James Crutchfield-Quartett - Jazz

In the organizer's words:

Less is more is an old rule of jazz. Less becomes more, however, could be the motto of this band. A jazz quartet between swing and free, between a sense of tradition and avant-gardism, between discovery and arrival. These opposites are united in this band. From the very first moment, the common search, as is so often attributed to jazz, becomes the goal of all the musicians.

Henrik Walsdorf Sax

James Crutchfield Guitar

Jan Leipnitz Drums

Rudi Engel Bass

www.jamescrutchfield.de

James Crutchfield
was born on 07.12.1987 in El Paso, Texas USA.

As a teenager, he discovered the rock music of artists such as Frank Zappa, Led Zepplin and Jimi Hendrix, who still have a great influence on him. Jazz followed shortly afterwards and became his greatest inspiration. Above all artists such as John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk and many more...

2009 short stay in New York. 2010 he started to study jazz guitar in Würzburg. He also had lessons with artists such as John Schröder, Lage Lund, Bobby Broom, Jesse van Ruller and many more....

In 2014, he moved to Berlin and has been an integral part of the jazz scene there ever since. Most of the time you can hear him there with completely freely improvised music, jazz standards or his own compositions.

James can be heard with his projects in Germany and Italy. At his concerts he has played with musicians such as John Schröder, Henrik Walsdorff, Bill Elgart, Hubert Winter, Hal Tsuchuida, Rudi Engl, Sebastian Nay, Michael Arlt, Bernhard Pichl, Tine Schneider, Bastian Jütte and many more.

Henrik Walsdorff
(born February 8, 1965 in Braunschweig) is a German jazz saxophonist.

Walsdorff, who has lived in Berlin since 1994, studied saxophone with Herb Geller. He played in the bands of Aki Takase, Marty Cook and Sven-Åke Johansson. Alongside John Schröder and Colin Vallon, he is a member of the Fabian Gisler Quartet. With Martin High de Prime, Kay Lübke and Jan Roder he forms the group The Real Latinos, with John Schröder and Uli Jenneßen the group Freedom of Speech and with Rudi Mahall, Jan Roder and Oliver Steidle the SoKo Steidle. He is also a member of the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Alexander von Schlippenbach, with whom he also leads a quartet.

In 1994, Walsdorf founded the group LAX with John Schröder, Gerold Genßler and Uli Jenneßen, whose album Time in 60 Seconds was released in 2002. In the field of pop music, he has worked with the groups Seeed and Wir sind Helden, among others.