Friday, April 19, 2024: Female Duo #3

Our 3rd female duo dedicates itself to a special instrumentation with vibraphone, glass harp, array mbira, steel drum, waterphone, sundrum, flute, for which a suitable location was found in the Alte Nikolaikirche, right in the center of Frankfurt.

Start: 19:00

The musicians:

• Isabelle Bodenseh: flute, bass flute
  
• Izabella Effenberg: vibraphone, glass harp, array mbira, steel drum, waterphone, sundrumIn

Isabelle Bodenseh loves and lives music. The flutist crosses borders in the fields of jazz, rock, classical music and world music. The new album of her formation ISABELLE BODENSEH Quartet is called "Flowing Mind" (GLM) and impressively documents their musical range. It was clear to the half-Frenchwoman early on that the classical music studies she had begun with the goal of becoming an orchestral musician were not enough for her. She did not find the freedom she was looking for either in classical music or in the role of orchestral musician. She found what she was looking for in jazz and improvised music – after putting aside her orchestral music studies and studying school music in Frankfurt in the early 90s, Isabelle Bodenseh continued on the path of free music and studied with jazz flutist and composer James Newton in Los Angeles. After half a year of studies in the homeland of jazz, the flutist moved on to Cuba. In Havana, thanks to a one-year scholarship from the DAAD, she was not only able to learn Latin flute with the most renowned Cuban musicians, but also to study composition with Andrés Alén and go on concert tours with.

Since then, Isabelle Bodenseh has incorporated her musical expertise from all over the world into many different projects. She has appeared in formations such as Chantal, Verquer, Son Aché, La Serena and the Sisters in Jazz International, as well as as as a theatre and studio musician in over 30 CD productions, including playalongs for the renowned Schott music publishing house. Cuban bands.

In 2016, in addition to her work as a lecturer for improvisation at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt am Main since 2000, she founded the "JAZZ À LA FLUTE" platform to bring the flute more intensively into the limelight of jazz. On this basis, not only an academy for improvisation was created, but above all her heart project, a duo with Lorenzo Petrocca. She expanded the flute family beyond the "normal" transverse flute with alto flute and the particularly interesting bass flute. The ISABELLE BODENSEH Quartet with flute, guitar, Hammond organ and drums, created in 2018, is reminiscent of recordings from the 60s with guitarist George Benson and flutist Joe Farrell. Bodenseh's band with Lorenzo Petrocca on guitar, Thomas Bauser on Hammond organ and Lars Binder on drums forms a swinging rhythm section through which the flute can unfold perfectly and launch solo flights of fancy. In addition to radiant melody passages, the funky and percussive aspect is not neglected here. The lively flutist and her band have already toured across Europe. The new, meanwhile fourth album with the lyrical flute part will also be presented live.

Izabella Effenberg is a multi-instrumentalist and one of the few jazz vibraphonists in Europe and the first from Poland. In addition, she also plays the very rare instrument Array Mbira - a kind of kalimba with 5 octaves (CD" Crystal silence - Music for Array Mbira was released in 2019 by UNIT Records), the glass harp (glass game), steel drum singing saw, marimba, waterphone, sundrum, glass xylophone (Aquarion), glass sounds, etc.
During her studies in Poland and Germany, she received various scholarships and prizes at competitions. Since 2014, she has also been organizing the "Vibraphonissimo" festival in the Nuremberg metropolitan region. In 2018 she received the Culture Prize of the City of Nuremberg and in 2020 the Advancement Award of the District of Middle Franconia. She is also the winner of the Woman in Jazz Festival Next Generation 2020 virtual competition. She was also selected by the Goethe Institute Denmark as one of 2 musicians from Germany for the Summer Session 2020 in Denmark. Since 2021 she has been a YAMAHA endorser and in 2022 she was honored as an artist of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region.
She travels internationally as an artist and has played with Katja Riemann, Prof. Harald Lesch, Rhoda Scott, Bugge Wesseltoft, Leszek Zadlo, Lars Danielsson, Magnus Öström, Vladislav Sendecki, Jan Lundgren, Nils Landgren, Mark Mondesir, Susan Weinert, Tony Lakatos, Matthias Schriefl, Nicole Johänntgen, Efrat Alony, Ellen Andrea Wang, Quadro Nuevo and others.
In recent years she has released several CDs as a composer and vibraphone soloist. Her first CD "Cuentame" was recorded in 2013 by Bayerischer Rundfunk and supported by the Cultural Department of the City of Nuremberg. This project features top-class German musicians and the well-known Israeli singer Efrat Alony. The second CD "IZA" was awarded 3rd place at the Annual Jazz Station Awards / The best of Jazz in the category Vibes/Marimba in 2016.
Their new CD Impressions in Colours combines the sound of vibraphone and harp with very special, extraordinary instruments that rarely appear in jazz and improvised music. In this way, completely new worlds of sound are created, offering a magical, unforgettable sound journey and through the use of such a wide collection of instruments in her performances and recordings, Izabella is able to create one of the most unique and unparalleled sound experiences that never cease to electrify and amaze the audience.
Other CDs include "Sisters in Jazz" (Ystad Jazz Festival), "Henselt Heute" with Metropolmusik e.V., Yumi Ito Orchestra, Mulo Francel "Crossing Life Lines" (GLM) and "Montain Melody", Quadro Nuevo "Cool Children's Songs" 2022.
Festivals: Da Jazz Festival, CH Palm Jazz Festival PL, Jazz Baltica DE, Ystad Jazz Festival SWE, Gdanskie Noce Jazzowe PL, Off-beat JazzFestival CH and others.
In addition to her music studies, she has trained Shotokan Karate for many years and has acquired the 2nd Dan (black belt). She has participated in many Polish and European competitions and achieved some very good successes, e.g. 8-time Polish Champion, silver medal at the European Championships in 1999.