Presenting: Saxify musicans - Stefan Schmid
Stefan Schmid plays keys on "You And Me" and "Throwback".
I met Stefan Schmid in 1996, when I studied jazz music in Hilversum. I was just 18 years old and went to all the jam sessions and parties in Amsterdam and Utrecht... Stefan is a few years older than me; in 1996 he already graduated from Conservatory and lived in Amsterdam, where he played in
New Cool Collective and later founded
Zuco 103. My roommate Katrin Denecke, a singer, was kind enough to bring me to some of her friends' parties, that's how I met him.
I remember hearing a drum & bass funky mix tape of his project "Rec.a" at one of the parties of one of Katrin's friends in a lovely apartment in Spuistraat, it was january 1997. I was so impressed! This music sounded so spacy...I started to follow his and Zuco 103's activities. New Cool Collective formed a bigband at some point. They held legendary concerts at Meander, Amsterdam. The whole band and atmosphere was great and Stefan was definitely one of the reasons to always be present. He just made everything funkier... Amsterdam in the end of the 90's/beginning of the 00's were a really great period with lots of live music; latin, jazz, acid jazz, soul, funk, lots of jam sessions...
When I think of Stefan, I always think of new fresh music and by my knowledge he never stopped creating new music. Sometimes you don't see him on stage, then is hiding in the studio and composing, sometimes he's back on stage with a new band.. or touring with Zuco 103...
Read more about him:
Stefan Schmid (Munich, 1967) plays Fender Rhodes, keys and computer. He is player, composer and producer.
Stefan started playing piano when he was 10 years old. After some classical training he fell in love with jazz at the age of 15. He followed many workshops and masterclasses and got lessons in many musical styles.
In 1989 he moved to The Netherlands to study piano at Hilversums Conservatorium. His teachers were Frans Elsen and Rob Madna.
He bought his first Atari in 1987 and his first S900 sampler in 1990.
In 1992 he won a prize for best soloist at “Leverkusener Jazztage”. With “Martinez Move” they became best band at Getxo Jazz Festival 1994.
The band “New Cool Collective” was founded, he played Fender Rhodes during the first 7 years. In 1998 he started the project Rec.a together with Lilian Viera and Stefan Kruger what eventually would torn into Zuco 103. They toured around the whole world. In 2003 Zuco 103 won an “Edison Publieksprijs” and gecame nominated for the BBC World Music Award.
Stefan also performed and recorded with a.o. Fleurine, C-Mon & Kypski, Paul Weller, Dazzled Kid, Joe Jackson, Kid Sublime, Caro Emerald.
http://www.zuco103.com/
... and a very rare moment of Stefan Schmid playing a jazz standard:
on 16/11/2017
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