February 2012
Welcome!
Shoot the Moon invite you to have a look around our website – and to listen to our new songs, inspired by Berlin dogs, English writers and urban Flora & Fauna…
Almut Schlichting – saxophone, composition
Winnie Brückner – voice
Tobias Dettbarn – bass clarinet
Sven Hinse – double bass
Max Andrzejewski – drums
The Berlin-based jazz ensemble Shoot the Moon, known for their passionate and innovative mix of styles, is by now well-established in the German jazz scene. The band elates their listeners with their unique synthesis of contemporary jazz, imaginary folklore, popsongs, circus music and rock grooves. Their unique sound is shaped by vocal parts with virtuoso and singalong qualities, a strong horn section, gripping rhythms and free solo excursions.
Shoot the Moon was laureate of the studio competition of the Berliner Senat in 2005 and has released two enthusiastically received CDs (“Treasure Island” nrw records 2006, „Glory & Decay“ jazzwerkstatt 2009). Since 2006, they have played their way into the hearts of the listeners with their extraordinary live performance in numerous club and festival concerts.
German jazz journalist Ulrich Steinmetzger about Shoot the Moon:
„Shoot the Moon is not just another Berlin band, instead a highly individual outfit that, while not wanting to revolutionize music, contribute their own highly distinctive voice based on personal expression and the sum of very individual parts making a superb whole.
The most attractive thing here is a rarely found lightness, that sweeps through a variety of styles and genres. This has its basis in studies at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin or the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, where the core of this crew got to know each other back in the nineties. It also stems from the astonishing capabilities of the individual instrumentalists, who see no need for endless displays of virtuosity as necessary to cut out a profile for themselves. No, here stands a band onstage that really does have something unique to offer.
Sometimes this little orchestra sound like they’re playing pop songs, sometimes some imaginary folk tradition, sometimes Brecht and Weill, sometimes vaudeville, variety, tango, polka, klezmer or even at a wedding celebration somewhere deep in the Balkans. Nevertheless, it always retains an urbane groove and almost as often, the undertones of a very modern sort of pirate’s shanty. If one wants to, one can find trace elements of Ornette Colemen, Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler, or else Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, even Tori Amos.
This whirling mix of styles grumbles and growls and grabs. It swings, sings and is self-assured. It summons the spirits and plays with them. Because it sets its own standard, it sees no need to be unoriginal. It hits us on our bows, with all sorts of interesting flotsam and jetsam floating along in its wake, a beautifully put together festival of the senses.
With appealing irony and like a letter in a bottle without a cork, Shoot the Moon scrapes and scratches alongside our romantic reserves of wonder at the strangeness of the world. This band stands right in the midst of our time.“
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
Interview, Music, Photography – Bruno Magazin 05
Future
Spring 2012 tba
Past
23.10.2011 Berlin Haus der Sinne
05.03.2011 Berlin Aufsturz Jazzkeller 69
04.03.2011 Pfaffenhofen Künstlerwerkstatt
03.03.2011 München Unterfahrt
25.02.2011 La Chaux-de-Fonds Les Murs du Son
15.09.2010 Berlin bflat
08.04.2010 Berlin Haus der Sinne
25.03.2010 Jena Café Wagner
11.03.2010 Leipzig Moritzbastei
30.01.2010 Schwäbisch Gmünd Jazzclub
29.01.2010 Bamberg Jazzclub
27.11.2009 Berlin Ladies First Festival
14.11.2009 Itzehoe Kulturhof
13.11.2009 Leer Jazzclub
07.11.2009 Burgthann Jazzclub
06.11.2009 Nürnberg Stimmenfang Festival
03.10.2009 Berlin Jazzmeeting Festival
15.06.2009 Berlin Haus der Sinne
09.05.2009 Bautzen Filmfestival
06.06.2009 Arnstadt Jazzfestival
13.02.2009 Darmstadt Jazzinstitut
12.02.2009 Fulda Cafe Ideal
22.11.2008 Stralsund Speicher am Katharinenberg
07.11.2008 Stendal Theater
10.10.2008 Nürnberg Jazzstudio
07.09.2008 Syke Jazz Folk Bike Festival
22.06.2008 Hannoversch Münden Kulturring
21.06.2008 Bad Hersfeld Buchcafe
29.03.2008 Leipzig Jazznachwuchsfestival
19.03.2008 Berlin Theaterkapelle
24.11.2007 Lüneburg Jazzinitiative
04.11.2007 Berlin Haus der Sinne
03.11.2007 Köln Loft
01.11.2007 Viersen Jazzclub
12.05.2007 Rostock Alstadtjazzfest
11.05.2007 Berlin Jazzkeller 69
24.11.2006 Lübbenau Swingladen
10.11.2006 Weimar mon ami
02.11.2006 Berlin Haus der Sinne
29.10.2006 Bayreuth Jazzforum
28.10.2006 Nürnberg Jazzstudio
27.10.2006 Saarbrücken Jazz-Syndikat
26.10.2006 Trier TUFA
09.09.2006 Potsdam Jazzfestival
02.09.2006 Nauen Kulturzentrum
