Merkle Kulturkonzepte

Mehl Consortium

Magnus Mehl - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone
Rainer Böhm - piano
Ferenc Mehl - drums
Fedor Ruškuc - double bass

And as guests:

Axel Schlosser - trumpet
Felix Fromm - trombone
Philipp Tress - guitar

New CD on jawo records!

Sound Files:
www.jawo-records.com

TOURING THE NEW ALBUM „CITY VIEWS“

Some very personal impressions and revelations about significant places and venues that played a role in his diverse musical life are highlighted in Magnus Mehl’s “City Views”.
Specifically for the recordings on this Album, in collaboration with brother Ferenc, he put together a “Consortium” of musicians, which illustrates Mehl’s most infl uential life stages over the last years. Great variety, powerful musical images, creative liberty, and ever changing line-ups give personal insight into the life of this musician.
The music of these “Stadtkompositionen” (or “Citycompositions”??) radiates an unruly individualistic, positive swinging energy, yet can be characterized through refl ective, lyrical thoughtfulness.

Magnus und Ferenc Mehl:
The brothers Magnus and Ferenc Mehl started their careers in the national youth jazz orchestras of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Both were members of the German Federal Jazz Orchestra.
Since then they have their own, partly common, projects worldwide. They will meet with various jazz giants, such as Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D‘Rivera, Randy Brecker, etc., and are winners of a number of international jazz prices.
Magnus and Ferenc Mehl are carriers of the cultural price of their home town of Rottweil. In addition to the extensive band activities, both brothers are also working in various theatres.

Magnus Mehl
Magnus Mehl studied Jazzsaxophon in Amsterdam, Köln, Nürnberg and Stuttgart. In addition to that he lived and studied in New York City on a full scholarship of the DAAD (German federal exchange service). He graduated summa cum laude.
Over the years Magnus Mehl has played in the youth Jazzorchestras of the German states Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia. Furthermore, he was a member of the German national youth Jazzorchestra lead by Peter Herbolzheimer. With various bands and ensembles he won 1st prices at renowned international Jazzawards in Spain and Italy (int. Getxo Jazzcontest, int. Jimmy Woode Award), and a 2nd price at the int. Hoilaart Jazzcontest in Belgium.
Magnus Mehl was a finalist of the int. Yamaha saxophone competition and was awarded the price “best saxophone player of the competition” at the int. Jimmy Woode Award.
Concert tours led him to Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia), Middle America (Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, San Salvador, Costa Rica) and to many European countries (Spain, Serbia, Italy etc.).
In cooperation with „Goethe Institut“, Magnus Mehl performed at jazz festivals abroad and worked as a lecturer at jazz workshops.
He is holding the cultural price of his hometown Rottweil (“Kulturförderpreis”) and a scholarship of the “Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg” (Fine Arts Foundation of the German state Baden-Württemberg).
Magnus Mehl had the pleasure to perform with Paquito de Riviera, Randy Brecker, Buster Cooper, Antonio Hart, Sandy Patton, Mark Soskin, Klaus Graf, Jake Saslow, Nils Wogram, the german actress Katja Riemann, Frank Chastenier etc.

Ferenc Mehl
Born in southwestern Germany, Ferenc is a genuine Rottweiler. At the age of 8, after one year of guitar lessons he was finally allowed to learn, how to play the drums. He started out at the local music school in Rottweil and pretty soon had private lessons with Philippe Ohl (drumset and classical snare drum).
After graduating from a high school, with a special music branch, Ferenc began to study Jazzdrums at the Conservatory of Leipzig (“Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig”). In addition to that he attended the “Conservatory of Amsterdam”. Ferenc graduated with “Diploma” in 2010.
Over the years he played in the Youth Jazzorchestras of the German states Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saxony and in the German national Youth Jazzorchestra (“Bundes Jazzorchester”).
Ferenc released two CDs under his own name and won the international Jimmy Woode Jazzaward in Italy with his band “FUMMQ” (Ferenc and Magnus Mehl Quartet). He has performed at “Schauspielhaus Leipzig” and played in various countries like China, Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Malaysia, Austria, Spain, Serbia, Kosovo, Taiwan and Thailand.
Right now, Ferenc is performing in music theater plays at theaters in Halle/Saale and Heilbronn, he is performing with his Jazzquartet “FUMMQ” throughout Germany and he appears with the “Leipziger Auto Symphonikern” as well as with the Electro-Club band “Feinripp”.
Furthermore, he is currently holding a scholarship of “Yehudi Menuhin –Live Music Now”.

