Edith Lettner
Collaborations
Travel Diaries
Beate Reiermann – guitar
Edith Lettner – alto & soprano saxophone, duduk
Special guest: Maria Petrova – drums, percussion
Deutsch
Beate Reiermann und Edith Lettner wurden beide durch ihre Reisen, internationalen Studienaufenthalte und Projekte mit hervorragenden MusikerInnen aus aller Welt, auf die sie unterwegs und in Österreich trafen, geprägt und inspiriert.
Edith Lettner pendelt- nach zahlreichen Aufenthalten in Afrika und Armenien- seit einigen Jahren zwischen Wien, New York und Westkanada; Beate Reiermann lebte ein Jahr in Venezuela und bereist seither vor allem Südamerika und Spanien, wo sie ein Flamenco- Studium absolviert hat und ihr Können auf diesem Gebiet immer wieder ausbaut.
In Ihrem 2015 gegründeten Duoprojekt TRAVEL DIARIES, spielen Edith und Beate eigene Kompositionen, die ihre vielfältigen musikalischen Erfahrungen widerspiegeln und eine farbenfrohe Basis für Improvisation und dynamisches Zusammenspiel liefern. In die jazzigen Tagebucheinträge haben sich Elemente aus afrikanischer, lateinamerikanischer, spanischer Musik sowie Klänge und Rhythmen aus dem Nahen Osten, Anatolien und Kaukasus eingeschlichen- wie Düfte, die am Reisegepäck hängengeblieben sind. Sie triggern die Kreativität der beiden äußerst wendigen VollblutmusikerInnen.
2020 die haben die beiden die hervorragende Perkussionistin und Schlagzeugerin Mara Petrova eingeladen, vor allem die CD-Produktion mit ihrem vielfältigen Instrumentarium zu bereichern. Maria Petrova ist eine der vielseitigsten und gefragtesten SchlagzeugerInnen in und außerhalb Österreich und ideal für dieses Projekt, das ein breites Spektrum an Rhythmen und Grooves verwendet.
english
Beate Reiermann and Edith Lettner were both influenced and inspired by their international travels, intense study and projects with outstanding musicians from all over the world.
Edith traveled many times to Northern and Western Africa to immerse herself in the cultures and the music (13 times to Senegal alone). In 2012, she began commuting between Vienna and New York, both cities becoming her two musical homes. Recently she added Western Canada to the mix.
Beate Reiermann lived in Venezuela for a year and has traveled widely since, mainly to South America and Spain, where she studied flamenco, an art form in which she continues to expand her already considerable skills.
In their duo project TRAVEL DIARIES, begun in 2015, Edith and Beate play their own compositions. These reflect their diverse musical experiences and provide a colorful basis for improvisation and dynamic interplay. Like the lingering scents in well seasoned luggage, aspects of African, Latin American and Spanish music as well as sounds and rhythms from the Middle East, Anatolia and the Caucasus have wafted into the jazzy diary entries. This potpourri of musical elements provides a never-ending source of creativity for these two extremely agile, full-blooded musicians.
In 2020 they invited the dynamic percussionist and drummer Maria Petrova to enrich their upcoming CD with her diverse array of instruments. Maria is one of the most versatile and sought-after percussionists in and outside Austria, and she was perfect for this project with its wide-ranging rhythms and grooves.
Traveling Diaries’ inaugural CD was released July, 2021
Travel Diaries Sampler (Edith Lettner & Beate Reiermann)
Recorded Live in Vienna Austria in Sept. 2017
The Schocher Family (by Edith Lettner)
Recorded on Salt Spring Island, Canada & Vienna, Austria (Covid Version)
Walk With Me (by Beate Reiermann)
Recorded Live in Vienna, Austria on September 3, 2016
We Q
Edith Lettner – alto/soprano saxophones, duduk
Dafna Naphtali – electronics, voice, live sound processing
Edith Lettner and Dafna Naphtali met in New York in 2017, performing in larger ensembles, led by saxophonist Ras Moshe. Meeting up for a duo session, they found instant common language and constant surprises with Lettner on soprano and alto saxophone and duduk, and Naphtali on her created electro-acoustic instrument for live sound processing of Lettner’s instruments as well as her own vocal work.
