Golden Age Frederik Köster & Die Verwandlung

• 1Fanfare - For the Right Reasons02:33
• 2Soudasi08:01
• 3Cast Me from Your Spell03:07
• 4Jimballa06:59
• 5Leak07:44
• 6Levante06:52
• 7Modern Day Mephisto Amor03:42
• 8Yalla04:56
• 9(To The) Evening Star07:31
• Total Runtime51:25

Info for Golden Age

Once again, Die Verwandlung [The Tranformation] live up to their name. The high-profile quartet of award-winning musicians (a total of six Jazz Echo prizes, the New German Jazz Prize, the WDR Jazz Prize) changes its direction in style and sound again on the new album. Especially in direct comparison to the Homeward Bound Suite released in 2018. The spectacular orchestral work was highly praised back then, for example as "a successful integration of jazz and classical elements with emotional intensity" (Jazz Podium). The Swiss magazine Jazz'n'More stated: "The quartet stringently carries the tonal colors of the orchestra and Frederik Köster coherently lays himself over rhythmic patterns in his solos." And the Badische Zeitung positioned the bandleader at "the top of German jazz. Köster's trumpet, elegantly and uniquely padded in occasional loop echoes, clearly distinguishes itself from icons such as Miles Davis and Chet Baker."

After the successful excursion to the large format, Die Verwandlung now concentrates on itself again. With equally impressive results. The band has never been heard as versatile as on Golden Age, at least not on CD. Already in the opening title "Fanfare - For The Right Reasons" Frederik Köster subtly combines his brilliant trumpet sound with electronic effects, elegantly and cleverly building a bridge from the previous orchestral album to the current sound of the quartet. In the following piece "Soudasi", the electronics, which include a Kaos pad, loop effects and samples as well as a ring modulator, set distinctive accents. The piece with several parts also unifies flaring trumpet fanfares, growlingly bowed double bass passages, calm and stirring moments. Not only "Soudasi" is based on Middle Eastern grooves (specifically on a Lebanese 6/4 pattern), which are powered by Burgwinkel's sometimes sparse and sometimes dense drumming. In "Yalla" Köster's rapid lines involuntarily evoke Balkan associations, but in fact the piece is based on an Arab Maqam Bayat that was modified by the band. "Jimballa", on the other hand, uses a 5/4 time signature that is also common in other parts of the world. Furthermore, there are compositions that incorporate completely different inspirations. "Leak" for instance first resembles the harmonics of Kenny Wheeler before suddenly turning towards electro with beats and synthesizer sounds. "Cast Me From Your Spell", however, remains completely calm and purely acoustic, while Köster's and Sternal's experimentation with timbre creates an atmosphere that ties back to their intimate duo album Canada.

Frederik Köster regards Golden Age as a reaction to his previous albums, which were predominantly or exclusively acoustically arranged. Born in 1977 and now living in Cologne, electronics have been part of his repertoire ever since he sang and played keyboards in a rock band as a teenager. More recently, he has listened to a lot of hip hop, trap and other electronic music again, Köster says, referring to the scene in Los Angeles in particular. Parallel to the idea of tailoring the band a new sound garment interwoven with electro sounds, Köster pursued another goal in his composing. To give his band mates greater freedom, he left some structures open, sometimes only bringing sketches to the studio, which were then developed together. "In some cases, I deliberately refrained from returning to leitmotifs," Köster explains, "so it can happen that ideas or lines of thought are not continued, but simply fade away. Such stylistic devices are now fully accepted in music and literature, although they were once frowned upon."

Frederik Köster picked up the already mentioned oriental influences, such as odd meters and Arabic scales with their typical quarter tones, on various concert tours with Die Verwandlung and other formations. Most recently, he toured Izmir, Almaty (Kazakhstan) and - for a whole week - in Beirut. In addition, he has been playing in the international band of the Osnabrücker Morgenland Festival for eight years, which lately included famous Syrians such as clarinetist Kinan Asme and ney virtuoso Moslem Rahal.

