Het Parool 25-03-16

Nederlands Jazz ArchiefEnglish:Saxophonist Susanne Alt hails from Germany but has long been a part of our jazz scene. Royalty For Real has the aura of a prestigious product. It is also a tribute to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Hargrove was fond of participating in the after-hours sessions at North Sea Jazz; Alt occasionally played alongside him there – hence Bel Air Bop, one of the seven tracks. The saxophonist/flutist wrote five of the tracks herself, in addition to The Nearness of You and Roy Allan by Hargrove. The album was recorded in February 2022 in New York with pianist James Hurt, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Willie Jones III. - English:“I’ve been wanting something with funk for a long time”Saxophonist Susanne Alt plays together with 30 musicians on Saxify. It’s not hard to imagine that this place, one of the city’s nicest terraces, is going to be crowded again. Think happy people, under the leaves of the trees, the golden sun and you’ll see it. Susanne Alt is a regular visitor at the weekly jam sessions of cafe/restaurant NeL at Amstelveld. So it was logical to meet here for the interview. The German saxophonist (Würzburg, 1978) has ben living in Amsterdam since she’s 20 years old, came here as a student for the conservatory because of its irresistable reputation.Alt just released her 6th album Saxify, a project she has worked on for 3 years full time. “I feel like a jazz musician but I’ve always longed to make a funk album. When I was 17 years old I met the guitar player of Maceo Parker at North Sea Jazz Festival. He introduced me to the other band members and we kept in touch all these years. I’ve worked with trombonist Fred Wesley before. Fred has been essential in the band of James Brown. The funk album plan was in my head only, until my boyfriend told me to translate my words into deeds.Musical click“I had my own quartet, later quintet, but there were so many musicians I wanted to work with. A lot of them I invited to play on Saxify, in total more than 30. I wanted to create a sort of a musical friendship book. Amongst them there are bandmembers of Maceo Parker, Earth, WInd&Fire, Tower Of Power, Geroge Clinton’s bands. Also Hans Dulfer is participating, he’s always been supportive. Fred Wesley plays a big role, I learned a lot from him about arranging. We had a studio day and he was really in shape. In the end we recorded a lot of material, he even made up a song about me and my sources of inspiration. I recorded the single with young singer Lorrèn, with her I have a nice musical click.”Alt produced Saxify herself, an exhausting process.”The album is intensively produced and has many layers. Drums was recorded first and vocals were last. On some tracks there are 3 guitar players. Most instruments are recorded apart, sometimes at home. You can year all kinds of things at the same time: vocals. guitar riffs, keys, percussion, drums and here and there the noise of voices”VinylOn Saxify the whole funk history gets mixed up, while it also sounds contemporary and modern, streetwise also. Alt made big steps as a saxophonist, arranger, producer. “The album contains maybe 80% funk and 20% jazz but hiphop and soul also got some space. I am not streetwise myself but I support that Saxify has a metropolitan feeling. I only live in big cities.”Alt actually wanted to release the album as vinyl only and download, but for fans who don’t have a record player, she also had some cd’s pressed.The album has been released in Benelux and USA, as well as other parts of Europe and Germany will follow in june.”“When I quit smoking seven years ago and saved a lot of money bcause of it I started collecting LP’s. Now I have a nice collection. Pressing LP’s is very popular, so at the vinyl pressing plant in Haarlem the waiting period is long. I had to put some energy into this process but I am very happy with the result, also with the 7”inch single. It was worth the effort.