Friday 6 June 2014

Torsten Goods Ankara Jazz Festival Concert, June 4th 2014



Torsten Goods was in Ankara for the 17th jazz festival of the city. Born as the son of an Irish mother and a German father, the qualified guitarist and singer of the label ACT has released his fourth album (the third from ACT) in 2013 with the title 'Love Comes to Town'. Carrying a more jazzy and funk style compared to the previous two albums ('Irish Heart'-2006, '1980'-2008), 'Love Comes to Town' is also like an ACT All Star performance. Ida Sand and Viktoria Tolstoy are guest appearances for vocals in some pieces. More than that we see one of the most important drummers of Germany and ACT, Wolfgang Haffner, as a part of the main band. The horn section of the album includes Nils Landgren (also the producer) as well as the famous trumpet player Till Brönner and woodwind player Magnus Lindgren. 

The concert band was almost the same with the last album's main band: Torsten Goods, guitar & vocals; Jan Miserre, fender rhodes, wurlitzer; Christian von Kaphengst, fender jazz bass; Felix Lehrmann, drums. Although Felix Lehrmann has been the member of Torsten Goods band for five years, he is seen just as a guest appearance in the last album. Jan Miserre is an important figure in Torsten Goods' albums since he is in some compositions and in arrangements as well as on co-producer seat in all albums. Christian von Kaphengst has played in the albums and performances since 2008 and he is the producer for the album '1980'.

The band started the performance in the IF Performance Hall of Ankara (which has a fairly good sound design but the bass was a little bit heavy in the beginning and unfortunately someone from the technical side left the amplifier of Torsten Goods closed) with two pieces from the last album: 'Weekend At The A-Trane' and 'You Wind Me Up'. Considering that one of the most famous jazz clubs of Germany, 'A-Trane' (in Berlin), belongs to a Turkish Man, Sedal Serdan from Turkey (born in Ankara), we can say that this energetic and instrumental introduction is meaningful for the Ankara audience. We can easily say that the harmony of the band, the energy of Torsten Goods, his colorful vocal and distinctive guitar sound are very well like what we have been hearing from the albums. 'No Religion' of Van Morrison and the traditional 'Carrickfergus' from the first album and 'Freedom Everyday' came next. The audiences' reactions were very positive to these up and mid tempo pieces and it is obvious that they liked the music which is successfully produced on the stage. The inspiration source for the last album's title 'When Love Comes To Town' and Joe Sample's 'Put It Where You Want It' have been played before 'Berlin P.M'. Then one of the most surprising covers of the album, 'Someone Like You' from Adele, has been performed together with the audience's accompaniment. Summer Lovin', Outta Here and Unlucky Like Me became the last pieces of this well performed concert.

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