Adi Becker
Trombonist / Arranger / Composer / Jazz Musician / Band Leader / Conductor
“… my music addresses listeners and players alike. I like grooves that catch you intuitively, melodies you want to whistle along with, and arrangements which surprise the musicians and claim all their creativity and skill.”
Info
Adi Becker studied jazz music at Musikhochschule Köln und Musikhochschule Mannheim and majored as a trombonist and moreover as composer/arranger among others under Prof. Jiggs Whigham and Prof. Jürgen Friedrich, acquiring his diploma as instrumentalist and his Master of Music as Arranger with the top degree.
For more than 20 years, he has been a musician with the Big Band der Bundeswehr. Moreover, he has worked as a soloist, conductor, arranger, and composer for many of the best-known national and international artists and orchestras.
Work
He has composed and orchestrated pieces for TV shows like TV Total on Pro 7 or Carmen Nebel Show on ZDF, for international artists such as Jerry Bergonzi, numerous jazz big bands such as Aachen Big Band, as well as for a large range of symphonic orchestras, such as WDR Funkhausorchester, and, apparently, the Big Band der Bundeswehr, including artists like Adel Tawil, Stefanie Heinzmann and Thomas Anders.
References
He himself has played among others with Albert Mangelsdorff, Michael Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, Buddy de Franco, Jeff Lorber, George Whitty, Eric Marienthal, Bob Mintzer, Bill Watrous, Bobby Shew, Dave Liebman, Viktoria Tolstoi, and Hiram Bullock, but as well with artists from the field of entertainment and pop music, like Adel Tawil, Albert Hammond, James Blunt, Pe Werner, Heino, Max Mutzke, Roberto Blanco, Bill Ramsey, Pepe Lienhard, Captain Jack and the Bläck Fööss. His concert tours have led him all over the world.
CD – Babbelou
After years of work as a “Sideman”, it was just about time for Adi Becker to write down his very own music and to record it on CD together with some of his oldest musical companions. In doing so, he focuses on melodies that go straight to your heart, and on grooves that make your toes want to tap. The possibilities offered by a complete big band are being exhausted at all levels, electrifying tutti parts alternate with masterful imrovisations. Some international soloists, whom Adi toured with over the last years have, joined in:
Eric Marienthal at alto saxophone, as well as multiple Grammy-decorated keyboarder George Whitty, embraced the opportunity to contribute to the CD recordings.
Along with his own compositions, Adi has included songs by Prince, Burt Bacharach, and The Carpenters, all in an amazingly fresh outfit and performed by the singer Jemma Endersby.
The result is a groovy big band recording at the highest level, which from the very beginning entrances the listener with its tunes and grooves. The longer one listens, the more the varying colors of sound, the astonishing twists and turns of the arrangements, the utmost precision, and the exciting solos gain in facets and originality.
Recording cast:
conductor: Adi Becker arr., comp., tromb.
Soloists:
Eric Marienthal alto sax.
George Whitty keys.
Jemma Endersby, vocals
Adi Becker, tromb.
Big Band:
Saxophones:
Johannes Müller as., ss., altfl., fl., Alexander Jedig as., fl., cl., Torsten Thomas ts., cl.
Gerit von Stockhausen ts., cl., Georg Böhme bs., bcl.
trumpets/flugelhorns:
Jörg Brohm, Andreas Sicking, Frank Wiesen, Dave Vreuls, David Heiss
Trombones:
Bert Conzen, Philipp Schug, Ronald Lehmann, Uli Launhardt, Frederic Martin basspos
Rhythm section:
Vincent Nam keys., Roland Büttgen guit., Fritz Roppel accb., eb., Niklas Walter (alle Tracks außer siehe T. Lieven), Thomas Lieven dr. (Titel 2., 6., 9.) Martin Esser perc.
All titles were played and recorded on 27th and 28th April as well as on 2nd Mai 2018 at Topaz Studio by the complete big band, the Grand Central Orchestra Cologne. They were mixed and mastered in May/ June 2018 by Reinhard Kobialka and Adi Becker.
Recording Engineer of the complete recordings was Reinhard Kobialka.