The Klazz Brothers and Cuba Percussion are in İstanbul to present concertgoers with their own blend of jazz and classical music with Cuban rhythms at tonight’s concert, called “Jazz Meets Cuba.” The five-piece ensemble was formed in 1999 when the Germany-based Klazz Brothers, on a visit to Cuba for a concert, met two Cuban percussionists. The five-piece band, made up of Germany’s Kilian Forster on bass, Tobias Forster on piano and Tim Hahn on drums with Cuba’s Alexis Herrera Estevez and Elio Rodriguez Luis on percussion, have released six albums since then and they are working together on new material.
In an online interview with Today’s Zaman ahead of their performance, bassist Kilian Forster said tonight’s concert is not only going to be one of the Klazz Brothers’ rare appearances with their program “Jazz Meets Cuba,” but also their first outing with their new Azerbaijani pianist, David Gazarov, who replaces Tobias Forster.
Your band consists of German and Cuban musicians. How did this interesting mix come about?
I’ve known my brother Tobias for a very, very long time and we both loved classical music as well as jazz, from an early age we started to combine the musical styles and in 2000 we founded, together with the wonderful drummer Tim Hahn, the Klazz Brothers. The name comes from the German words “Kla(ssik)” and “(Ja)zz.” As I was principal bass player of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and leader of the Dresden Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra, Tobias and Tim joined the philharmonic in the same year for a Cuban tour of the orchestra. There we played a concert together with the Cuban Havana Ensemble at the Amadeo Roldan Theater. We didn’t know much about Cuban music and the Cubans didn’t know much about classical music but we improvised for two hours on jazz standards and classical music. It was a great success and we were overwhelmed by the power and virtuosity of the Cuban percussionists Alexis Herrera Estevez and Elio Rodriguez Luis. So we invited them for some concerts in Germany. Every year we have had more and more concerts, and with six recordings for Sony Classical they are on tour for around 10 months a year away from their families in Cuba.
You are blending classical music, jazz, Latin, swing and salsa. How do you combine these various genres?
First you have to look at what fits together. For a new program you need a lot of various rhythms, styles and titles so you can get a diverse CD. So we make a huge list with everyone’s suggestions and try to arrange them. Therefore we take the melodies and harmonies and see what rhythm fits, or if we want to use a special Cuban rhythm we try [to see] which classical song fits to it. Later we have to change harmonies, add choruses for improvisations, make some interludes or special kicks.
How do you manage to stay close to the original pieces of classical music while interpreting them in the framework of jazz?
If you choose the right piece, e.g., the “Triumphal March” from Verdi’s “Aida” and put it over [a time signature of] 5/4, it sounds like “Take Five.” The melody is modified just a little bit. People should be able to recognize the classical theme in the song. But sometimes we also like to make it difficult for the audience. We took just the seven notes of the main motif of Mozart’s “Fantasy in C-Minor” [Sonata No. 14 K.457] and used it as a constant bass pattern, and newly composed the rest with lyrics from Lou Bega [and made something that] is reminiscent of Carlos Santana’s “Oye Como Va.” But you can also change totally the harmony and make the bossa nova song “The Girl from Ipanema” on “Jazz meets Cuba” into a very sad minor ballad. The melody is exactly the same but no longer has any single harmony. But if you hear this for the first time you will say, “It sounds familiar, but I can’t say what it is.”
Can you tell us more about other projects of yours?
The [one I just mentioned], “Classic meets Cuba,” was based on different classical composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Haydn or Mozart. Our next CD was “Jazz meets Cuba.” This is what we will play in İstanbul. It’s our very first recording but Sony wisely decided to release “Classic meets Cuba” as our first album. Later on, we made “Symphonic Salsa” with a huge symphony orchestra, which was also based on classical songs. On the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, we made “Mozart Meets Cuba” with a program entirely put together from Mozart’s pieces. “Play Classics” was just with the Klazz Brothers, without the Cubans. With the Brazilian vocal miracle Edson Cordeiro we recorded “Klazz Meets the Voice,” combining flamenco, pop, rock and world music with classical themes and jazz. The latest album was “Opera Meets Cuba” with arias from operas and overtures of Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, Wagner and others. Next year we will arrange some Christmas songs on our album “Christmas Meets Cuba.”
You have been in Turkey before. What are your impressions of the country?
We have played in Antalya and twice in İstanbul before. It is very fascinating to see how deep traditionalism tries to come together with the modern global world. This you can also feel in concerts here with very natural, warm and spontaneous reactions of the audience combined with the “normal” concert listeners. Together with Sertab Erener, we played some of her songs, such as “Günahın Boynuma” and “Aldırma,” in a more Cuban style. She is an absolutely fantastic singer.
What will the audience see in tonight’s concert?
It will not only be one of our rare concerts with the program “Jazz Meets Cuba,” it will also be the world premiere of the Klazz Brothers with our new pianist David Gazarov. My brother Tobias has just left the Klazz Brothers and we are proud to welcome this genius jazz player to our band. Gazarov comes from Azerbaijan, and he studied classical and jazz piano in Moscow. He brings virtuosity and a lot of thrilling new ideas to us.
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