Bliss Eric Schaefer & The Shredz

• 1Abstract Dub03:56
• 2Barber05:44
• 3Longjam09:09
• 4Slomojam03:01
• 5Oistrakh05:42
• 6No Bottom No Top06:06
• 7Shortjam05:30
• 8Bliss03:37
• Total Runtime42:45

Info for Bliss

On “Bliss”, Eric Schaefer and his band The Shredz blend the fusion jazz of the sixties with the jazz dub of the nineties and the club music of today to concoct an explosive hubble-bubble of a magic brew. Although it sometimes sounds like it, it’s not Voodoo,

It is merely the logical continuation of what made Schaefer’s playing so unique from the outset: style and good taste, skills and know-how, complex compositions and improvisatory passion. Rooted in hardcore and matured in jazz, Schaefer plays a range that goes way beyond the scope of any academic colloquium.

In 2013, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth, Schaefer brought out his ACT debut as band leader in the form of “Who’s afraid of Richard W.?”. Without trepidation he gnawed Wagner’s music down to its skeleton, to then toss the bones into new constellations.

Two years later, he has called the same, proven musicians together - only the trumpeter has changed - to complete the next stage of the evolution with “Bliss”. With John-Dennis Renken’s soaring trumpet tones and Volker Meitz’s gurgling organ sounds, The Shredz invoke the spirit of the electric Miles Davis sessions. Schaefer and bassist John Eckhardt switch back and forth between feverish Bitches Brew Groove, Laswellian Dub fusions and pulsating club sounds. “We wanted to go on a trip together, achieve a kind of trance state,” says Schaefer of the recording process.

“And you can’t get there without factors like repetition and groove.” On this journey the tracks often formed themselves out of unplanned moments that arose when jamming together. But fans of Schaefer’s compositions also get their money’s worth. In “Barber”, for instance, when a trumpet elegy underpinned by strings stumbles through various different groove states, to then ultimately turn off onto an ambient final stretch of the spheres driven by a kind of live Roots Manuva Riddim.

“After all the Shredz concerts, we just celebrated our joy of jamming and improvising for the recording.” For the band’s sound, the collective interweaving is more important than the individual expression in the solos. In this way, the band is the theme on “Bliss”.

Eric Schaefer, drums, modular synthesizer
John-Dennis Renken, trumpet
Volker Meitz, keyboards
John Eckhardt, bass

Recorded and mixed by Volker Meitz at Nordkreuz-Studio, Berlin, Dec. 3 - 4, 2014
Mastered by Uwe Haas
Produced by Eric Schaefer

Eric Schaefer
is not your common-or-garden drummer. He's not one just to sit in the background and keep the groove or brush around on the snare, that's not enough for him. His instrument is a formative element, Schaefer is an inventor, active and creative, and this is what makes him one of “the clandestine stars of the […] German jazz scene“ as Die Zeit writes. Born in Frankfurt in 1976 and educated in Cologne and Berlin, Schaefer is best known as part of Michael Wollny’s Trio [em]; the magic triangle of three harmonising individuals. With their latest CD “Wasted & Wanted“, “Germany's most creative jazz trio“ (Kulturspiegel) triggered off storms of enthusiasm in the media and the public. In 2011 they won the ECHO, Germany's most important music award, as the Best National Jazz Ensemble. A year further on, Schaefer also received the ECHO Jazz for his achievements, as Best National Drummer. Schaefer is not only part of this trio, The Arne Jansen Trio and Rockjazz with Johnny La Marama are two other focuses of his work. His range of musical forms of expression has many layers, from Hardcore Punk to Miles Davis – none of it is a contradiction in terms for him. “With improvisation as the backbone of their work, musicians like [...] Eric Schaefer [...] take it in any number of different directions with uncompromising vitality – free improvisations and classical composition, punk and varied folklore, new or minimal music, pop and electronic,“ writes Neue Zürcherb Zeitung about this multifaceted and contemplative artist. Whatever constellation he plays in, Schaefer leaves his personal mark on these bands with his compositions and versatile, extremely colourful, and distinctly individual style. He already has around 40 records out as a band leader, composer and sideman. If there was a Nobel Prize for drumming, Eric Schaefer would be a hot candidate for it, says The Rolling Stone.

Booklet for Bliss