions of Blues, Soul, Pop & Rock Hits (Part 2)

Read "Jazz Renditions of Blues, Soul, Pop & Rock Hits (Part 2)" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


This week we continue our exploration of jazz interpretations of today's popular music, with renditions of the songs of artists ranging from Kraftwerk to Sly Stone, from Bjork to Frank Zappa, from J.J. Cale to Bob Marley and more. Happy listening! And if you like this episode, check Part 1 Playlist Jimmy Smith “I Got a Woman" from Live at the Village Gate (Verve) 0:00 Host talks 7:56 Miho Hazama “Magdalena" from Time River (Sunnyside) ...

4
Album Review

NICOLE JO: 20

Read "20" reviewed by Ian Patterson


A most versatile and hard-working musician, Nicole Johänntgen can be heard in a variety of ensembles, embracing elements of India and the Middle East in her ethno-jazz quartet, adopting a contemporary approach to New Orleans jazz as witnessed on the marvellous Henry (Self-Produced, 2017) or tearing it up with guitarist/vocalist Peter Finc in a duo that fuses the languages of pop, rock, jazz, blues and soul to thrilling effect. The German alto saxophonist's longest-standing band, however, is the quartet NICOLE ...

2
Album Review

Nicole Johanntgen: Henry

Read "Henry" reviewed by Rosarita Crisafi


Nuovo progetto artistico per Nicole Johänntgen sassofonista e compositrice tedesca di stanza a Zurigo, instancabile esploratrice musicale e co-fondatrice del progetto SOFIA (Support of Female Improvising Artists), programma internazionale a sostegno delle musiciste di jazz. Nel suo disco autoprodotto Henry reinterpreta in chiave contemporanea la tradizione delle marching band, un omaggio alle radici del jazz ma anche alla sua prima infanzia, il padre della Johänntgen era infatti leader di una band che suonava in stile tradizionale. Registrato ...

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Interview

Nicole Johänntgen: Henry And The Free Bird

Read "Nicole Johänntgen: Henry And The Free Bird" reviewed by Ian Patterson


In Richard Bach's book Jonathon Livingston Seagull (Macmillan 1970), the tale of a seagull with a passion for flight and freedom, there is a line that goes: “Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly." Nicole Johänntgen, jazz musician, composer, bandleader, educator and advocate for women musicians, saw the way to fly from an early ...

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Live Review

Penang Island Jazz Festival 2016

Read "Penang Island Jazz Festival 2016" reviewed by Ian Patterson


12 + 1 Penang Island Jazz Festival Bayview Beach Resort/Various Venues jny: Penang, Malaysia December 1-4, 2016 A tongue-in-cheek marketing ploy, or fear of inviting disaster? The Malaysians are doubtless no more or no less suspicious than folk in most places, but the organizers of the 12th + 1 Penang Island Jazz Festival, as it was officially billed, perhaps weren't taking any chances. Although the monsoon season in Western Malaysia isn't too severe, a late ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's lots of jazz and creative music happening in St. Louis over the next week, including the return of a hometown hero, the local debut of a much-talked-about drummer and composer, and the first chance for audiences here to check out a critically acclaimed collaboration between two well-known jazz headliners. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, April 13 Saxophonist David Sanborn—who, as longtime StLJN readers no doubt know, grew up right here in Kirkwood—returns to St. Louis to begin a ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Joshua Redman Trio, Tierney Sutton, Rebirth Brass Band, Nicole Johanntgen, Bee vs. Moth, and More

Jazz This Week: Joshua Redman Trio, Tierney Sutton, Rebirth Brass Band, Nicole Johanntgen, Bee vs. Moth, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several touring acts in town offering a variety of musical styles. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, saxophonist Joshua Redman begins a four-night stand with his trio, featuring bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, at Jazz at the Bistro. For more about Redman and some video samples of the trio in action, see this post from last Saturday. Thursday night offers several interesting choices, with the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Henry II

Self Produced
2018

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20

Self-Produced
2018

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Henry

Self Produced
2017

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Sisters in Jazz

Self Produced
2016

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Henry

Self Produced
2016

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Moncaup

Self Produced
2015

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Videos

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