bands and projects

·         these are some of the current bands/projects i´m involved in:

 

MN3 – MARTIN NITSCH TRIO

With JOHANNES “HENRY” SIGL (b) and WOLFI RAINER (dr) I explore different facets and possibilities of the guit/b/dr- trioformat, rooted in modern jazz. Our first cd “Silent Life” (klangspur) was recorded in 2005—I´m already busy preparing the next one, which should be released this year.

 

HONGKONG

After a three year-hiatus this trio regrouped again with MARK MAIR on bass/voc and GEORG TAUSCH on drums. Hongkong is a real “power-trio” – playing original and covered rocksongs as well as celebrating the forgotten art of jamming in rock (our version of “Norwegian Wood” usually takes at least twenty minutes..).

 

MN5 - MARTIN NITSCH QUINTET

MN5 is all new now with the following line-up: MANU DELAGO/drums, LURZ GEILER/bass (both from the fabulous group HOTCHPOTCH) ,MIKE TIEFENBACHER/keys & ANDREAS SCHIFFER/percussion. Whereas the former incarnation of this band (ANDREAS SCHIFFER: percussion , vibraphone JÖRG HÖLLWARTH: drums JOHANNES “HENRY” SIGL: bass ANDI TENTSCHERT: fender rhodes, organ) was kind of mixing modern grooves with 60s/70s – sounds (archtop-“jazz”-guitar, fender rhodes, etc) – this one is a rather heavy beast combining heavyrock (yes – distortion!!) ;hiphop-like grooves and elements of world music. With the original line – up I recorded the cd “Beauty Farm” (CAT – Records) in 2003 with special guests Florian Bramböck (sax) and Morrocan singer Othmane Benkhiate.

 

MR. BOIL

What started with the project “m&m´s groove station”, now became a real band: MR. BOIL. The music is very drum&bass/dub/house/whatever – oriented and absolutely improvised or composed in real-time (the term which I prefer). This is the band where I use my electronics as much as it features my doubleneck – guitar. MARTIN OHRWALDER is still my partner here – on trumpet and laptop and STEPHAN KONDERT (b) and ANDREAS LETTNER (dr) are an extremely tight and creative  groove-tandem. In March 2005 we recorded a studio-album, which hopefully finds a label soon.

 

AUTOFOCUS

I´m a “Nouvelle Cuisine” – member since January 2005, and that´s where I met CLEMENS SALESNY (sax) , RAPHAEL PREUSCHL (bass) and CLEMENS ADLASSNIGG (drums). With these great musicians from Vienna I want to explore the music happening between “free” and “groove”. This group is also a tribute to the awesome 80´s jazzgroup AIRMAIL, which was led by the late, great guitarist Harry Pepl (1945-2005). His compositions, original material and some Zappa-tunes make up our current programme.

 

J.O.T.  ( Jazz Orchester Tirol ) or J.O.I.N.T. (Jazz Orchester In Northern Tirol)

This is a 18- piece- Big Band co- led by trumpet-player MARTIN OHRWALDER
and ex-VIENNA ART ORCHESTER- member, saxophonist FLORIAN BRAMBÖCK.
Even if the line-up might be traditional (5 saxes, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, p., guit., b., dr.,perc.),
the music is totally original (with befriended outside writers also contributing) and deals with modern grooves as well as "avant-garde" – like composing and collective improvisations.
I contributed my composition "Fool Time" (MP3 at music – button).
The band also includes the  great composer/pianist CHRISTIAN WEGSCHEIDER. Take a look at our homepage.

 

NOUVELLE CUISINE

Nouvelle Cuisine is, besides the Vienna Art Orchestra, the most important “modern” Big Band in Vienna – founded by CHRISTIAN MÜHLBACHER and CHRISTOPH CECH in the early eighties. Following the big shoes of guitar-wizards Conrad Schrenk and Alex Machacek, I´m a member of this great band since 2005. Click here for more details.

 

MÜHLBACHER USW.