Their work and experimentation together since then led to an Austrian tour in summer 2019, a performance at Experimental Intermedia in NY in March 2020, and has now culminated in this explosive recording.
We Q mines the duo’s mutual musical attractions – finding rough-cut gems in high-energy jazz, cross referenced with electro-acoustics, hardcore-meets-early-music, ghanawa-laced polyrhythms and Armenian/Balkan double-reed drone/beat-frequency noise-fests.
The duo’s debut album, “We Q” is available from the Danish label CLANG by clicking on the button below.
Dafna Naphtali & Edith Lettner in Bratislava
Recorded on May 31, 2019 at the A4 Performance Space in Bratislava, Slovakia
Dafna Naphtali & Edith Lettner in Innsbruck
Recorded on June 4, 2019 at Stiegenhausmusikin in Innsbruck, Austria
Voyagers
Yacouba Sissoko – vocals & kora (Mali)
Edith Lettner – alto & soprano saxophone (Austria)
Banning Eyre – guitar (USA)
Voyagers is a New York based trio of world class musicians, who perform traditional African themed music as well as their own compositions.
This unique acoustic trio features kora maestro Yacouba Sissoko from Mali, Austrian saxophonist Edith Lettner, and American guitarist Banning Eyre. Yacouba is a musician in the Griot tradition from the renowned Sissoko family in Mali. Lettner is a veteran collaborator with West African musicians, both in Austria and Senegal. And Eyre, besides being senior editor of Afropop Worldwide. has a long history of forays into Africa & African guitar. All three are seasoned, respected musicians who have long had their own separate musical careers.
Since first meeting in New York in 2013, they have delighted in performing together whenever all three were in town, and for good reason: they make magic – lively, enchanting, grooving without drums – the magic of three melody instruments – their melodic and rhythmic lines and patterns linking in perfectly. Theirs is music deep with tradition and alive with improvisation and spontaneity, to the delight of audiences whenever they perform.
Voyagers first CD, “Chasing Light” is back from the press
The official release will be in April, 2022, the exact day is still TBD.
Raise Your Voice (by Edith Lettner)
Madagaskar ( by Banning Eyre)
Other Projects
phone 3 phone
Stephan Brodsky – marimba, percussion
Edith Lettner – alto & soprano saxophone
Jovan Torbica – bass
Sascha Strohmaier – percussion
Phone 3 Phone is an Austrian ethno-jazz band founded in 1993 by Stephan Brodsky. The band, centered around the warm sound of Brodsky’s marimba, is well known in insider circles for their unconventional music. Their colorful original compositions combine influences from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean blended together into polychromatic sound mosaics. Their jazz is subtly removed from the mainstream – sovereign, sometimes minimalist. always personal and singular, and yet groovy, appealing, intoxicating to all.
Stephan Brodsky and Edith Lettner perform this music also in duo formation (Marimba and saxophone) and as a trio with percussion.
http://www.phone3phone.com/
Edith Lettner & African Jazz Sprit
Baboulaye Sissoko- kora, vocals (Senegal)
Edith Lettner- alto & soprano saxophone (Austria)
Julia Siedl- keyboard, piano (Austria)
Cheikh Ndao- bass (Senegal)
Karim Thiam- percussion (Senegal)
Mame Birane Mboup- percussion
Robert Castelli- drums (USA)
Mixing jazz and African music is an irresistible challenge, one deeply rooted in history, but surprisingly tricky to handle. Edith Lettner and African Jazz Spirit have managed a beautifully balanced meeting of genres. Signature flourishes from Baboulaye Sissoko’s ancient kora (African harp) meld seamlessly with Julia Siedl’s jazz piano riffs. Lettner’s saxophone converses easily with Sissoko’s kora flights and also his distinctly Senegalese vocals—the timeless voice of the griot. Bassist and project co-founder Cheikh Ndao holds down supple and solid grooves throughout. The integration of rhythms is also excellent in these performances, as jazz waltz morphs into West African 6/8 time, animated by crackerjack Senegalese percussion and spot-on trap drumming by Robert Castelli. Lettner’s own compositions reveal impressive intimacy with West African rhythmic and melodic sensibilities. Trust Your Way is both a re connection of long-ago musical DNA, and a brave step into the future.
