May News

 

May arrived, and with it the start of our Anniversary Tour of Rainbirds _ through the web of time.

The Rainbirds‘ 40th anniversary tour began on the 9th at Jazzfest Rottweil, a city tucked into the southwestern countryside with such a gentleness, and an audience to match. There was something fitting about starting there: a jazz festival, me as a modern jazz pianist, and a pop band that was never quite only pop. The crowd held us warmly from the first note. Rottweil will stay with me.

From there: Leipzig, Berlin, Munich. Each city had its own temperature, its own quality of listening.

Berlin and Munich were something else entirely. Three guests joined us on those nights – and each brought a world with them. Lina Maly, for whom I had written a cover version of a Rainbirds song earlier this year, sang it live for the first time. To hear your arrangement sung by the voice it was written for, in front of an audience – that is a particular kind of joy. Willow Parlo brought a grace and an electricity to the stage with her own cover version of another Rainbirds song. And FM Einheit, my old partner in so many improbable and wonderful musical adventures, appeared as if no time had passed at all. Some collaborations never really end. They just wait.

On both nights, the Rainbirds showed what this band has always been capable of: music that is tender and large at the same time. Songs that ask something of you, and give back more than you expected.

The tour continues. More cities, more rooms, more people who have been waiting a long time and some who are hearing this for the first time. It is a really special time in our lifespan.

The photos were taken in the Kupfersaal, Leipzig by Jana Groß.

Here you may read the lovely review of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung by Dirk Wagner: