Web Web x Max Herre - Web Max - more new spiritual jazz, with guest spots from Brandee Younger, Charles Tolliver, & Mulatu Astatke
The fourth album by Web Web “WEB MAX” is a great spiritual jazz work - sometimes floating, sometimes soulful, always intense, and a wonderful homage to early 70s Jazz. Web Web mastermind Roberto Di Gioia is accompanied for the first time by Max Herre as a composer, musician, and producer. Both came together with guest musicians such as Mulatu Astatke, Brandee Younger, Charles Tolliver (Strata East), and others to deliver a virtuoso masterpiece.
WEB MAX
In the winter of 2014, German rapper/producer Max Herre and Italian-German pianist Roberto Di Gioia played a tremendous show together. The two had been guest musicians at a few gigs for Gregory Porter, who in turn kindly accepted their invitation to perform at Herre’s MTV Unplugged session (produced by Herre alongside Di Gioia and Samon Kawamura as production team KAHEDI). Porter’s approach to the jazz quartet inspired Max to reflect how a rap artist could work in a more freely-flowingmusical environment. Di Gioia’s inspiration was a bit more straightforward: in the 80s, Di Gioia had played with jazz legends like Woody Shaw, Johnny Griffin, and James Moody, but he’d largely left the jazz stages of his early years behind — just one random jam session with Porter’s musicians during soundcheck relit his passion immensely. A short time later, Herre called Di Gioia saying “Let’s get a spiritual jazz session going.”
Now, six years later, the album WEB MAX is the amazing result from the spur of that moment. It is a wonderful homage to the cosmic open-mindedness of early 70s jazz, to the transcendent sublimity of spiritual sound.
WEB MAX is the fourth album in four years by the highly acclaimed Web Web quartet, consisting of keyboardist/pianist Roberto Di Gioia, saxophonist Tony Lakatos, bassist Christian von Kaphengst, and drummer Peter Gall, all of them longtime performers of the highest virtuosity, signed to Michael Reinboth’s Compost Records.
Band members:
Max Herre – Wurlitzer, Synthesizers, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Roberto Di Gioia – Fender Rhodes, Piano, Organ, Synthesizers, Percussion Tony Lakatos – Flute, Altoflute, Tenorsaxofone
Christian Von Kaphengst – Upright Bass, Fender Jazzbass
Peter Gall – Drums, Percussion
Special Guests:
Charles Tolliver – Trumpet („Intersections“)
Mulatu Astatke – Vibes („Meskel Flowers”)
Brandee Younger – Harp („Akinuba“, „Intersections“)
Yusef Lateef – Words („Akinuba“)
Ben Abarbanel-Wolff – Tenorsaxofone („The Prequel“)
Philip Sindy – Trumpet („Intersections “, „Thesa-Mbawula“, „The Sequel“)