01.09.2006 Erfurt Jazzkeller
26.08.2006 Brandenburg Jazzfestival
18.06.2006 Bad Hersfeld Buchcafe
17.06.2006 Mainz Jazzinitiative JIM
16.06.2006 Altenburg Jazzklub
10.06.2006 Stralsund Speicher am Katharinenberg
24.05.2006 Berlin Deutsches Theater
11.04.2006 Jena Cafe Wagner
18.02.2006 Magdeburg Volksbad Buckau
13.01.2006 Neuendorf am See
CD GLORY & DECAY & Concerts (2010 & 2011)
„Sparkling, funny, raucous… extremely stimulating music ..“
(Jazzpodium)
„One of the most enchanting German jazz bands…“
(Rondo)
“An audacious crossover trip through jazz genres – it s great fun!“
(Jazzzeitung)
„An appealing mixture of gripping density and lyrical fancifulness…“
(Jazzthing)
„The poetic texts and expressive melodies move hearts and minds equally…combined with intoxicating rhythms… Shoot the Moon creates very convincing music…“
(Jazzthetik)
„Uncompromising, twinkle-toed and alert!“
(Jazzdimensions)
„Theatrically blazing, very amusing and musically great, the imaginatively dressed Berlin band „Shoot the Moon“ played in the Jazzstudio: Gnomes are rocking in the German forests, and the Queen is dancing.“
(Nürnberger Nachrichten)
“Last weekend, the Berlin-based saxophone player and composer Almut Schlichting played with her formidable band „Shoot The Moon“ …. Schlichtings intricate compositions, songs and suites, sometimes more related to contemporary classical music than to jazz, combined with the freedom of stormy improvising…, result in quirky and idiosycratic tone poems…“
(Mittelbayrische Zeitung)
“La parité femmes-hommes existe dans le jazz, le sextet berlinois Shoot The Moon en est l’illustration. Leur disque “Glory & decay” n’est certes pas une nouveauté (paru en 2008, il nous est parvenu en cours d’hiver) mais il permet de découvrir une formation qui ne manque ni d’air, pour proposer une musique pleine de fougue et de vitalité assez délirante, ni d’airs pour captiver l’oreille de l’auditeur. La thématique n’est pas sans évoquer Kurt Weill pour le côté cabaret décadant, la place des chansons et des rythmes tournoyants. On remarque la fougue des solistes au premier rang desquels la saxophoniste alto Almut Schlichting (“emperruquée” comme Marie-Antoinette, mais elle ne perd pas la tête !), la trompettiste à la sonorité “brass-band” Sabine Ercklentz et la vocaliste Winnie Brückner, entre pop-singer et diva déjantée. Les hommes de l’équipe assurent avec talent la rythmique et une partie très pertinente de clarinette basse. C’est bien fait sans viser une perfection, pas indispensable d’ailleurs, et cette musique ne manque ni d’âme ni de cœur. On imagine que leurs prestations scéniques ne doivent pas être tristes!”
(Culture Jazz)
CD TREASURE ISLAND & Concerts (2008 & 2009)
„Almut Schlichting`s Sextett with the beautiful name Shoot the Moon makes Tom-Waits-Polkas collide with the controlled madness of Ornette Coleman; drunken waltz flirts with lopsided blues, and Marvin Gaye drowns in the bow waves of a postmodern pirate shanty.“ (Berliner Morgenpost)
„Profound ease …stylistic border crossing…imaginative songwriting…expressive solo statements…“
(Jazzzeitung)
„Heartily expressive…openness and new, individual forms of expression…“
(Jazzpodium)
„Variète and vaudeville, urban grooves and shantys, rock loans and singer-songwriter-feasting, Brecht and Weill, Polka, Klezmer and imaginary folklore, Tango and funeral march….something dreamy and fabulous in battered idylls …le fabuleux destin of Almut S.“ (sonic)
„Lightyears removed from the mainstream, somewhere between contemporary jazz and angular chanson, Shoot the Moon have created their own very special fantasy-grooves. Between the South Sea and the Arctic, the Berlin sextett dives down to hidden musical treasures with their songs of sunken sailboats and bathing tigers…“
(Saarbrücker Zeitung)
„(Shoot the Moon) roam the music fund, beautifully and off-key…“ Nürnberger Nachrichten
„Music Pirates keen on experimenting…Shoot the Moon elates the listeners in the sold-out Kulturbahnhof…“
(Hessisch-Niedersächsische Allgemeine)
„Never a jazz band in the straight sense of the word, Shoot the Moon have build many causes of friction into their music. Theatrical street ballads evocative of an imaginary Berlin of the twenties alternate with Calypso-infected songs, roughed up with folkloristic ingredients, which sometimes remind of Klezmer or Balkan sounds…“
(Jazzthetik)
„(Shoot the Moon) inspire with a distinctive and inventive sound… powerful and rough…from the morbid air of Viennese waltz to excursions to the south sea and the greek ancient world… very special charm. .“
(Saarbrücker Zeitung)
„Even Captain Jack Sparrow himself would swoon over (Shoot the Moon)…..“
(Nürnberger Nachrichten)
Band & Friends
www.niniwe.de
www.almutschlichting.de
www.subsystem-berlin.de
www.lesorelleblu.de
www.garagenoper.de
www.maxandrzejewski.de
Photography
www.revermer.com
www.frankjohannes.com
Studio