Christian Mühlbacher annually performed at Porgy&Bess (Vienna) on the 5th of April since 1997, which yielded a cd/dvd each time. Since 2006 I am also part of this project – the line- up mostly consists of drums, percussion, electronics, bass, 2 keys, guitar, saxophone, tuba, 3 trombones and  2 trumpets. The music is written by Christian- adding occassional interesting coverversions- and is always performed as one piece (appr. 1 1/2 hours) and combined with visuals. Click here for more info.

 

·         the following are important bands and collaborations of the past:

 

IT  was a band I played in between 1990 and 1993 and developed itself out of various bands I played in during my schooldays.
We were very heavily influenced by bands like LIVING COLOUR and RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS, nevertheless the style we played was rather new to the tyrolean people.
We recorded a cd in 1992 ("Think and Dive"), some months later I quit and the band played on till the end of 1993.Members TOM NEUMAYR bass, JÜRGEN BAUER: drums and MARCO LOINGER: voice.


BIG BONZAI  emerged from a cabaret-rock band called NJENG.
The five-piece band crossed electronic drums and guitar-synths with acoustic guitars, cello and trumpet.
The music was highly original and remains one of my favourite things of the past.
We crossed classical, jazz , metal and ethnic music and recorded a cd between 1997 and 99 called "Indirekter Elfer" . Members: HUBERT ZOLLER: fretless bass, classical- and 12- string guitar ANDREAS MAYER: digital and analog percussion GERLINDE SINGER: cello, vocals and MARTIN OHRWALDER: trumpet. Lately there´s been some occassional reunion-concert (without Gerlinde); very much in the “M&M´s GROOVE STATION”´s electronic/groove/improv – style.

 

SWEET DISASTER  Originally a studio- project by PETER HORNEK and DANIEL HUBER, this band was a clever blend of pop melodies and edgier arrangements, mainly written by the crazy genius PETER HORNEK.
Before we started as a full blown six-piece band, I recorded a duo-cd with Peter ("Contact") in 1999.
He is a master of composing and arranging on computers and manages to create some outrageous sounds.
The band was a really hot live-act in 2000/01 and included MICHAEL HORNEK: drums(!) ANDI MAYERL: bass ANDREAS SCHIFFER: percussion PETER HORNEK: vocals, trumpet, guitar and the amazing JUDITH HEMSTREIT: vocals (and dance).


HORNITSCHEK  This group developed when I studied at Brucknerkonservatorium in Linz, together with CHRISTIAN LETTNER: drums (now with PASSPORT) and co- leader MICHAEL HORNEK: keys.
Along with good old JOHANNES "HENRY" SIGL (bass) we played our vision of Fusion- music,
And we managed to play some 5 or 6 gigs between 1998 and 2001 – quite an achievement, isn´t it?!
The cd we recorded is called "Mut" and was released on CAT-RECORDS in 2000.

 

DIETZ  is DIETHER BECKE´s band. He is a singer/songwriter/guitarist/bass-player who writes his songs in tyrolean dialect. I produced his CD “Oan Hebm” in 2003 and also played live from 2001 till 2003; actually our ways already crossed way back in 1996 with TWICE A DAY. For more information visit his homepage.

 

M&M`s GROOVE STATION  was co-led with trumpet-player MARTIN OHRWALDER (hence the bandname), who also used his laptop here. From january till august 2004 we had a steady gig at TREIBHAUS in Ibk, where we invited different rhythm-sections every week. During that time we recorded our two live – albums “Official Bootleg” “Vol.1” ( w/  MATTHIAS PICHLER/ b  &  JÖRG HÖLLWARTH/dr ) and “Vol.2”  (w/ WALTER SINGER/ b &  ANDREAS LETTNER/ dr ).  At the end of 2004 we had a stable line-up with STEPHAN KONDERT on bass and ANDREAS LETTNER on drums. Since this led to a “real” band, other than a project, we decided to rename the whole thing: “Mr. Boil” !