SHAKE STEW - (A)live!

In reaction to the current, enormously challenging situation, Shake Stew release their first live album and counter the ubiquitous loss of social interaction with a highly energetic testimony of exchange between band and audience. Recordings from the North Sea Jazz Festival, Porgy & Bess Vienna, the Jazzclub Unterfahrt in Munich and the Jazzfestival Saalfelden (vinyl only) paint a picture of a groove-machine that surges up again and again in the live situation. With intense performances Shake Stew has achieved "cult status" within very short time.

Shake Stew commentary on the live album:

We are releasing this album in tremendously challenging times, in which we are all experiencing serious loss of social interaction in various areas of our lives. We firmly believe that our music can only unfold its full effect in direct interaction with people who are physically present and influence the ways of the music. The emotions and sounds created in this collective process are never just our own - in fact, each and every one contributes to this organic exchange and is thus in constant interaction with the musicians. At no time do we simply want to ‘present’ our music - we strive to bring it to life together with everyone present and let it take its own path. Over and over again. That is why we play this music.

"Dancing in the Cage of a Soul" was the first piece of our performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2019. This concert was very intense and emotional for us - to present our own music at this legendary festival marked another milestone in Shake Stew's still only short history. It's a perfect example of the energy and attitude all the musicians bring to the stage, and how everyone is willing to take full risk and 'play for his life' - from the first note on, without holding back. The fact that this recording exists at all is thanks to the alert mind of our sound engineer Markus Wallner, who quickly inserted his USB stick into the mixing board shortly before the end of the concert and copied the stereo sum for archiving purposes.

"Play Mass" documents the first performance with the British saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings at the Porgy & Bess in Vienna in 2017 and shows how two energetic worlds meet and melt together. The piece comes from the repertoire of Hutching's band "Sons of Kemet" and with its constantly charging arrangement - that also reflects the enormously wide range of instrumentation possibilities of the band - takes the British saxophonist to new heights on his tenor. The musicians don't just play the piece, but induce their very typical Shake Stew energy and thus make it their own.

"Shake the Dust" also comes from that time and presents the probably most played piece of the band in a new light through the use of a Korg MS20 synthesizer.

"How We See Things" was recorded on the fourth day of the five-day summer residency at the jazz club Unterfahrt in Munich. Lukas Kranzelbinder's long-time musical partner Tobias Hoffmann joins in as a guest on electric guitar. While playing a different set each night in Munich led to an incredibly intense time, this piece reflects a highly meditative moment, in which the interaction between guitar and trumpet moves into completely new spheres.

"I Can Feel The Heat Closing In" was recorded during the album release concert of Gris Gris at the sold-out Porgy & Bess in November 2019. This was the first evening planned as a standing concert, where instead of the usual two sets, only one set with over two hours of non-stop music was played. Technically and energetically, this piece is certainly the most challenging in Shake Stew's repertoire; in order to unfold its full effect, it demands constant focus and highest concentration from all musicians, but at the same time tries to create a trance-like state. The emotions that were unleashed in the audience during this performance will have a long lasting effect and hence the recording also exhibits a good representation of the energetic heights to which this music can soar at the right place and time.