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Susanne Paul's

MOVE String Quartet

Héloïse Lefèbvre (violin) | Marie-Theres Härtel (viola) | Susanne Paul (cello) | Carlos Bica (bass)  

Fresh, powerful chamber music with an edge.

The MOVE String Quartet merges classical sensibilty with jazz improvisation.

All four band members are active in Berlin’s vibrant jazz community. The quartet’s visionary musical language draws its inspiration from a variety of sources such as jazz, indie rock, baroque music or African polyrhythms. With its anchored calm and sparkling effervescence, their music exerts a magnetic pull. From 250 years of classical string quartet tradition, the MOVE String Quartet’s four accomplished jazz improvisers set sail for new horizons.

Their unorthodox line-up with a double bass replacing the second violin makes for an especially rich, warm string sound. 

MOVE STRING QUARTET

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Latest CDs

Short Stories (2018)
Tracks

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  • Iceland
  • Mirror Mirror
  • Horse
  • Heranças
  • Andi Said

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Short Stories

(2018)

Press Quotes

  • Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2018" - Time Out Portugal 12/2018 (José Carlos Fernandes)
  • „Alive and wide awake!“ - HR2 Radio Kultur (Guenter Hottmann)
  • „Finest chamber music“ - Melodiva
  • „Phenomenal quartet“ - Longplayrecenzje
  • „Exciting and unpredictable“ - JazzPodium 6/18 (Thorsten Meyer)
Time Out Portugal 12/2018: On list of "Top Ten Jazz CDs of the year 2018"
(in Portuguese:) “Its music dances on the borderline between jazz, chamber music and world music... Music that you cannot pigeon-hole, a challenge to cartographers of the musical world”
JazzPodium, (Thorsten Meyer) 6/2018:
(In German:) "Fusing four individualists into a union is a balancing act. The MOVE String Quartet around cellist Susanne Paul succeeds in both: showcasing the bandmembers’ personalities while simultaneously creating a unique quartet sound. They interact flexibly to the finest details. In polyphonic passages, every line follows its own gesture, every performer bringing his own personality to the table...“
JazzPodium, (Thorsten Meyer) 6/2018:
(cont:) „…In homophonous passages, their sound emanates not only harmonic colors but also takes on rough edges…. the quartet masters both pulsating, rhythmic playing and wistful moments. … String quartets in a jazz context haven’t sounded this exciting and unpredictable since the Kronos Quartet.“
HR2 Kultur, Jazzgroove (Guenter Hottmann), April 17, 2018: (In German:) „…alive and wide awake. The sound parameters of classical music are as readily available as a jazz approach, and, whenever necessary, even a rock appeal. No wonder, since Carlos Bica from Portugal is on bass, Gerdur Gunnarsdóttir from Iceland is on violin, Marie-Theres Härtel from Austria on viola, recognised specialists for handling strings…“
Melodiva.de (April 2018) (In German:) „Finest chamber music. These not so short „Short Stories“ are thrillingly staged, played in a tremendously dynamic way and provide plenty of space for inner images. At times they are bright and lovely („Air“, „Andi Said“), at times turbulent and dramatic, stretched taught („Push“), or groovy, like „Horse“. The album ends with the magnificent „Believer“.
longplayrecenzje.pl (Robert Ratajczak, April 2018):
(in Polish:) "... a phenomenal quartet... The musicians of the quartet have developed a unique sense of mood and extraordinary intuition ... Short, concise songs emanate strongly outlined melodies, memorable moods, and that „special something" that makes it really hard to break away from "Short Stories". Beautiful themes, delightful melodic colors and excellent sound. ...In comparison with similar projects, the contribution of Susanne Paul's international quartet shines with unique splendor. An excellent album!“
El Camino (2013)
Tracks

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  • Panache Bleu

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  • Is it Tango?
  • Lamento
  • Space Insects
  • Would It Be White
  • Footnotes

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  • Baobab
  • Postcard to C.
  • Tempesta
  • El Camino

El Camino

(2013)

Press Quotes & Mission Statement

Press Quotes:
  • "About as beautiful as it gets. Harmonies as warm as sunlight, melodies that melt the heart." - Emusic (Dec 2013)
  • "...In summary, El Camino shows careful and powerful storytelling." - Jazzrytmit (Jan 2014)
  • “Beautiful melodic motifs, harmonic explosions and refined tonal elegance“ - Longplayrecenzje (2014)
Bird Is the Worm (Jan 2014): "Absolutely mesmerizing... It’s a string quartet that creates the most enchanting chamber music... An album so beautiful at times, it's stunning....It's a beautiful recording, of elegance and warmth."
Rondo-Magazin (Dec 2013):
(In German:) „…overturning convention, Paul effortlessly navigates the most diverse worlds… her compositions run the gamut from Vivaldi, Bach und Debussy all the way to Led Zeppelin, but without being sensationalist. With dry humor and cosmopolitain depth, [the musicians] traverse entire musical continents in a single piece. They have nothing to prove. Rather, on „El Camino“, the path is the goal."
Mission Statement: „’El Camino’ is a concept album, roaming through various images, moods and landscapes that a traveler might encounter on a journey, a real journey perhaps or an inner one. In these compositions, I aimed for clarity and simplicity. Preferring rawness over embellishments, I strove to bring out the essence of an idea by leaving out as much as possible. It's a matter of capturing something that's already there in the material, something organic and balanced. I guess most of all, it's about listening to the space between the notes."

