The K Square The K Square? A place: here a street opening onto the square, there another, and back there yet another. You meet one another, coming from various directions: Athens, Weinheim, Stuttgart or Hannover, packed with different experiences, different past lives and preferences, journeys and movements, different passions and minds; but you come together. From the left the arpeggioed harmonies, from the right hammering eighth notes, the slightly distorted guitar with its sharp flageolets, and from the center the calm bass. From someplace the sensitive and laid back melodies of the trumpet and saxophone, the broad wall they build when they join together in unison lines. The breezy chime of the Rhodes Piano and its dazzling screams, that it blurts out when the knobs are turned all the way up. The odd rhythms, at the same time round and flowing, physical and dodgy – The K Square: a tangle of diverging voices, that commit to a very energetic type of connection, generating plenty of frictional heat. The K Square is a sextet from the colorfully blooming young Berlin jazz scene, a melting pot in which the migration movements that have always been typical for jazz, once again come into a new legitimation. There is Charis Karantzas, the guitarist from Athens, who initiated this band with the drummer Julian Külpmann. They together are responsible for composition and arrangements. Besides Thomas Stieger, the bassist, no other band member is originally from Berlin. Karantzas just like Külpmann and Manuel Schmiedel on Rhodes or the horn section Kati Brien on saxophone and clarinet and Johannes Böhmer on trumpet and cornet as well as the special guests, Nils Wogram on trombone, the singer Zola Mennenöh and the vibraphonist and college professor David Friedman: all of them are Berlin immigrants, lured by the city’s reputation that it has gigging possibilities and a great forum for exchange to offer for curious, adventurous musicians. With the K Square they set themselves a double mission: for one, the small luggage must suffice; the music should become mobile again, suitable for the street – and can thus potentially become a factor in the events of everyday life. And for another, the music should break the logic of classification; it should continue there, where it has once already turned into witches brew 45 years ago. The freedom and the improvisational culture of jazz are enriched by the raw energy of more popular music genres; the archaic, physical impact of rock and punk enlivened by the depth and refined sound of more complex forms of music. In doing so, the band is completely aware, that some time has passed though and pay great attention not to fall into the trap that once took down rock-jazz. The competitive exhibition of muscle-flashing showcased virtuosity, doesn’t mean anything to the K Square; instead of adulating musicians on their ego trips, the improvisations here, are strictly incorporated into the musical surrounding. In this way the K Square becomes a place where the spirit of openness and mutual respect creates a well structured and neatly elaborated utopia: music.
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