Just Another Foundry
Biography
Just Another Foundry is a German jazz band.
'Just Another Foundry'. This is how 'the future of jazz in Germany' sounds, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung euphorically formulated it. Three adventures pool their talents and have now even released their first recordings. Engel, Herzog and Greminger are concerned with diversity, shapeliness and above all, cultivation of their individual roots. JAF have long considered themselves as a homogenous organic unity and not as a combination of ambitious soloists and egomaniacs, which clearly sets them apart from the sea of sand grains. With one voice, they tell their stories, change tempos and keys depending on their feelings, juggle precariously between atonality and melodiousness as well as between speed-swing and ballads. Always remain unpredictable, and in no case let themselves be fit into any template: the saxophonist, bassist and drummer want to maintain this principle at all costs. It's all about authenticity. About uniqueness.
Jonas Engel, born in 1990, began his musical career at the age of 16 in the Landes Jugend Jazz Orchester Hessen. After graduating from high school and completing his military service with the Stabsmusikkorps in Berlin, he studied jazz saxophone with Roger Hanschel, Claudius Valk, Frank Gratkowski and Hubert Nuss at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. Engel has been a member of the Bundesjazzorchester since 2014.
Florian Herzog, born in 1989, studied double bass first in Maastricht with Philippe Aerts and then in Cologne with Dietmar Fuhr and Dieter Manderscheid. In 2013 he received a scholarship from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation and in 2014 he won the composition prize with his band "Turn" at the Jazzpreis Biberach. Herzog played as an active member of the Cologne scene with Michael Moore, Sebastian Gramss, Christina Fuchs, Rob Bruynen or Sabine Kühlich, among others.
Anthony Greminger, born in 1994, has been involved with drums since childhood. Via participation in competitions ("Heavytone Kids"), drum camps in the USA (Dave Weckl, Peter Erskine, Horacio Hernandez) and participation in the "European Masterclass Bigband" under the direction of Peter Herbolzheimer, he came to the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne in 2012 after graduating from high school. There, Jonas Burgwinkel teaches him. Greminger participated in various projects in jazz and pop.
Awards
Avignon Jazz Award
Maastricht Jazz Award
Young German Jazz Award
Munich Jazz award
Current Album
Just Another Foundry: Bouwer, Jazz thing Next Generation Vol. 66
Jazz with new roots
Courage to stand on the edge The attitude of a garage band
Just three individuals, just a trio, just another jazz band which surprises constantly.
Their songlike originals provide the fundamentals from which they create. But this trio does not simply sound like drums, double bass and saxophone. They’re willed to demolish their elegant construct at any time and rebuild it abruptly in a manner which is fed by Hip-Hop, Pop, Free Jazz and Krautrock.There are moments in which the typical rules of the instruments hardly apply or get altered heavily by swapping roles and using extended playing techniques.
All this creates an authentic statement that goes beyond Just Another Foundry’s music. This is the music of the big cities and yet of their roots: a music that mirrors the fire of a new generation.
Simply another “assembly line”, simply another jazz band. When you look at this group, who have earned a considerable reputation and won several prices in such a short time, the understatement seems bold.
This however, is a good thing, because what separates JAF from other ensembles of their generation is their courage to make no compromises and refusal to bow to current trends and fads.
Consideration of simplicity, communication, the sound of their three instruments and confrontation of those sounds in the moment underlie this music.
One can look at any moment of this recording under the microscope and find something exciting every time: a scratch, a snarl, a murmur, a small melody.
The J, the A and the F: Jonas, Anthony and Florian have found their common voice and are letting it sound. Just three guys playing, that’s how it’s supposed to be!
Buy AlbumDiscography
- Just Another Foundry: Bouwer, 2017
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