Cologne Saxophone Quintet
Cologne Saxophone Quintet
In 1996 the five young saxophonists Christian Torkewitz, Gerit von Stockhausen, Alexander Reffgen, André Cimiotti and François de Ribaupierre, all attending the same saxophone lessons at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, associated with each other and formed the Cologne Saxophone Quintet. Since then they have become experienced professional musicians and within the last years of working together they have developed the characteristic sound of the quintet. For one thing this sound is created by special arrangements, almost exclusively written by Françoise de Ribaupierre and André Cimiotti. The songs are specially-tailored for the ensemble and his single musicians, all performing soloistic as well. For another thing the different acoustic colours of the quintet are generated by the frequent change of instrumentation, whereby the five musicians cover the whole spectrum of the saxophone family, from the sopranino to the newly-developed tubax. Furthermore they integrate other woodwind instruments, such as clarinet, bass clarinet, German flute and oboe. The strong and wide-ranging repertoire contains jazz standards, pop songs, film music and, of course, the songs exclusively composed for the group and harmonically coupled with a diversified programme. The Cologne Saxophone Quintet, who received a special award at the Yamaha Sax Contest 2003 in Berlin, can look back to numerous very different concerts. The performance at the Deutscher Medienpreis 2000 ceremony with laureates like Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Gerhard Schröder surely was a special event. Bill Clinton was immediately enthusiastic and started performing with them spontaneously.
For the five musicians, another important encounter was the meeting with the tenor saxophone player and composer Bob Mintzer during a concert tour throughout the USA in May 2003. Spontaneously the six saxophonists decided to record some songs in New York together.
In order to complete the recordings, they met again in the renowned Bauerstudios in Ludwigsburg in 2004. With common performances at different festivals they have continued the corporation with Mintzer down to the present day. His compositions have been a great enrichment for their repertoire.
Bob Mintzer wrote: "The music you are about to hear [...] is quite something. It swings with a jazz and R&B sensibility while acknowledging the more classical saxophone ensemble approach. The arrangements are extremely smart, and very hip! And the playing... well, put it this way: I never missed the drummer. These guys play with the momentum of a world class rhythm section. The only difference is they don't need one. It was easy and inspiring to solo with the saxophone ensemble providing the accompainment. I'm sure you will have a good time checking this music out."