c
All facts
about the band
Cool &
relaxed, but also powerful & energetic, this is the sound
of the “Stefan Wagner Group”. The compositions are
written by the bandleader; he draws a bow from modern Hard Bop
to classic Latin, from quiet ballads to modal fusion. The music
of the “Stefan Wagner Group” subsists not only from
the compositions. With their creativity and virtuosity all 6
musicians put their personal stamps on the music. Stefan Wagner
and his musicians succeeded in developing a very distinctive
group sound, and they expand this sound continuously with new
facets.
In November
2004 the "Stefan Wagner Group" recorded its first
CD "Listen Well", the album was presented in April
2005 and effected numerous concerts all over Central Europe.
The Band played for example at the „Porgy & Bess“
and „Joe Zawinul’s Birdland“ in Vienna, at
the Jazz club „Reduta“ in Prague, at Bosko Petrovic’s
club “BP” in Zagreb and also in many other jazz
clubs in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Moreover the band
played concerts at the Jazzfest Wiesen, at the "Carl Drewo
- Jazztage" in St. Gilgen/Wolfgangsee, at Jazzfest Brno
and two times at the Bavarian Jazzweekend in Regensburg (see
more under "concerts").
On Oct 26th,
2007, the Stefan Wagner Group got the German
"Winterkasten
Jazz Award". This prize (a glass - sculpture created
by Peter Hermans) exists since 2004, the award winner so far
were Ack van Rooyen (2004), Jochen Brauer (2005) und Allen Blairman
(2006).
Very exact
3 years after the 1st CD “Listen Well”, the Stefan
Wagner Group has released its 2nd album “The Long Walk”.
Like the 1st one, this CD contains of 10 originals written by
the bandleader, almost all of them were composed after the release
of “Listen Well”. The tunes of “The Long Walk”
are written in the similar style to the songs before, but of
course the music of the 2nd CD is an artistic step further,
not only in composing, but also in interpretation – a
step further as a result of the numerous musical activities
during the last years.
The history
of the "Stefan Wagner Group" goes back up to the year
1986 (more under "Stefan Wagner"),
the band of Stefan Wagner has been recreated new in 1997. Until
the presentation of the first CD, the "Stefan Wagner Group"
had numerous appearances mostly in Vienna and the surrounding
area, the greatest shows of the group had been two concerts
as a support act of Simon Phillips (drummer of the Pop- and
Rock band TOTO) as well as 3 appearances at the Vienna "Donauinselfest"
(Danube - island festival), the largest open air festival in
Europe.
The musical
goal of the "Stefan Wagner Group" is to reach an ideal
balance between the interplay in the band and the very own individualism
of each musician. Every band member has his/her own distinctive
instrumental voice that shapes the sound of the music substantially;
the sum of these voices generates the sound of the group's music.
For that Stefan Wagner has taken Miles Davis as a model and
specially his sextet in the late 1950ies, with the two saxophonists
John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley and the pianist Bill Evans.