Musicians

Band leader Susanne Paul grew up in the USA and Germany. She plays jazz and world music in various bands. On the cello, she has developed a characteristic, colorful playing style that combines groove, improvisation and innovative playing techniques. Her musical focuses are jazz, Brazilian music, flamenco, baroque and punk. As a composer, she blends these influences into an own distinct style.

She collaborates regularly with Uwe Kropinski, Etta Scollo, Julia Hülsmann, Yannick Delez, Twist, Efrat Alony, and many more. Performances at the ElbJazz Festival Hamburg, Jazzfest Bonn, New Directions Cello Festival, FolkBaltica, Beogradski Jazz Festival, Ruhrfestspiele, ElbPhilharmonie Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein-Musikfestival, Bregenzer Festspiele, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Mawazine Festival Rabat, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Donaueschinger Tage für Neue Musik, etc. She has collaborated with various Goethe Institutes, Radio & TV stations (DLF, NDR, BR, RBB, SWR, WDR, Radio Maroc, Bulgarian TV, Serbian TV). She teaches jazz cello at the Bruckner University of Linz and at the UdK (University of Arts) Berlin.

Susanne Paul

cello & composition

Born in France, Héloïse Lefèbvre started learning the violin at the age of five. Studying classical violin at first, she later studied jazz violin at the Tours Music Academy jazz department and in Paris with Didier Lockwood. In 2009 she was awarded the SACEM “Young Talents” prize. In 2011 she won the Stéphane Grappelli Competition (World Music Category). She is also bandleader and composer of sextet SUN DEW and performs with various projects of the jazz and world music scenes of Berlin and Paris: with Bernhard & Peter Meyer 5tet, Petros Klampanis Group, Kammerjazz Kollektiv, Sebastian Studnitzky’s Memento, Kwal, Snooze On, Twist, or the Julia Hülsmann Oktett.

Héloïse Lefèbvre

violin

Marie-Theres Härtel is an Austrian viola player with a background in folk music, classical music, rock and jazz. She was born and raised in a family of musicians in the Steiermark and studied classical viola in Vienna. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed genre-bending string band Netnakisum, she has performed extensively in China, Africa, USA and throughout Europe. She has collaborated in various projects with the Graz Opera, with several orchestras, the WDR Big Band, performing with the likes of Bodek Janke and Erika Stucky. She also composes and arranges. She resides in Berlin and is currently touring with Netnakisum, Kusimanten and in a duo with Florian Trübsbach. With Shreefpunk & Strings, she won the Neue Deutsche Jazzpreis 2019. Performances at Tollwood München, Donauinselfest Vienna, Jazzfestival Saalfelden, Salzburger Festspiele, Volxfesta Bozen, Trad-IT!-Festival Groningen, etc.

Marie-Theres Härtel

viola

Carlos Bica is renowned for his unmistakeable singing style of playing the bass, evoking his portuguese roots. He is a band leader of a number of internationally touring jazz projects such as Azul, Diz, Matéria-Prima, and has collaborated with many celebrated musicians such as Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, Aki Takase, Maria João, Julian Arguelles, Steve Arguelles, Lee Konitz, Mário Laginha, Mathias Schubert, João Paulo, Antonio Pinho Vargas, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Albert Mangelsdorf, Joey Baron, Claudio Puntin, John Zorn, Paolo Fresu, Markus Stockhausen. He has performed at the Cairo Jazz Festival, Douro Jazz Festival, Casa da Música Porto, Festa do Jazz Lisboa, Timisoara Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival Brugge, Festival Jazzebre, Jazz Festival Belfast, Robert Schumann Festival Düsseldorf, Jazz International Rotterdam, etc.

Carlos Bica

bass & composition

Performing on CDs „El Camino“ und „Short Stories“:
Violinist Ger∂ur Gunnarsdóttir grew up in Iceland and plays classical music as well as genre-crossing projects. She has collaborated with Nils Wogram, Claudio Puntin, Vince Mendoza, Matthias Schriefl, Julia Hülsmann and more (CD recordings with ECM, ACT and more). After many years as Concert Master/Vorspieler at the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, she now plays with the Konzerthaus Orchestra Berlin. Performances at the North Sea Jazz Festival, JazzFest Berlin, JazzBaltica, Südtirol Jazzfestival, Jazzahead, etc.

Performing on  CD „El Camino“:
Ari Poutiainen is a Finnish jazz viola player with roots in classical music and heavy metal. Today he plays modern jazz and is active as a band leader and sideman in various bands. He has recorded many CDs, most recently with Farther-Out „Tuo“ (Jumituotanto, 2009) and Pastor & Poutiainen „North South Dial“ (SLAM, 2011). Among others, he has collaborated with Vincent Segal, Jon Balke, Kenny Wheeler and Jeff Andrews.

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