Rainer Böhm
The pianist Rainer Böhm received continuous piano lessons from 1981 until 2004. He studied Jazzpiano with Jörg Reiter at the Conservatory of Mannheim (“Hochschule für Musik Mannheim”) and graduated summa cum laude. Thereafter, he completed an additional “Konzert Examen” (concert exam) at the Conservatory of Cologne (“Musikhochschule Köln”) in the piano class of John Taylor, and studied piano in New York City on a full scholarship of the “DAAD” (German federal exchange service). Rainer Böhm was the main pianist of the German national youth Jazzorchestra lead by Peter Herbolzheimer for 3 years and has won 1st prices with various bands and ensembles at the Jazzaward Sigmaringen, the Jazzaward Ravensburg, the “Daimler-Chrysler-Award” (with Thomas Siffling Quartet), the int. Hoeilaart Jazz Award/Belgium (in addition price for the best soloist) and the int. Getxo Jazzwettbewerb in Spain (price for the best soloist as well). In the discipline Jazzpiano solo Rainer Böhm was awarded with the excellent 2nd price at the renowned int. piano competition Montreux in 2000 and 2001 and won the piano solo award Freiburg. In addition to that, he was a substitute teacher for the chair of jazz piano and held several lectureships at the Conservatories of Mannheim and Mainz. Rainer Böhm is holding the jazz prices of the “Nürnberger Nachrichten” and of the German state Baden-Württemberg. Over the years he performed with Ingrid Jensen, Randy Brecker, Ari Hoenig, Johannes Weidenmueller, Matt Clohesy, Lage Lund, HR Big Band, Jeff Boudreaux, Albert Mangelsdorff, Dusko Goykovich, Rolf Kühn, Adrian Mears, Tony Lakatos, Dieter Ilg, Jürgen Seefelder, Claire Martin, Johannes Enders, Thomas Stabenow, Paul Heller, Hans Decker, Julian Arguelles, Dave King…..

Fedor Ruškuc - double bass
After studying violin for 9 years (since he was 6), he switched to double bass at the age of 15 . He finished his classical music high-school in 1999 during the Nato bombings playing a shortened version of his final exam concert .
He switched his focus on jazz and started his studies in Graz with Prof. Wayne Darling . After getting an “excellent” on his Diploma in Graz he moved to Cologne to continue his studies with Prof. Dieter Manderscheid in 2002 . He graduated in 2005 .
In 1996 he won the Serbian National Music Competition , Double Bass classical solo and was 2nd at the Yugoslavian National Music Competition . In 1998 Fedor repeated his success at these competitions .
With the “Magnus Mehl Quintet” he won the “Getxo Jazz Competition 2006” in Spain and was 2nd at the “Jazz Hoeilaart Competition” in Belgium . In 2008 “Magnus Mehl Quartet” won the “Jimmy Woode Award 2008” in Italy where Fedor was rewarded with the “Best Bass Player” award . With a world music band “East Affair” he also won the “Creole NRW 2008” in Germany .
He is a council member of the “Novosadski Jazz Festival” witch has a 10 year tradition in his home town of Novi Sad .
Fedor had performances all over Europe and Russia with many different groups and musicians including Keith Copeland , Dennis Rowland , Ondrej Stveracek , Andrew Krasilnikov , Douglas Sides , Ryan Carniaux , East Affair , Magnus Mehl , Adam Klemm , Vert , East West Europian Jazz Orchestra TWINS 2010 , Wednesday Night Big Band , Fantasmofonika and many more . He has also performed in a few musicals and theater plays in Germany , Austria and Serbia .

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