GERT KAPO Quartett

In the organizer's words:

Born in Tirana, Albania, and living in Koln since the mid-90s, pianist Gert Kapo released his debut solo album "Amanet" in June 2024 on the Wuppertal label Royal Street Records.
After many years of working as a pianist, composer and producer, mainly for other artists, the coronavirus crisis gave Gert the time and space to finally realize an album under his own name.
In Albanian, "AMANET" stands for a gift of special value that is entrusted to a person. In the musical sense, it refers to a melody or composition that is handed down from generation to generation.
Accordingly, the traditional music of Albania and the Balkans plays a central role in the nine original compositions on the album. But that's not all, because the classically trained pianist Gert Kapo has loved jazz since his youth and has studied many other musical traditions very intensively.
All these influences result in a completely new and unique sound, which is also characterized by the musicians involved in the album:
Many masters of their craft from different countries and with very different musical
musical backgrounds took part in the studio recordings for "AMANET".
Gert Kapo is very much looking forward to sharing his "Amanet" with the world.
On the evening, pieces from the album as well as new compositions will be played in the intimate atmosphere of the beautiful "Salon de Jazz".
The line-up consists of four of the thirteen musicians who contributed to the album:

Gert Kapo - piano, keys, comp.

Epaminondas Ladas - Guitar/Oud - studied jazz guitar in Koln with Prof. Frank Haunschild, Prof. Werner Neumann and Jorg Lehnard. He combines modern jazz with influences from Greek traditional music.
With ensembles such as New Phalanx, Rebetikon and the Gert Kapo Quartet, he shows how the
jazz guitar can become a new form of expression. He combines virtuoso improvisation with the timbres of Greek musical traditions to create an unmistakable, modern sound that transcends cultural boundaries.
In addition to his work as a musician, he is also active as a pedagogue and curator, including for the CultConcerts series in Koln.

Armin Alic - Bass - the German bassist with Bosnian roots is co-founder of the Wuppertal-based world music collective Royal Street Orchestra, which has been in existence for 15 years. Until recently, he also played for many years in the band of Wuppertal blues guitarist Henrik Freischlader.

Mirek Pyschny - Drums - (born Katowice/Poland) is a versatile drummer between jazz, world music, hip-hop and improvisation. He has performed internationally with artists such as Samy Deluxe, Gerd Dudek, Nils Landgren and Paul Reddick, was a member of the Schal Sick Brass Band for ten years and founded the duo DUS-TI, which performed at the Moers Festival, among others. Pyschny has won several prizes (including the Creole national competition, Biberach Jazz Prize, Avignon Jazz Festival) and has been a lecturer in percussion and rhythm at the University of Music and Dance Koln, Wuppertal department, since 2011.

Admission: 20/15€