Die Strottern und Jazzwerkstatt Wien – Wo fangts an

Wo fangts an

Artists: Klemens Lendl (viol, voc), David Müller (guit, voc), Clemens Salesny (as, cl), Martin Eberle (tp, flgh), Martin Ptak (tb), Peter Rom (guit), Clemens Wenger (p, keyb), Bernd Satzinger (b), Lukas König (dr), Peter Ahorner (Sprecher)

“Olle schaun, olle zaahn, olle drahn” sing Die Strottern and JazzWerkstatt Wien in the first song on their CD “Wo fangts an”. These words might also be used to describe the hype around singing in local dialects currently sweeping the Austrian music scene — in Vienna, Die Strottern are partly responsible for shaping this trend. For many years they have been searching out fresh topics for and contemporary ways to express Viennese song. Made in cooperation with JazzWerkstatt Wien, their 2009 CD “Elegant” was the first to expand the format: a rhythm section, winds, electric guitar and piano transform the Viennese singing duo into a small big band; from a musical standpoint, boundaries are being crossed. Everyone involved has taken a step away from their ancestral bailiwicks, but without giving up their essence.
Peter Ahorner, arguably the most important and most prolific author of new Viennese songs, lends his poetic texts to the effort. David Müller emphasizes how important the poet is to Die Stottern: “Die Stottern would not exist without Peter Ahorner. His lyrics were the reason we wanted to compose our own new Viennese songs.” In 2014 Die Stottern and JazzWerkstatt Wien jointly set lyrics by Ahorner to music for the Glatt & Verkehrt Music Festival; the resulting songs can be heard on this CD. With their Josef Mayer-Limberg Suite, Die Strottern and JazzWerkstatt Wien have created a monument to an “Old Master” of poetry in the Viennese dialect and, musically, have stretched a grand arc from old-time, Dixieland-style jazz and laid-back reggae feeling to improvisations in the free jazz style.

„Wo fangts an“ – a cooperation with JazzWerkstatt Records