Colonel Beats 07 releases May 26, 2023
Praise for Jochen’s previous albums:
"Melodies that have a habit of insinuating themselves deep in your head" - Downbeat
"Jochen Rückert's career has clearly shifted up a gear" - All About Jazz
"there's often a kindred and appealing combination of quirkiness and catchiness.... Excellent" - Ottawa Citizen
"highly personalized breezy slice of hard-swinging fun" - Modern Drummer Magazine
New York City Jazz drummer Jochen Rueckert unites his life-long collaborators - American saxophone colossus Mark Turner and Europe’s trombone heavy weight Nils Wogram - on his 6th album as a leader titled “With Best Intentions”.
Rekindling his love for playing in a cordless setting during his recent stint in the Melissa Aldana trio, Jochen assembles a quintet rounded out by Dutch bass clarinet wizard Joris Roelofs and NYC jazz scene bass mainstay Doug Weiss.
A long time dream for Rueckert to write for a somewhat larger group than his working quartet, the project - planned for a long time but then expected to be canceled during the pandemic - finally came to fruition on rather short notice when things opened back up in the spring of 2022.The sudden rush in getting the material finished in time for the short run of concerts before the recording not only contributed to keeping the songs on the simpler side, (a welcomed treat for reading-weary sidemen) but also encouraged Rueckert to revisit some older unfinished songs and embrace ideas that might have been edited out as too corny under the magnifying glass of unfettered preparation, resulting in the somewhat apologetic album title.
The privilege to have Sensei Turner play in his own quartet for over a dozen years and having played in Wogram’s bands for close to a quarter century- the majority of the 47 year old’s life - affords Rueckert the experience to be able to easily custom-tailor this recording to these masterful musicians’ strengths. Refreshingly not warped to fit some press-friendly narrative or even pretending to be vehicles for social justice, these songs are simply tasteful selections by a veteran with nothing to prove; let’s not forget that Rueckert has decades of touring with his own band, the Kurt Rosenwinkel quartet, Marc Copland, Sam Yahel, and recently Fred Hersch’s trio, to say nothing of a few runs at the jazz holy grail Village Vanguard under his belt.
“Rainbow Road”, named after a Mario Kart track popular in the Rueckert household, provides a hummable melody with enough shifting chords for Turner to sink his teeth in, “Double Sensotron“ surprises with a Messiaen-esque coda, and “Mark of the Beast” swings hard with a riff that gets displaced enough to make it Rueckert’s own. Highlighting his instinct for space and awareness of orchestration, the band leader politely lays out for the entirety of the album’s title track.
Available in a 6 panel Digipak and/or digitally (up to 48 KHz//24bit) at bandcamp
Listen here
Watch video of the band Rainbow Road Muetze Glatze Double Sensotron
Please contact ColonelBeatsPR@gmail.com for physical copies or bandcamp download codes
1. The Dress 4:33
2. Rainbow Road 4:45
3. Catholic Mahogany 4:56
4. Unmitigated 6:10
5. Muetze Glatze 4:32
6. With Best Intentions 5:54
7. Pherothstorium 4:48
8. Double Sensotron 5:32
9. Mark of the Beast 5:55
total playing time 47:09
UPC 739608313129
Mark Turner tenor saxophone
Nils Wogram trombone
Joris Roelofs bass clarinet
Doug Weiss bass
Jochen Rueckert drums
Recorded May 1st and 2nd 2022
at Loft Cologne by Christian Heck
Produced, mixed, mastered, and
designed by Jochen Rueckert without the
use of any Apple products
Digital art by Mike Winkelmann/Beeple
Colonel Beats Promotional Department | 1801 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd #1E New York, NY 10026 USA | + 1-917-371-6624 | ColonelBeatsPR@gmail.com
