Tobias Meinhart Quartet Pursuit Of Happiness - Dmchr71096 - Jazz - by Double Moon

The pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right. And consequently "the pursuit of happiness" is also one of the main statements in the US Declaration of Independence. The selection of this phrase by the Tobias Meinhart Quartet as the title of their debut album is not by chance. The leader, tenor and soprano saxophonist Tobias Meinhart characterizes the very individual sound of the quartet as "between modern New Yorker ideal sound and swinging hardbop jazz of the 60s." The four young and talented musicians do not at all want to start on an adventure called "jazz is German" condemned to failure. Instead, they are fully conscious that their roots are in the styles characterized by US American jazz. They pay tribute right away to one of the big names: Joe Henderson. However, his composition "Inner Urge", subtly newly arranged by TMQ, is the only composition by someone else on "Pursuit of Happiness". This quartet is not only strong as an interpreter unit, but also may be described as outstanding and distinguished (in the true sense of the word as many awards testify to) in the area of composition. The Tobias Meinhart Quartet was founded in 2008 and was immediately a success. They already played together on a stage with Joshua Redman and the Yellowjackets feat. Mike Stern in the year of their founding. In the following year, they won out against 80 other bands at the Straubing "Startbahn Jazz" (trans.: Jazz Take-Off Runway) and took 1st place. They also received the Audience Award as best band at the International Jazz Competition Getxo/Bilbao (pianist Lorenz Kellhuber received the award as best soloist at the same time. In 2010, they primarily dedicated themselves to recording their debut album "Pursuit of Happiness". Tobias Meinhart already won in the solo category with the attribute "Outstanding" at the Bavarian "Jugend jazzt" contest (trans.: Young People Play Jazz) in 2006. At that time, he studied at the Music Academy of Basel and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under teachers such as Ferdinand Povel, Adrian Mears, Johannes Enders and Wolfgang Muthspiel. In 2009, he started a Master Performance study in the field of composition at the Bern College of Art, following by Master's studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York since 2010. When Lorenz Kellhuber began his studies at the College of Art in Berlin, he set a record. At 16 years of age, he was the youngest student in the history of the college. Two years previous to that, he took second place in the German national "Jugend musiziert" contest (trans.: "Young People Play Music). In the meantime, he has received a whole slew of awards, e.g., several "Jugend jazzt" prizes (also as the youngest participant there) and 2nd place at the Freiburg International Piano Competition. Olli Hein became a member of the Bavarian State Young Jazz Orchestra when he was 20 and played there for six years. He studied jazz contrabass at Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich from 2004 until 2008 and got to know Gabriel Hahn there too. Gabriel Hahn also studied at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich. He began his jazz drums studies in 2003 and graduated with top grades in 2007. He is currently studying at Dresden College of Art and is the regular drummer in the support band of New York Voices.