Jazzamor - Strange to Be in Paradise (2017)
Jazzamor - Strange to Be in Paradise (2017)
01. Yonder Heights 02. Not Only in Spring 03. Tattoos 04. He's Not There 05. Time 06. Illusions 07. The Cat 08. Sunrise 09. Sommer 10. Strange to Be in Paradise 11. Lullaby
Love, hate, the complexities of our times lacking simple solutions – resonating in Jazzamor's question: Isn't it strange to be in Paradise?
When we sing our love songs and when we celebrate the wonderful experience of humans embracing each other in a rather mystical happening of emphatic passion, we cannot deny the fact that in each and every case there are others in fear and horror, being tortured and slaughtered for nothing but the raging passion of hate. Is it not strange to be in paradise at the same time? To live in a world where we are supported in all kinds of ways, while at the same time other humans suffer? What is there to do with this strangeness to be? We are confronted with this human contradiction whether we like it or not. We can look away, or we can face these opposing appearances of life and the questions they pose. We choose every time we look at it. But to go beyond we must look into what provides us with that option.
Our nature which is able to love and to hate almost at the same time. The transit well of wonderment. This never failing fertile fountainhead. There is the profound experience of creativity, the explosion of ideas, the blitz of insight. Creativeness itself is the strange exotic lead and it’s only restriction is the narrowness of hate. It has no image. It is a kind of abstraction without an idea. But because it is providing our life with a constant flow of ideas we do not need anything beyond it. The unknown given of all this real was non as life begun. At one point no-one was categorized as black, white, male, female, Christian, Jew, Moslem but somehow these narratives evolved. They have a history. They where suppressed, privileged, preached, forced, annihilated. They came from next to nothing. They became stories – histories – and an empty bird of wonderment is touching them lightly with superb grace to breathe life into them. That is: we do! And we have to be curious about what else we can achieve. We should not turn away from suffering, even when we do have no inkling about an answer. Nor should we be content with the easy answers the experts give us – let us not forget: They depend on histories. Let us consider directly the questions posed by humans lost in paradise, humans who die in paradise, just as the dice are cast. --- jazzamor.com
In 2001 Bettina Mischke and Roland Grosch started their project Jazzamor. Influenced by the Bossa-Nova and Latin-Jazz of the 60s they developed their own style with Bettina’s voice making it unmistakeable.
The arrangements are playful yet minimalistic with great care for detail. Electronic sounds blend with double bass and latino percussions. Melancholic piano aires invoke a blue mood with Bettina’s alluring soft voice giving it all a distinct color.
Since the beginning they recorded six albums (see discography) while their style evolved further. In the first years experimenting with sounds was important but they are more conscious again of their jazz roots recently. Arrangements are more concentrated on classic instruments and soloists get more room – but the search for new soundscapes is ever present. With all this both artists never loose the skill for telling playfully nostalgic stories in the typical jazzamor style.
In the beginning Jazzamor was a pure studio project but with their first life concert they began playing all over Europe and in Asia. Maybe the Jazzamor song „Travel…“ was like a mission statement for their music.
Where ever – in a cafe in Brazil, in a bar in Mosque or in a lounge in Singapore – their songs are on a journey around the world. --- jazzamor.com
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