On one hand, Frederik Köster sees the album title Golden Age as an ironic commentary on the glorification of certain periods. On the other hand, he is also fascinated by the artistic golden epoch in Paris about 100 years ago, when Dali and Picasso, Satie and Debussy, Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald crossed paths. Of course Köster's music shows no references to the golden age of Impressionism. Instead, it cleverly plays with characteristic sound vignettes from more recent decades. The Fender Rhodes piano, used smartly by Sebastian Sternal, brings the funk and soul of the seventies to mind, while the analog Juno 6 synthesizer embodies the eighties. Present-day electronic effects represent the 21st century, the ring modulator seems like a kind of stem cell for electronic music. There are also small references to the heyday of jazz in the fifties and sixties and, quite hidden, to Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack".

Köster saved a premiere for the last piece of the record. "(To The) Evening Star" presents the trumpeter as a singer for the first time on CD, although partly modified by looper and effects. On stage Köster has been singing for a while, but has been shying away from recording for a long time. Meanwhile he sees it as an important enhancement: "For musicians the voice is obviously very interesting, after all it is the most natural instrument". The lyrics of the song were written by William Blake and, with about 250 years of age, it is the oldest poetry Köster has ever set to music.

Despite some artistically hinted or even open references, the music of Golden Age is completely at home in the present. Already because Köster and Sternal, Burgwinkel and Oetz consistently follow their own style in soulful interactions and inspired solos, which has made them all part of the upper house of German jazz. With their mixture of individual virtuosity and diverse electronic and acoustic sounds, Frederik Köster and Die Verwandlung create an unconventional and highly contemporary jazz that can appeal to different generations.

Frederik Köster, trumpet, electronics, vocals
Sebastian Sternal, piano, Fender Rhodes
Joscha Oetz, double bass
Jonas Burgwinkel, drums

Frederik Köster
(geb. 14.10.1977) studierte in Detmold Schulmusik und in Köln Jazz-Trompete und Jazz-Komposition/Arrangement.

Seit 2007 ist Frederik Köster Professor für Jazz-Trompete an der Institut für Musik der Hochschule Osnabrück und hatte von 2010 – 2018 einen Lehrauftrag an der Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover.

Der Kölner Trompeter spielte bereits mit: Phil Woods, Albert Mangelsdorff, Ack van Rooyen, Biréli Lagrene, Randy Brecker, Nils Wogram, Simon Nabatov, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Haffner, Hiram Bullock, Jiggs Whigham, Rick Margitza, Jane Monheit, Lalo Shiffrin, Trilok Gurtu, Nils Petter Molvaer, Johannes Enders, Paul Heller, Niels Klein, Michael Wollny, Florian Weber, WDR Big Band, HR Big Band, Peter Herbolzheimer’s Rhythm Combination & Brass, etc.

Frederik Köster erhielt im September 2006 beim Jazz Hoeilaart International Contest in Belgien den Preis für den besten Solisten. Das Frederik Köster Quartett erhielt am 14.02.2009 den mit 10.000€ dotierten neuen deutschen Jazzpreis in Mannheim. Der Preis für den besten Solisten ging ebenfalls an Frederik Köster. Im Mai 2010 erhält er für sein Album “ZEICHEN DER ZEIT” den ECHO JAZZ in der Kategorie Instrumentalist des Jahres national – Blechblasinstrumente/Brass! Frederik Köster erhält am 29.10.2010 den mit 10.000€ dotierten WDR Jazzpreis in der Kategorie „Improviastion“! Im Januar 2013 wird Frederik in Münster mit dem Westfalen Jazzpreis 2013 ausgezeichnet! 2017 erhält er für sein Album “CANADA” den ECHO JAZZ in der Kategorie Instrumentalist des Jahres national – Blechblasinstrumente/Brass!

Unter eigenem Namen veröffentlichte Frederik Köster bisher sieben Alben, spielte mit seinem Bands auf namenhaften Jazz Festivals wie dem Jazz Baltica, Moers Festival, Euro Jazz Festival in Mexico City oder dem North Sea Jazz Festvial in Rotterdam und tourte u.a. mit Unterstüzung des Goethe Institutes durch Mexiko, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Portugal, Malaysia, Belgien, Holland und Indien.

Frederiks aktuelles Projekt heißt Die Verwandlung. Mit dabei sind Sebastian Sternal (Klavier), Joscha Oetz. (Kontrbass) und Jonas Burgwinkel (Schlagzeug).

2009 gründete Frederik Köster zusammen mit Tobias Hoffmann, Niels Klein, Pablo Held, Jonas Burgwinkel, Robert Landfermann und Tobias Christl das Jazzkollektiv KLAENG.

This album contains no booklet.