Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion

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ECHO KLASSIK „Classic beyond borders“
(2003 & 2006)
JAZZ AWARD (2003 & 2005)
Nominee for GRAMMY AWARD „Best Classical Crossover Album“ (2005)

Classic meets Cuba

The multi-award winning quintet Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion is linked by a unique success story, going back to the year 2000 when Klazz Brothers met the Cuban percussionists Alexis Herrera Estevez and Elio Rodrigo Luis during their tour in Cuba. Although rooted in different cultural spheres, intuitively and quite naturally the five artists found a common musical language during a spontaneous jam session. Since that legendary encounter, Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion have caused a worldwide frenzy with their inimitable and creative musical ideas, having sold more than 250.000 albums in Germany alone.

The performances with Cuba Percussion reveal Klazz Brother’s particular preference of latin sounds within their virtuoso transformation of the different musical genres. Thus, the quintet has created a mould-breaking musical world, comprising of a unique collaboration of classic European music, elements of swing and latin jazz, along with the virtually infinite variety of Cuban rhythms. Behind the distinctive as well as dynamic sound of Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion, one can notice artistic sophistication and great compositional care. These components allow innovative and fascinating pieces with free space for improvising.

The success story of Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion comes along with a variety of highly acclaimed programmes.“Classic meets Cuba”, “Opera meets Cuba” and “Best of Classic meets Cuba”, are programs from which all titles imply the encounter of West European tradition with Cuban music. In addition to that, the orchestral project “Symphonic Salsa” presents a unique enhancement to acoustic colours on a symphonic dimension. No matter where they perform, be it on the stages of the world’s renowned concert houses, at international music festivals or in cosy little jazz clubs; Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion regularly attract an enthralled audience. Since 2004, the quintet toured foreign countries at increasing frequency, amongst them Asia, European countries and the Middle East, which testifies to the ensemble’s high-ranking status within the international music market.

Up to now seven albums of the quintet have been released with Sony; of these the first album, “Classic Meets Cuba” was awarded the “Echo Klassik” and the “Jazz Award” in 2003 as well as a Grammy nomination in 2005. In the same year the album “Jazz meets Cuba” won the “Jazz Award”, followed by another “Echo Klassik” for the album “Mozart meets Cuba” in 2006. Even cineastes may be familiar with the music of Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion, as their version of Bach’s “Air” is to be heard in the famous Hollywood movie “Collateral”.“Carmen Cubana” has also featured in the film “Hitch”. Moreover the quintet has starred in several concert recordings by the TV channel “3 Sat”.

„Eine wunderbare Art, klassische Musik einem breiten Publikum zuzuführen. Die Klazz Brothers kreierten ein eigenes Genre. (A wonderful way of bringing classical music closer to a wide audience. The Klazz Brothers created their own genre.)“ (Neue Westfälische)