STEFAN BAUER VOYAGE WEST

Voyage West’s musicians represent an illustrious, communicative and international group (NY, Canada, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands/Korea) with decades of collective experience as jazz musicians and world travellers. “The goal,” says Bauer, “is to create music that draws the audience along with us as fellow explorers on a borderless journey – both sonically and culturally.”

Based on Jazz as a common language (if not in a traditional sense, in spite of each members credentials within the mainstream area) Voyage West’s program consists of such diverse sources as North American folk songs, musical elements that Bauer brought back from or was inspired by travels to India and Africa, a few re-arranged standards, and of his compositions about which the Rheinische Post/Germany writes:” . . . In his compositions there are romantic and impressionistic elements, enriched by sharpness and formal awareness, and by magnificent sounds full of fantasy.”

The rich, rarely heard voice of Bauer’s vibraphone (and marimba) is but one unique source of instrumental color; the actual voice of Tammy Scheffer – often the source of haunting, wordless melodies – is another. The press writes about saxophonist Chris Bacas that “he produced breath-taking solos” and “Again and again Chris Bacas enthused with his unorthodox saxophone statements.”

Jim Vivian's propulsive bass and drummer Yonga Sun’s adventurous drumming tie it all together.

A video of Voyage West’s recording session in Toronto in Sept ’17 that lead to the new CD

Press quotes from a recent tour of Germany (excerpts):

“…After this first tune the audience was already giddy with excitement . . .

After two encores the concert unfortunately ended, and many left exhilarated.”

Kurt Rade, Ruhrjazz Blog, Dortmund/Germany

“ . . . fulminating forceful interplay. In short: amazing musicians, a fantastic band.” Yorn Schaefer, WESER KURIER

“The music’s effect is contemplative, stories without words, philosophy in notes, serenity through motion. . . ‘Voyage’, it seems, arrived at its destination.“

J.Overkott, WESTFÄLISCHE RUNDSCHAU

“…What this quintet had to offer musically quickly took the breath away of even the most experienced listeners . . . The sustained applause for this magnificent and rarely heard musical adventure was well earned...because this quintet was simply just very, very good... “ Heinz Braunsmann, Westfälische Nachrichten

“. . . gorgeous World Jazz.”

Sven Thielmann, Hifi & records

. . . this concert offered a dream-like place of calm and inner reflection, and at the same time it opened a view to new horizons. Udo Spelleken, RHEINISCHE POST

Stefan Bauer Voyage – the new CD G E O G R A P H I A

(Jazzhausmusik.de, JHM 216), press quotes:

. . . formally beautiful, pleasant, round and coherent. On the other hand the band moves off the beaten track and takes unexpected turns beyond known routes and routines with their dense interplay, which is based on closely composed or openly improvised movement. Stefan Bauer’s Voyage carries our imagination with fancy sounds to extraordinary places and to wonderful islands beyond time and space.

Tobias Böcker, Jazzpodium, January 2014

Stefan Bauer: TONGEBIET - New York and back

Stefan Bauer counts among the most original and creative forces in contemporary Jazz. His new CD “GEOGRAPHIA” proves that. With uncommon sound combinations Bauer and his band Voyage invite the listener into an acoustic world consisting of improvised music and sound-collages which include ambient noise and spoken words. . . Uwe Meyer in Tongebiet,

… an audio journey that allows inspired associations, espec. through the dialogues between vibraphone and saxophone. Audio, Ralf Dombrowski

Artist Biographies

Stefan Bauer, born in Germany, lived in Winnipeg before making New York his home. One of the foremost vibraphonists of his generation, Bauer has collaborated musically with a.o. Adam Nussbaum, Mick Goodrick, Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, the WDR Radio Big Band (Germany), in and around Toronto with Bernie Senensky, Alex Dean, Jerry Fuller, Barry Romberg, Kevin Turcotte, Nancy Walker, Kieran Overs, Greg Pilo and others. Tours of Africa, India (upon invitation of Germany’s Goethe-Institute) and Europe – more recently Central America and Iceland – and encounters with local musicians serve as a particular source of inspiration for Stefan, which is reflected in his compositions.

Chris Bacas, a veteran of the Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and Buddy Rich Big Bands of the 80's, has been a fixture of the cutting-edge NY scene for the past decade and a half. Pianist Dr. Billy Taylor: “He is a sensitive, lyrical saxophonist and flutist who plays with stunning authority.”

Tammy Scheffer, the remarkable Israeli-born singer, a Brooklyn resident like Bacas and Bauer, has the agility and panache of a seasoned horn player and the imagination of the brightest stars of her generation" (Andrea Canter, JazzPolice.com). “Innovative, provocative and alluring . . . Scheffer has a great deal to say in music, sound and word." (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune)

Virtuoso bassist Jim Vivian – backbone and driving force for the multifaceted and demanding music of Voyage West – has proven to be one of Canada's finest bassists through his long-standing associations with many of Canada and the world's best-known musicians, such as Dave Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, John Abercrombie, Don Thompson and Sonny Greenwich. He was also the bassist on Bauer’s Juno – nominated CD Best of Two Worlds.

New to this ensemble is Yonga Sun who in Europe is seen as a musical Chameleon. “ The band’s real secret weapon is Yonga Sun who uses drums, small percussion and even his voice to play a magical game with rhythms. He makes them cross, bounce and wiggle and sometimes just propels them straight ahead.”

- Leeuwaarder Courant, Netherlands 2013

Please check out Voyage West on this video from our recording session in Toronto in 2017