Berlin's
Jazzanova collective formed in 1995, after DJing with one another at a club called Delicious Doughnuts. Alexander Barck, Class Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer, and Jürgen von Knoblauch shared a common goal of blending their collected inspirations together to create a new, sophisticated sound, with debts owed to nearly every form of dance-oriented music from the past several decades.
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Berlin's
Jazzanova collective formed in 1995, after DJing with one another at a club called Delicious Doughnuts. Alexander Barck, Class Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer, and Jürgen von Knoblauch shared a common goal of blending their collected inspirations together to create a new, sophisticated sound, with debts owed to nearly every form of dance-oriented music from the past several decades.
Like a lot of upstart producers and underexposed
jazz-funk ghosts of the past,
Jazzanova got their first major break from BBC disc jockey
Gilles Peterson, who played the group's first production, "Fedime's Flight," on his program in 1997. This helped set off a series of remix projects for the likes of
4hero,
Koop,
Men from the Nile, and
Ian Pooley, most of which would be compiled for the two-disc
The Remixes 1997-2000.
As the remixes and acclaim piled up, Barck, Brieler, and von Knoblauch were teaming together to make the
Jazzanova name known for inspired DJ sets as well; Leisering and Reinemer teamed on the decks as
Extended Spirit, and Kretschmann played out as Kosma.
The same year that "Fedime's Flight" broke out in the dance underground,
Jazzanova teamed up with the Munich-based Compost label to form JCR (Jazzanova Compost Records). "Fedime's Flight" and "Caravelle" were the first two 12" releases, and both went down extremely well with DJs. In addition to functioning as the primary outlet for
Jazzanova's own work, JCR released material from
Koop,
Victor Davies, the Underwolves, and Rima; looking to the past, the Polish Jazz and Vocal Jazz from Poland 1965-1975 compilations brought
jazz from '60s and '70s Poland back into circulation.
In Between,
Jazzanova's ambitious (to a fault) debut full-length, finally arrived in 2002. Allegedly the culmination of five years worth of work, the album sustained the group's reputation with tracks full of meticulous beatcraft.
Remixed, released just a year later, featured remixes of
In Between and 12" tracks from peers Kyoto Jazz Massive,
Ayro,
King Britt, and
Bugz in the Attic. In 2005, the jazz label Blue Note gave the group access to their classic back catalog for the double mix CD Blue Note Trip. Amidst scads of other mix albums, compilations, and Sonar Kollektiv product, their second full production album,
Of All the Things, appeared in 2008. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
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