Curtains up for Austria´s local jazz scene: After four successful editions in previous years the KICK JAZZ 2020 festival will gather the most promising local jazz formations on the main stage of PORGY & BESS on December 15-16 and virtually show what the local music scene has to offer. The two-day festival is organized by Austrian Music Export in cooperation with Porgy&Bess
On the two days during Kick Jazz, the stage of the renowned jazz club Porgy & Bess, awarded for its experimental programming in 2020, belongs to nobody else than the highest level of current protagonists from a lively, diverse, and innovative Austrian jazz scene. Their diverse influences ensure that local jazz remains exciting and lively. The number of musicians making a name for themselves outside Austria is continuously rising. Austrian acts are in demand, play at renowned festivals, and give guest performances in the hottest jazz clubs of Europe.
This year KICK JAZZ prides itself with showcasing outstanding talent including the experimental FLORIAN KLINGER, MORITZ WEISS KLEZMER TRIO, TRIO TREE consisting of GEORG VOGEL, MICHAEL PROWAZNIK and ANDREAS WAELTI, the versatile cellist LUKAS LAUERMANN, expressive vocal artist and entertainer JELENA POPRŽAN and the unconventional NASOM artists DUO 4675.
The Porgy & Bess live stream will start at around 8pm (CET), and a window will then automatically open where the shows can be experienced via Vimeo, free of charge and without any registration. However, Porgy & Bess asks to support this project through “Pay as you wish”.
PROGRAM KICK JAZZ 2020
Tuesday, 15. December 2020, 20:30
Moritz Weiß Klezmer Trio
Jelena Poprzan Solo
Duo 4675
Wednesday, 16. December 2020, 20:30
Florian Klinger Quartet
Lukas Lauermann Solo
Vogel/Waelti/Prowaznik ‘TREE’
Moritz Weiß Klezmer Trio
Moritz Weiß Klezmer Trio continues the story of Klezmer and re-creates it in a wonderful musical language. The trio, founded in 2015, bridges the gap from the past to the present – and honours the Jewish music tradition by connecting it with various styles from other epochs. Klezmer is interwoven in artistic and multi-layered art with elements from jazz and classical music, ranging from fully structured to highly energetic pieces. The result is a sound that is emotional, stimulating and opens doors into new spheres of the musical experience.
Moritz Weiß: clarinet / Niki Waltersdorfer: guitar, percussion / Maximilian Kreuzer: bass
Jelena Popržan
Jelena Popržan doesn’t need to be introduced to anyone who knows the Austrian world music and jazz scene. The musician was born in Serbia and has lived in Vienna for many years. She was part of the successful duo Catch-Pop String-Strong, is a member of the no less successful band Madame Baheux and also plays a role in the world music trio Sormeh and many other formations. What distinguishes the charismatic violist and vocalist is her immense musical openness paired with a good dose of artistic idiosyncrasy and a willingness to experiment. With only a few musicians, the sentence: “She does what she wants” is as true as it is with her.
Jelena Poprzan: viola, voice, electronics
Duo 4575
Unconventional, unclassical and uncategorizable are the three most suitable adjectives with which one can best describe the sound of the Duo 4675. The siblings Astrid and Beate Wiesinger audibly leave the beaten musical path and create a refreshing and unprecedented jazz sound with bass and saxophone. Stylistically, the musicians from Upper Austria, who have made the zip code of their home town their band name, draw the line in a wonderfully weird way from jazz to blues to pop. It is a constant, high-contrast back and forth between the opposites, which the duo makes their program and which ultimately also ensures the tension-laden musical arc they are known for.
Florian Klinger
As an orchestral musician, the vibraphonist and percussionist Florian Klinger is mainly active in classical music. In his solo project, however, the native of Lower Austria shows that his musical interests are not limited to classical music, but also extend far into other genres. With his quartet he creates a sound that is nourished by different musical directions. In his compositions, jazz is combined with classical music and elements from various popular musical trends. This harmonious fusion enables a very complex and at the same time engaging, warm and elegant sound.
Florian Klinger: vibraphone / Lorenz Raab: trumpet / Raphael Preuschl: bass / Andreas Lettner: drums
Lukas Lauermann
Lukas Lauermann is without a doubt one of the most versatile musicians in Austria. The cellist feels – as his involvement in various projects in the past shows – at home in the most varied of sound environments. Regardless of genre, whether in pop, world music or jazz, Lauermann always succeeds in putting his unmistakable stamp on his endeavours. In his solo project, the Viennese expanded his musical field of activity to the point of the unconventional experiment. With new playing techniques, he explores the sound of his instrument, which he also uses as a resonance body and pick-up for the piano, but also as a tuning fork and synthesizer. What Lauermann creates in his music is a sound that breaks with the ordinary and in turn creates a fascinating atmosphere.
Lukas Lauermann: cello
VOGEL/WAELTI/PROWAZNIK ‘TREE’
Re-interpreting jazz in a classical jazz line-up: this is the best way to get to the heart of what Georg Vogel, Andreas Waelti and Michael Prowaznik perform. The three instrumentalists have come together to go on a roller coaster ride through the wide world of jazz, where they obviously cross the worlds of many other genres. The Austrian-Swiss trio interweaves musical currents that, at first glance, don’t really seem to go together, but then do so in a wonderful way. The melodies are incorporated into tricky as well as wonderfully catchy rhythmic forms and structures, the three participants experiment courageously in the sense of a multi-faceted overall sound. The intensities and moods change every second, from elegantly reserved to uncommonly dynamic, from casual to lively and completely open, from spherically dense to idiosyncratically skewed.
Georg Vogel: piano / Andreas Waelti: bass / Michael Prowaznik: drums
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