2 drummers, 2 basses, the band is going like hell...

SALTARELLO by Gianluigi Trovesi is the tune, the musicians are: John Carter , Perry Robinson, Gianluigi Trovesi, Bernd Konrad, Theo Jörgensmann, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Didier Lockwood, Stan Tracey, Eje Thelin, Kai Kanthak, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Günter "Baby" Sommer and Aldo Romano.

There was a time when I was playing the double bass. And there was my great friend Perry Robinson from NYC, a magician of the clarinet but not only this, he is a member of the Magic Circle also. This Duo was recorded during the New Jazz Meeting Baden Baden in 1979, thanks to Joe-Ernst Berendt for making it possible.

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The Sofa

>>> PLAYLIST <<<

Theo Jörgensmann g-low clarinetKai Kanthak electric bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet

Kai Kanthak - bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet

Kai Kanthak - bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet & voice

Kai Kanthak - bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet

Kai Kanthak - bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet

Kai Kanthak - bass

Theo Jörgensmann - g-low clarinet

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Friederike Overweg - vocals

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

chromatic ballad in 2 parts

Kai Kanthak - basses

new age...?

Kai Kanthak - basses...

for Ornette Coleman...

Kai Kanthak - basses...

a flair of reggae...

Kai Kanthak - basses...

chamber punk...

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - basses

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

a soul ballad by Gregory Porter

Kai Kanthak - bass

Friederike Overweg - voice & text

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass, steel drum, sounds

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass & handclaps

recorded 1994

Michael Borner - guitar

Kai Kanthak - bass

Klaus Kugel - drums

some kind of conversation with myself, 2 basses talking...

recorded 1994

Michael Borner - guitar

Kai Kanthak - bass

Klaus Kugel - drums

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass & editing

Kai Kanthak - bass & voice

Claudia Russo - vocals & text

Kai Kanthak - bass & editing

 

Kai Kanthak - bass solo and postproduction

Kai Kanthak - bass solo and postproduction

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass and postproduction

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass and postproduction

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

"Alle meine Entchen", an old german children song

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet, Evert

Brettschneider - guitar. Kai Kanthak - bass

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

CONTACT 4tett Nassau 2015

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet, Evert

Brettschneider - guitar. Kai Kanthak - bass

Achim Jaroschek - drums

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

CONTACT 4tett Brüel 2014

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet, Evert

Brettschneider - guitar. Kai Kanthak - bass

Michael Jüllich - drums

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Kai Kanthak - bass solo

Achim Jaroschek - drums 

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet

Evert Brettschneider - guitar 

Kai Kanthak - bass

CONTACT 4tett NASSAU 1

Achim Jaroschek - drums 

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet

Evert Brettschneider - guitar 

Kai Kanthak - bass

CONTACT 4tett NASSAU 2

Achim Jaroschek - drums 

Theo Jörgensmann - clarinet

Evert Brettschneider - guitar 

Kai Kanthak - bass (took the photo)

CONTACT 4tett NASSAU 3

CLARINET SUMMIT, an ensemble produced by Joe-Ernst Berendt in the 80s...

TALES OF TROLLS by Perry Robinson with solos by himself and french violinist Didier Lockwood

the musicians are:

John Carter, Perry Robinson, Gianluigi Trovesi, Bernd Konrad, Theo Jörgensmann, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Didier Lockwood, Stan Tracey, Eje Thelin, Kai Kanthak, Jean-François Jenny-Clark, Günter Sommer, Aldo Romano

Theo Jörgensmann - alto clarinet

Georg Gräwe - piano

Kai Kanthak - acoustic bass, comp.

Achim Krämer - drums

from the album "Next Adventure" by CMP-Records

Das Ding mit dem Üben

Zumindest für mich ist das mit dem Üben so: entweder man macht es intensiv oder man lässt es sein, ist aber natürlich ne Frage des persönlichen Anspruchs. Vielleicht ist es auch eine Art Suchtverhalten, Coltrane hat sogar noch zwischen den Sets geübt. Üben ist auch nicht das richtige Wort, spielen ist wahrschenlich das Bessere. Üben ist ja mehr das kognitive, das man irgendwann hinter sich lässt, mit der Zeit brennt sich alles immer tiefer ins UBW ein, und in guten Momenten wundert man sich, was da alles steckt. Deswegen nervt es mich immer ein wenig, wenn manche Leute Jazz für was allein intellektuelles halten, die Frage ist eher, wie intensiv man in diesen Prozess eingedrungen ist. Irgendwann kommt alles nur noch aus dem Bauch.

Manche Entwicklungen verlaufen in langen Zyklen, zwischendurch gibt es auch immer unkonzentriertes, weniger angenehmes. Dann klappt nicht alles, man macht Fehler in Bereichen, in denen man sich vorher absolut sicher gefühlt hat. Aber auch das geht wieder vorbei, man muss einfach weitermachen und akzeptieren, dass es manchmal so ist.

