JAZZSTEPPA (MG77/Hotflush, UK)

Follow the bass seems to be the message of this London - Berlin collective. The frequency of the low sounds shows their musical progress and influences. There are plenty of experiments and, of course, jazz in their music. Their sound seems to be like crossover of dubstep, reggae and drum and bass. Their live gig in Szczecin is going to be a great journey across these styles. The track called "One" was one of the best tracks on the club scene in general in 2007.

Below there is an interview with Jazzsteppa:

We know that a part of Jazzsteppa comes from Berlin and a part comes from London. Could you introduce the band? What is your musical background/education? What are your musical preferences?

We have members and collaborators from all over the world.. The only members which have been in JazZstePpa from the Start Are myself (Shmuel!) and BarbZ (Gal Bar-Adon). I studied drums with David Rich- this 70 year old geezer in Tel-Aviv, he used to play with a lot of the big jazz dudes in New-York in the 60's... We tried studying jazz music at high-school too but the teachers didn’t really know what jazz is. To be honest, I don’t think many people do really understand what jazz is anymore... As our main musical influences I would say: Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Photek, Jah Shakka & Igor Stravinsky.

London and Berlin are musically probably the two most influential cities in Europe. London gives us the whole spectrum of "broken sounds" while Berlin is like European legacy to Detroit. Do the places you live in have the big influence on your music?

London has definitely had an impact on the way I listen to and write music. I think there is something about this grey and dark city that helps you keep a good perspective on life and time. When you write music you have to be critical. If its good keep it. If its bad chuck it. Berlin is a great place to get pissed and listen to weird music. Most the stuff we record is done in Our Berlin studio, so I'm sure the city does effect the music somehow...

Do you think that dubstep is the most inspiring an progressive kind of club music right now? Are the albums of Benga, Burial and a few more going to be as important for modern electronic music as Goldie Timeless or Reprazent New Forms were in the 90's?

Dubstep is quite big at the moment... obviously, the music industry and press are loving the word Even if they don’t hav a fucking clue what it is. In reality, theres some really good dubstep like; Benga and Horsepower production... And theres plenty of worthless shit. When people ask me what kind of music I listen to, I usually say: 1 per cent of anything.

Tell us about Jazzsteppa gig. What can we expect in Szczecin?

Last gig (MeltDown festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall) the ceiling caved in from the amount of bass and we had to change venue... – so maybe something similar... I hope the venue doesn't get trashed to much cause Bartek (festival organizer) sounds like a decent guy on the phone :)

Tell us about your future releases?

We should have an EP coming out in the next months through Z-Audio... Actually we are working on our LP which will have a proper jazz Big band on it. Ye... and we should have some really big names remixing.. Looking forward to that.

Check also:
www.jazzsteppa.com

Performance: 22.08.2008 (friday/saturday) at 01:00am - Teatr Letni (Summer Theatre)