SOUTH AFRICA: German Jazz Trio at Bassline

The international jazz trio, the Benjamin Schaefer Trio, are out from Cologne, Germany, sponsored by Bayer. Benjamin Schaefer is on piano, Robert Landfermann on bass and Oliver Rehmann on drums. Their music is described as European jazz rooted in a cultural tradition. I think the audience all enjoyed the first set where it was just them playing very much. I know I did. Only one of the numbers, “Passing Light”, was challenging in that it made use of the inside of the piano, the outside of the drums and strange sliding on the bass strings. This was, of course, the one I found most interesting. The rest was the conventional style of play to which our ears are accustomed. The Benjamin Schaefer Trio is well represented on YouTube and many of the numbers they played can be heard there. Maelstrom and Arlington Road are two of these.
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