Practising:

At least for me I might say about practising: either you do it with intensity and passion or you leave it be,  but for sure this is a question of your personal ambition. Maybe it´s some kind of addictive behavior, Coltrane was even practising in between the sets. In some way practising is not the right word, playing might be the better one. It´s more the cognitive skill that you leave behind you after some time, by and by it´s getting deeper and deeper into your subconsciousness and in good and lucky moments you wonder what´s all inside there. For this reason it always bugs me a bit, if some people regard jazz as something intellectual only. In the end it´s just a gut reaction.

Some developments tend to happen in long cycles, in between you always are unable to concentrate sometimes, something may be uncomfortable. Failures happen in areas in which you felt completely confident before. But this ends also, you just have to continue and must accept that it works like this sometimes.

(I apologize for my awkward english, it´s not my native language)



Musical Activities

Mein Instrument ist die elektrische Bassgitarre, früher war´s der Kontrabass.

Grob gesagt fühle ich mich zuhause im modernen und zeitgenössischen Jazz, der improvisierten Musik im Allgemeinen, was andere musikalische Interessen nicht ausschliesst.

Kurzbio:

Jahrgang 1955, zunächst Ausbildung auf der Gitarre, dann Wechsel zum Bass. Musikstudium in Essen, Düsseldorf und Köln.

Zusammenarbeit mit vielen deutschen und internationalen Musikern wie Gunter Hampel, Theo Jörgensmann, Perry Robinson, Helge Schneider, John Tchicai, Reiner Winterschladen, Petras Vysniauskas, Frank Gratkowski, Andreas Willers, Tomas Kutavicius, Michael Sell, Klaus König, John Fischer, Georg Gräwe, Günter "Baby" Sommer, Gianluigi Trovesi etc.

ca. 1983

Zahlreiche Konzerte und Festivals in Deutschland und Europa, Plattenveröffentlichungen mit verschiedenen Ensembles...

1995 Stop der musikalischen Aktivitäten aufgrund einer persönlichen Krise. Hinwendung zur Fotografie und Bilderstellung auf dem PC, zu sehen auf meiner Website http://kai-kanthak.de/.

Aktuell:

Seit nunmehr 5/6 Jahren befasse ich mich wieder intensiv mit meinem Instrument. Durch die lange Spielpause und den dadurch gewonnenen Abstand erscheint manches in neuem Licht, zum Teil verändern sich die Schwerpunkte, man entwickelt sich weiter, ebenso wie grundsätzliche Ausprägungen erhalten bleiben.

Mittlerweile gibt es wieder 2 interessante und spannende Projekte, und eine Solo-CD ist in Arbeit....

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CONTACT 4tett

contemporary developments - CONTACT 4tett

History

After a break of about 30 years former members of the CONTACT TRIO met in May 2014 for some kind of reunion. The CONTACT TRIO was a group that worked with experimental forms of expression in between jazz and rock from 1970 to 1984, 4 LPs have been released (CALIG, Japo-ECM). Based in the „Ruhrgebiet“, an almost industrial part of germany, the trio was the first group of this genre that did the job as a profession. The basic members were Michael Jüllich, drums, Theo Jörgensmann, clarinet and Alois Kott, bass. Jörgensmann, who left the group in 1973, was followed by new soloist Evert Brettschneider, guitar, forming the sound of the trio in an essential way for the rest of the time.

The Music

With the new beginning the musicians of the CONTACT 4tett are trying to integrate their rich musical experiences into experimental improvised music, that is not pure rock, sound art or jazz, but containing and mixing up elements of all these genres in different interacting layers. So the group is capable to combine the energy and the spirit of the 60/70s with contemporary developments in music.

The Musicians

Jörgensmann and Brettschneider are in the band, Kai Kanthak, who was a member of the Jörgensmann Quartet in the 70/80s amongst many other stuff, plays electric bass, the drummer is Achim Jaroschek, also a mentionable pianist, from Oberhausen, who worked with many musicians of the international jazzscene.

https://www.facebook.com/Contact4tett

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English:

My Instrument is the electric bassguitar, in former times it was the double bass.

I feel at home in modern and contemporary jazz, improvised music in general. This does not exclude other musical interests.

Short biography:

Born in 1955. First I learned how to play the guitar, then switched to the bass, musical studies in Essen, Cologne and Dusseldorf.

Collaboration with many german and international musicians such as Gunter Hampel, Theo Jorgensmann, Perry Robinson, Helge Schneider, John Tchicai, Reiner Winterschladen, Petras Vysniauskas, Frank Gratkowski, Andreas Willers, Tomas Kutavicius, Michael Sell, Klaus König, John Fischer, Georg Gräwe, Günter "Baby" Sommer, Gianluigi Trovesi and others.

Kaunas Festival 1993

Many concerts and festivals all over germany and europe, recordings with different ensembles.

1995 I stopped my musical activities because of a personal crisis and turned my interest to photography and digital artwork. You may see this on my website http://kai-kanthak.de/.

Today

Since almost 5/6 years I´m working on my instrument again with a lot of passion. So the long break and the view from a distance make some things appear in a new surrounding, some focal points may change just as well main characteristics stay the same.

I am interested in new projects and contacts. New projects are rising as mentioned above...