Inviting | Jazzthing Next Generation Vol. 98 Karoline Weidt Quartet

• 1 Inviting 02:45
• 2 At First 04:21
• 3 Revery 04:11
• 4 Speak Low 03:47
• 5 The Novel Song 05:58
• 6 I'm Nobody 03:01
• 7 Wild Nights 02:49
• 8 Hiatus 04:17
• Total Runtime 31:09

Info for Inviting | Jazzthing Next Generation Vol. 98

The music of Karoline Weidt and her band sounds inviting indeed, which is why “Inviting” is also a fitting title for Karoline Weidt Quartet's debut album. The singer, born in Brandenburg in 1995, discovered her artistic destiny at a very early age. “I've always sung,” Weidt said. “After singing in a children's choir, I decided to take professional singing lessons.” This quickly fell on fertile ground, and Karoline Weidt soon discovered jazz. “When I was fifteen, I sang my first jazz song,” she recalled. “I liked it very much because I had the impression that you don't have to be like someone else, but instead you can just be yourself. She has many role models, and they have changed a lot over time. Of course, at first I couldn't listen enough to Ella Fitzgerald, and later I also listened a lot to Norma Winstone.” Karoline Weidt studied jazz singing in Dresden, and she also met the members of her band there. Bassist Loreen Sima (“Loreen plays very filigree, but can also develop a powerful punch”) also has her own trio, and the areas of interest of pianist Mikolaj Suchanek range from Baroque to Modern Jazz. “Miko first studied classical piano and then switched to jazz,” Weidt said. “You can discover completely new worlds with him, and I find that very exciting.” Drummer Valentin Steinle not only sits behind the drums in Weidt's band, but also in the trio of pianist Emmanuel Walter. “Valentin plays in a very interesting way,” the singer stated. “I think he listens to a lot of hip-hop. This makes for a great mix together with the others.”

The songs on “Inviting” almost all come from the pen of the singer – not only the music, but also many lyrics. "I need peace and quiet for songwriting," Weidt said. “In the beginning I found it particularly difficult to compose lyrics, but now I love to play with words.”

This interest has also led Weidt to become enthusiastic about the poems of Emily Dickinson and therefore set three of them to music. “I like how Emily Dickinson putts words together and creates a complete world,” the singer said, who now lives in Munich and has already won several prizes with her quartet: the New Generation #jazzlab at the Festival da Jazz in St. Moritz, the Junge Münchner Jazzpreis and the Blue Note Jazz Competition in Poznán, Poland.

The only cover version that made it onto the album is "Speak Low" by Kurt Weill; the interpretation has an interesting history. “Shortly before the lockdown, I taught myself to play vibraphone,” the singer stated. "Speak Low was just going around in my head back then and that's why I completely rearranged and reharmonized the song and then rewrote this arrangement for the band. We take up the message of the song, but the harmonies are quite different."

"Inviting" also has two prominent guests. The title song is refined by the Berlin vibraphonist Christopher Dell, and trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky is guest on the restrained "Revery". “Sebastian Studnitzky plays so beautifully and so spherically that I really wanted to have him on 'Revery',” the singer stated enthusiastically. “Since he's a lecturer in Dresden, I just asked him.”

All these ingredients make “Inviting” not only an inviting thing, but an album that combines many different songs and moods with a casual virtuosity. And Karoline Weidt is at the start of a promising career with her voice, which radiates a natural self-confidence from a young age.

Karoline Weidt, vocals
Mikolaj Suchanek, piano
Loreen Sima, bass
Valentin Steinle, drums
Kilian Sladek, vocals

The Karoline Weidt Quartet
combines the energy and complexity of jazz with the catchiness of pop. Every note and every structure has meaning and points to a noble aesthetic. "I look for beauty in the details and create my music from them" reveals singer and composer KAROLINE WEIDT. "Clear, concise melodies, consciously formulated lyrics and tonally rich, subtle arrangements" define the quartet's sound. (jazzzeitung.de) With their debut album "Inviting" a new chapter opens. Already with the first note an intense atmosphere is created, which is able to enchant the audience. While KAROLINE WEIDT's spherical vocals float with lightness, she stands in the centre of the sound with her natural presence. Within their detailed arrangements, the quartet moves flexibly through unusual harmonies, energetic solos and polyphonic singing.

This album contains no booklet.