Grooves Kaffee und Kuchen – 22/8

This album shows an excerpt of analog live recor­dings, which were produced in the last two years at the White Fir Studio on the Swabian Alb, Germany. Have a look at the upco­ming flavor­ed­tune releases on vinyl and you‘ll find
many artists giving their musical state­ment on this strongly limited only-for-promo­tion record.
Have fun!

What is the right place for an analog recor­ding studio in the digital world? A few years passed before we found an answer to this ques­tion, during which produc­tions with a wide range of artists were created. In the summer of 2016 I met the two musi­cians Quinn Sternberg and Josh Roberts. They had come from Bloomington, Indiana, to the Swabian Alb to form a rhythm group for an upco­ming vinyl produc­tion. They stayed with us during this period, using their free time to try out new grooves. I recorded it all and we had great plea­sure hearing the takes later. My first encounter with Jonathan Schmid from Mannheim was at his debut at the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation in Stuttgart in 2016, and it was obvious to me that he would be awarded a scho­lar­ship. That is exactly what happened, and we decided to make a recor­ding with his trio. In the year before, toge­ther with Claudia Rodi and Lothar Landenberger, the idea emerged of making a record with Martin Meixner, the master of the Hammond organ from Ulm. In the follo­wing year, he brought Markus Birkle and Tommy Baldu to the White Fir Studio on the Swabian Alb for a fanta­stic live recor­ding session. At the Jazzherbst in 2014, I was making concert recor­dings at the Landestheater Tübingen. Monika Herzig and Peter Kienle, two jazz musi­cians from the Alb who live in the USA, gave a concert toge­ther with the Wüste-Welle Big Band. In the follo­wing summer, we started our studio coope­ra­tion, from which the album THE TIME FLIES (featuring Bob Berg and others) emerged. A further produc­tion was recorded with André Nendza in the follo­wing year. David Thornton and Oliver Kügel are the two band members of Jonathan Schmid’s trio THE KITCHEN CIRCUS. The three arrived at the Swabian Alb well-rehe­arsed after their Israel tour for a wonderful concert that was the high­light of a multi-day tape recor­ding session. I cannot remember exactly how and where I got to know Tom Wauch. Somehow, I finally found a Fender Rhodes 73 Mark I for the recor­ding studio and of course it needed the right fixes to make it func­tion stably and reliably. That’s how I came into contact with Tom; ever since I first heard him play on the instru­ment he had restored, I wanted to make recor­dings with him. It would take a few years, but we finally produced THE BLIND TAKES, a first-take recor­ding session that follows the drama­turgy of clas­sical theatre. Tom brought our mean­while mutual friend Michael Classen, who was able to make his Vox AC30, placed in the stone cellar, swing so incre­dibly that we just couldn’t get enough. A drummer was still missing for the session – I ther­e­fore had the oppor­tu­nity to invite my former band colle­ague Matthias Wagner. We had not seen each other for fifteen years surely. But he played – at least – as freshly as I remem­bered. Thanks to the ongoing produc­tion ON TENOR, I was able to survey the jazz saxo­pho­nist scene, espe­ci­ally tenor players. Sandi Kuhn, who studied this instru­ment in New York, deli­vered a mature state­ment with an own compo­si­tion. Sebastian Schuster and Christian Huber formed the rhythm group. Christian had parti­ci­pated in several recor­ding sessions in recent years and the slogan “Huber is hot” has spread around fast. You can certainly say the same of the guita­rist Christoph Neuhaus. The place was thus found and the studio was built. It was still a chall­enge to meet the requi­re­ments of the analog and digital equip­ment. Here I had the support of my long-stan­ding, highly esteemed colle­ague, Helmut Butz. He helps me with the imple­men­ta­tion of the most varied tech­nical requi­re­ments and always has an open ear for even crazy details. He also puts up a pretty good show as a tape operator. Just like Oliver Matthes, who has been supporting me in his daily studio work for quite some time. It is usually recorded on 1‑inch tape and mastered on ¼‑inch tape. Many thanks also to Daniel Krieger from SST-FFM. He produces the lacquer cut for the records, which are created at Flavoredtune, with great craft­sman­ship and is always able to create a very unique feeling. When an album has been produced, it of course still lacks the right pack­a­ging. And here, too, I am glad that I can rely on the mean­while regular colla­bo­ra­tion with Rob Stirner and Florian Dobler. The two are very good at captu­ring and visua­li­zing the musical content of a produc­tion. Last but not least, I would like to thank my dear Claudia Scherzinger, who has accom­pa­nied Label & Studio from the very begin­ning with a great know­ledge of contrac­tual matters. In addi­tion, she never misses a chance to create wonderful dishes for small and large appe­tites at the end of a long studio session. While reading these lines, I notice that I cannot forget to mention Handle With Care from Berlin, and espe­ci­ally Janet Latka there. She always manages to fast track the important last steps and coor­di­nate the work that must still be done. This album shows an excerpt of analog live recor­dings, which were produced in the last two years at the White Fir Studio on the Swabian Alb. I hope you enjoy listening, Michael Fetscher

180g Black Vinyl, Limited Edition (Only For Promotion)
Produced by Michael Fetscher