Looking For You Andreas Schmidt, Thomas Heberer, Jan Roder, Lenny Rehm

• 1Looking For You04:27
• 2Closing Partners03:05
• 3Art Pop03:05
• 4Free Stretch N°103:24
• 5Not Only Lonely06:29
• 6Ornette Is A Rare Thing04:10
• 7Free Stretch N°201:39
• 8Omit Cornet06:22
• 9Rain Never Washed My Brain05:12
• 10Free Stretch N°302:58
• Total Runtime40:51

Info for Looking For You

It´s me, the Monday A-Trane pianist Andreas Schmidt. Since 1995 I played here about 900 wonderful & surprising improvised happenings in music with lots of friends like Jay Clayton, Hayden Chisholm, Dave Douglas, Walter Norris, Mark Murphy, Till Brönner, Sebastian Merk, Andreas Edelmann, Jan Roder, Connie Crothers, Max Andrzejewski, Andy Fite etc.. Here’s what Richard Williams wrote about me in his blog: «If you’re ever at a loose end in Berlin on a Monday night, my advice would be to head for A-Trane, the jazz club in Charlottenburg, where Andreas Schmidt, a pianist, composer and teacher at the city’s Jazz Institut, holds a weekly free-admission session featuring a changing cast. Schmidt is a fine pianist, the salient features of his playing located somewhere between the Paul Bley of the mid-’60s and the Chick Corea of «Now He Sings, Now He Sobs». You might get an idea of his approach if I say that his first album was made (in 1995) with Lee Konitz, and a later one comprised a duo with Gary Peacock. His music is cerebral, but on the evidence I’ve heard it never lacks wit and humanity.» (Richard Williams)

Andreas Schmidt, piano
Thomas Heberer, trumpet
Jan Roder, bass
Lenny Rehm, drums

Andreas Schmidt
Since the age of 13, Andreas Schmidt received piano lessons and later, for several years, additional saxophone training. His piano teachers, Aki Takase (Japan) and Walter Norris (USA), encouraged him to devote himself fully to jazz piano, composing, and arranging even before he began his studies. He then performed in television productions and concerts in Germany. From 1993 to 1998, Schmidt studied at the jazz department of the University of the Arts Berlin.

Andreas Schmidt gained attention as a young jazz pianist with the CD Haiku, which he recorded with the quartet consisting of Jerry Granelli (drums), Rudi Mahall (bass clarinet), Lee Konitz, and Schmidt, and for which he composed all the pieces. In 1995, Andreas Schmidt received a composition scholarship from the Berlin Senate, spent six months in New York City, and worked there with Jim Black, Jane Ira Bloom, D. D. Jackson, Susie Ibarra, and Joe Fiedler. It was also during this time that he first met pianist Paul Bley, who motivated him to collaborate with bassist Gary Peacock. The joint project resulted in the CD berlin, released in 1999.

Andreas Schmidt's projects have brought him together with various artists such as the Lisa Bassenge Trio, Katja Riemann, and Ute Lemper. In New York, he played with Connie Crothers, Sheila Jordan, Jimmy Halperin, and others. Schmidt regularly performs on Mondays at the Berlin jazz club A-Trane with advanced jazz musicians such as Lee Konitz, Till Brönner, David Friedman, Jeanfrançois Prins, or young musicians.

Andreas Schmidt went on tour with Michael Schiefel and his project GAY, the Y MOVE combo and its singer Yelena K., and the Andreas Schmidt Trio. He performed in France, Spain, Holland, and in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Beirut, and London. In total, around 30 CDs have been released with compositions and recordings by Andreas Schmidt. His third album, "hommage à tristano," was released in 2007, followed by "Andreas Schmidt & David Liebman & Friends in Berlin" in the spring of 2008.

In 2009, two new CDs by Andreas Schmidt were released. "Schmidt Happens!" is a concert recording with Berlin jazz musicians Andreas Henze (bass), Kai Bussenius (drums), saxophonist Peter Weniger, and Andreas Schmidt on piano. "Pieces for a Husky Puzzle" is a jazz trio with drummer Samuel Rohrer and trumpeter Thomas Heberer. In the spring of 2010, the trio performed in jazz clubs in New York and Berlin. In addition to his work as a jazz pianist, Andreas Schmidt is also a composer, not only in the jazz field. In March 2010, his solo project "slow motion emotion," a cycle of thirty piano pieces, was released. With an aphoristic character, these compositions are close to contemporary classical music.

In 2013, he played on the album "Yingying" as part of the Birgitta Flick Quartet. The quartet also released an album called "Dalarna" in 2016. Schmidt is a lecturer for piano and accompaniment at the Jazz Institute Berlin. Andreas Schmidt lives and works in Berlin.

This album contains no booklet.