Banning Eyre, Senior Editor for afropop.org
Alessandro Vicard & Edith Lettner Improvisational Music
Edith Lettner- alto and soprano saxophone, duduk
Alessandro Vicard – double bass
Over the years Alessandro Vicard and Edith Lettner have met again and again to share their mutual penchant for musical creation in the moment. Their combined musical backgrounds range through world and classical music, jazz, experimental music and complex compositions providing them with a rich and ready instrumental vocabulary of emotion, suspense and humor. The warm sounds of the double bass, saxophone and duduk mix and remix into a aural dance of strong, vibrant grooves and lyrical melodies, playful rhythmic sequences, eloquent discourses and experimental surprises.
Alessandro Vicard is the founder of the annual RARA Festival for Improvised Music in his hometown Palazzolo in Sicily, where Edith Lettner participated in 2015 with the support of the government of Lower Austria. In 2018 RARA was a guest at the Festival Wien Modern and Edith Lettner was one of the featured performers. Alessandro is also an innovative composer; his first opera was performed in Vienna in June 2019. He also creates artwork on the computer. Edith is also a visual artist, her preferred medium being paint on canvas. The duo are organizing a joint exhibition and musical performance for later in 2019.
delight
Jazz Both Old and New
Never has a jazz ensemble been more aptly named, for Delight is the experience it unfailingly engenders. All five band members are seasoned musicians who know how to make great music and make their music great. Whether performing a standard or a newly composed tune, they launch themselves into the groove, stay there and bring the audience with them.
J.F. O´Neil, Hells Kitchen, New York CIty, March 3, 2018
Donald Smith- vocals, piano
Warren Smith – vibraphone, drums
Edith Lettner – alto & soprano saxophone
Gerhard Graml – bass
Leopoldo F. Fleming – percussion
Dialogues & Trialogues
Warren Smith – percussion, drums, vibraphone
Edith Lettner – alto & soprano saxophone, duduk
Ras Moshe Burnett- tenor saxophone & flutes
It is often said that music can transcend all boundaries; well here’s a case in point. Warren Smith was born in the US in 1934 and Edith came into this world in Austria in 1964, and yet the duo’s musical rapport is unmistakable – their mutual regard tangible and the music they make . . . listen to it and know.
Smith is a world renowned percussionist – a master of all things percussive, from the vibraphone and marimba, to the drum set, timpani, gong, and any implement or object he can coax a beat from. Any attempt to summarize Warren Smith’s many and varied accomplishments and his performance history in a few sentences quickly proves futile. (It’s said of Warren that it’s much quicker to tally the short list of great musicians he hasn’t performed with than to produce even a partial account of those he has.)
Improvised music is a passion of saxophonist and duduk player Edith Lettner. She has played with musicians from all over the world, and she thrives on unusual and challenging performing situations. Her penchant for improv doesn’t end with musicians, but extends to artists of other genres such as dancers, visual artists and poets. Nor are her talents limited to improvisational music. She is an accomplished jazz and world music artist (and any other genre that captures her interest)
Add to this mix Raz Moshe, and it starts to make sense how the dialogues often become trialogues. Ras was born in Brooklyn and studied music in public school, with his father and his grandfather. Although he is trained in “earlier forms of jazz”, he prefers the modes of improvisation in the later or “free” developments of the music. In the words of Don Minasi in All About Jazz “He has a great smile and a heart of gold. His quiet demeanor is misleading because when he plays, he explodes with excitement.“
Together, these three make improvised music of the rare and remarkable kind.