Christoph Stiefel Lisette Spinnler Bima Sakti TRAUMTON Records

TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D-13597 Berlin Germany
030 331 93 50
info@traumton.de
www.traumton.de
Release February 3, 2012
Christoph Stiefel
Lisette Spinnler
Bima Sakti
Christoph Stiefel: piano, composition
Lisette Spinnler: vocals
indigo cd 961182
upc 705304456422
jazz/vocal
Live:
21.02.2012
22.02.2012
23.02.2012
24.02.2012
25.02.2012
26.02.2012
27.02.2012
16.03.2012
31.03.2012
28.04.2012
03.05.2012
11.05.2012
30.09.2012
tbc
Listening tips:
[ 1 ] Jolene
[ 2 ] Astracan Café
[ 6 ] In ferne Himmel
CH-Zürich, Moods : CD-Release
DE-München, Unterfahrt
DE-Berlin, A-Trane
DE-Fulda, Jazzfreunde
DE-Villingen, Jazz Club
CH-Bern, bee-flat
CH-Baden, Isebähnli
CH-La Chaux-de-Fonds
Ch-Solothurn, Kreuz
DE-Herrischried, Rotmooshalle
CH-Basel, Jazzfestival
CH-Rifferswil, Jazz in Rifferswil
DE-Frauenfeld, Generations Festival
Christoph Stiefel | Lisette Spinnler - Bima Sakti
Inspired Song, Singing Piano
A singer and a pianist: this combination has given us magical results in jazz many times. The especially
memorable duos – Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins, Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake as well as Sidsel Endresen &
Bugge Wesseltoft – deserve to be mentioned here. These three trios mark an aesthetic development, one
which is characterized by an increasing detachment from traditional patterns of vocal jazz closely linked to
the “Great American Songbook.”
In BIMA SAKTI the pianist Christoph Stiefel and the singer Lisette Spinnler continue this development on
several levels. One doesn’t only prick up one’s ears to the unusual selection of pieces, but also listens to
the extraordinarily differentiated and subtle way they deal with fine dynamic nuances and fascinating
sounds. During all of this, neither the song nor the piano, in part prepared, stands in the foreground; much
more both meld into harmonious unity, which sometimes exudes a downright celestial beauty.
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
info@traumton.de
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Sometimes the duo’s trip leads in fact “In ferne Himmel” [To a faraway heaven], one title of the six pieces
from Stiefel’s pen. Likewise, Spinnler and Stiefel feel at home in “Astracan Café,” in Turkey (“Burasi
Mustur”) or in Africa (“Djabaram”). The biggest surprise among the four titles is the song “Jolene,” which, in
comparison to Dolly Parton’s original, comes across as much more melancholic, honest and moving.
Of course, in the duo’s repertoire a few numbers emerge from Stiefel’s trailblazing isorhythm cycle of
works, from which further examples can be heard on the recordings with the Inner Language Trio and his
solo CD. With her charismatic, limber and warm voice, Lisette Spinnler enhances the hypnotic effect of
these pieces, themselves oscillating between catchy and complicated.
When art succeeds in celebrating beauty without artificiality, but rather transcends it, it can give us an
impression of a lost paradise. Since such transcendent moments appear in the soulful music of Christoph
Stiefel and Lisette Spinnler again and again, this music touches us in the middle of our hearts.
Tom Gsteiger, Sommer 2011
Links:
Christoph Stiefel: http://www.christophstiefel.ch
Lisette Spinnler: http://www.lisettespinnler.com
Traumton: http://www.traumton.de/neu/records/index_stiefel_spinnler.html
TRAUMTON Records
Grunewaldstr. 9 D 13597 Berlin Germany Tel. 030 331 93 50
info@traumton.de