Jazz for Melancholy Days
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“Jazz for Melancholy Days”
by Klaus Möllers WN
Münster. As the snow falls outside in the gathering dusk, the singer serves her visitor a café latte in her comfortably furnished kitchen. In the living room, logs are crackling in a nostalgic hearth. Within sight is the grand piano on which Stephanie Klco-Brosius (Stephanie K.) writes her melodic stories – Jazz.
The cover of her current CD “A Word Before You Go” shows Klco-Brosius in summer—on the Principle Market place in Münster. As everything requires preparation: 13 songs were recorded and the entire production needed time, the choice of photograph happened to be a summer theme. “That’s who I am!”, says the artist. This also refers to the overall project including music, lyrics and emotions.
The lyrics and vocals on her fourth work are relaxed and easy, imaginative and open. The mood is sometimes melancholy, wistful with the memory of times past and the search for new beginnings.
Always facing forward, but also glancing back at the journey traveled—that is the message within the musical work of jazz vocalist Stephanie Klco-Brosius’ on her new CD “A Word Before You Go”. The cover photo was taken in front of the Lamberti Church in Münster. Foto: Angel Rodriguez
“I would like to say something to those people in my past with whom I was close,” the Münster transplant explains, referring to the CD title. The 53-year-old American is mother to four adult children, including a son who lives on Hawaii. In the song “If I Had a Sister” she describes how she would imagine a sister, as she herself was raised among ten brothers.
For the CD “A Word Before You Go”, which will be released in January by the Osnabrück label Fattoria Musica, the singer and composer gathered her favorite colleagues: Christian Kappe (trumpet and flugelhorn), Ingo Senst (bass) and Markus Paßlick (percussion)—the latter two belong to the Götz-Alsmann band—Sebastian Altekamp (piano) and Christian Schoenefeldt (drums).
Eight of the 13 pieces, ranging from easy, highly melodic jazz to rhythmic-driving and more complex song structures, are Stephanie K. originals. The instrumentalists trade off solos on piano, trumpet and bass respectively. Even bossa nova accents fit well into the overall mood.
For three songs, other artists laid the musical foundation for Klco-Brosius’ lyrics: Joe Locke, Geoffrey Keezer and Emanuel Hauptmann. One piece is a cover of “The Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home” and another of Joni Mitchell’s, “Big Yellow Taxi”. I recommend the songs of Stephanie Klco-Brosius. They resonate musically and emotionally and sweep you away; many a song is danceable.
“A Word Before You Go” will be available worldwide on January 12, 2018 through online shops such as www.jpc.de, i-tunes, and amazon, but is available NOW at Jörg’s CD Forum, in Jacques Wein-Depot and from the singer’s web shop https://stephanie-k-jazz.com/shop/
