Waterlilys Richard Schumacher

• 1 Nearness and Beauty 06:02
• 2 Daylight Passage 05:08
• 3 Evening Glow 03:19
• 4 Honey Delta Blues 09:36
• 5 Turbulence Forecast 13:11
• 6 Waterlilys 06:38
• 7 When it was now 02:14
• Total Runtime 46:08

Info for Waterlilys

On his first solo album Richard Schumacher (VIBE TRIBE) presents a wonderful set of scenic tunes with acoustic guitar pieces setting the mood, just waiting to be commented on by Richard’s 71 Telecaster ... openness to a more reflective pace and quiet mood this time, the desire to just pluck in and play was the way to go – featuring Will Kennedy (YELLOWJACKETS), Munyungo Jackson (STEVIE WONDER) and beautifully recorded and co-produced by Reinhard Karwatky, you are in for a real sonic treat ...

For sometime now, the highly praised VIBE TRIBE CD´s have been the main focus for Richard Schumacher, summing up his interest in longer compositions, featuring a stellar cast of musicians, like Bill Evans, Patrice Rushen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Mitch Forman, Kai Eckhard , just to name a few. So now it was finally time to look into a more guitar-oriented venture, thinking of a mix of tunes you might enjoy just for their simplicity, as well as their intimacy, which was already to be found in some acoustic pieces on Vibe Tribe albums before. Together with his long-time production partner Reinhard Karwatky, the two set out to record those moments of true improvisation. In his own words: “When I play guitar, I try to let the music come to the surface in its most purest form, which to me is always a wonderful experience, and I truly cherish those special moments, when “it happens”… sometimes the guitar by itself is already very satisfying, other times we use the basic tracks to develop more sophisticated arrangements growing out of that first inspiration – as long as the musical result is telling a story, we´re usually on a good path to its very end”. Just a single note may arise to beauty, surrounded by silence (“Evening Glow” or “When it was now”), opposed to his Fender telecaster flying high (“Honey Delta Blues”), or the African heat you may almost grab with your fingers, based on Munyungo Jackson´s hypnotic marimba groove (“Daylight Passage”)

The individual songs could very well be described as milestones of a voyage, or the journey through life: “ To me, it is always exciting to somewhat instinctively allow for good music to grow out of what one experiences in life – that connection is based on feeling more than anything else in my view, since music seems to be the only language which truly describes what is happening inside of us, what goes on in that area beyond mere words…”

When you listen to “Waterlilys”, there is always enough air and space to enjoy that very area, allowing for a pleasant, as well as introspective journey.

Richard Schumacher, guitar, vocals, programming
Will Kennedy, drums
Munyungo Jackson, percussion
Marcio Doctor, percussion

Produced by Richard Schumacher & Reinhard Karwatky

Richard Schumacher
Guitarist and composer Richard Schumacher was born February 5th 1955 in Boston (Massachusetts), but grew up in Hamburg (Germany) were he first appeared on the session szene in the vibrant 70’s with Udo Lindenberg, Carsten Bohn’s Bandstand and others. However, intrigued by Frank Zappas composing skills on paper, he felt encouraged to seriously study jazz composition and arranging with the likes of Michael Gibbs and Herb Pomeroy at the Berklee School of Music in the 80’s, while simultaneously starting to make a name for himself as a composer and bandleader. Back in Hamburg in the 90’s he started his main project VIBE TRIBE on Lipstick Records, signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell and released the critically acclaimed CD’s “Cool Shoes”, “Foreign Affairs” and “Views” with succesful subsequent tours featuring high caliber musicians like Patrice Rushen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Bill Evans, Jack Bruce, Russ Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip, Will Kennedy, Kai Eckhardt, Dave Weckl, Mitchel Forman, Steve Tavaglione, Michael “Patches” Stewart, Paul Mcandless, Bob Malach, Munyungo Jackson a.o.

Besides producing and studio work as a guitarist, he was part of the internationally acclaimed multimedia production “Trip”, a unique cooperation of many musicians, painters and movie directors, destined to stirr up creativity and imagination, rightfully subtitled: “Remix your experience”

Recent activities include the first solo CD “Waterlilys”, a collection of tunes featuring his more guitarristic side, as well as starting his own label Straightvibe Records, which is dedicated to Jazz and Worldmusic, as well as continuing cooperations with other artists in the “Music for Painters” and “Music for Poets” series.

Booklet for Waterlilys