Organic Stew Karl Ratzer

• 1Tears05:50
• 2Someone to Watch over Me06:11
• 3Until You're Mine04:35
• 4You've Changed04:51
• 5Underground System05:17
• 6Down for R&B04:25
• 7Tyrone05:31
• 8Skylark05:54
• Total Runtime42:34

Info for Organic Stew

If it were not at least sometimes true, then the comparison with the age and quality of the wine (the older the better) would probably be a bit over-stretched, but it certainly applies in the case of Sir Karl Ratzer. Which, of course, does not mean that what he did as a young person was worse, but at most different, or perhaps one should replace the word "better" with "sovereign, clarified, clearer, more soulful" or something similar.

Karl Ratzer, guitar, vocals
Ed Neumeister, trombone
Johannes Enders, saxophone
Peter Tuscher, trumpet
Larry Porter, piano
Peter Herbert, bass
Andi Kurz, bass
Howard Curtis, drums
Florian Oppenrieder, drums

Karl Ratzer
was born in Vienna in 1950 in precarious circumstances as the child of two concentration camp survivors. He learned to play the guitar autodidactically. From the age of 13 he was on stage with legendary bands such as The Slaves (1964-1966), The Charles Ryders Corporation (1967-1968), C-Department (1969-1971) and Gipsy Love (1971-1972). Important apprenticeship years in which Ratzer rose to become one of the best-known rock guitarists in the German-speaking world.

From 1972 to 1980 he lived in the USA, where he worked with several important jazz musicians such as Jeremy Steig, Joe Chambers, Dan Wall, Eddie Gomez and Chet Baker. Back in Vienna, from the early 1980s onwards, several more collaborations followed with high-ranking jazz musicians such as Fritz Pauer, Hans Koller, Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry and Chaka Khan.

Since 2010, Karl Ratzer has appeared in quintet, trio or duo formations, mainly with the musicians Ed Neumeister (trombone), Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone), Peter Herbert (bass) and Howard Curtis (drums). The recordings created in this way have received good reviews in the specialist press and have been nominated for an Amadeus Award, among others. Since 2016, there has also been the Ratzer / Herbert / eXtracello project, which has attracted particular attention because the ensemble works exclusively with string instruments. Here, jazz meets classical music, while the audience is offered a wide range of original compositions, pieces from the Baroque, jazz standards and South American songs.

This album contains no booklet.