April Features
Seuffert's appearances at festivals and jazz parties provided an opportunity for him to play with many other fine musicians from Europe and the States. The latter included the likes of Ken Peplowski, Scott Hamilton, Jake Hanna, John Bunch, Randy Sandke, Evan Christopher, Jon-Erik Kellso, Duke Heitger, Harry Allen, and David Boeddinghaus, several of whom he has also recorded with.
"I met Matthias maybe six years ago or so," Heitger recalled recently. "He was among this very impressive group of `young' European musicians playing at a very high level. He not only has an abundance of talent but also the work ethic that is needed to take his musicianship to another level. As a result, he is always a pleasure to play with."
Seuffert met British stride pianist and bandleader Keith Nichols, who invited him to the U.K. He lived in England for about two years, in 2002 and 2003, and it was then that he taught at Trinity College of Music in London.
"They have a nice jazz department," he said, "and they were looking for somebody to teach the pre-bebop styles, history and techniques on the saxophone and clarinet in early jazz styles because that is a field that is underrepresented in jazz education, I think."
When asked about his favorites or major influences on his primary instrument, Seuffert responded, "I started out with Johnny Dodds. I love his playing to this very day, and at the time I had a real sharp look at his playing with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and his later recordings. Over the years I got to record some music in that style, on the American Stomp Off label: some with Swedish trumpeter Bent Persson and some with an American band put together by Pam Pameijer of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band. People like Jon-Erik Kellso, David Boeddinghaus and Vince Giordano were on those recordings. That was fun."
After Dodds, he turned to "the Creole clarinet players like Omer Simeon, Barney Bigard, Jimmie Noone, and that leads you to the swing guys. Benny or Artie? I love both of them, but I don't want to sound like either of them. I let things happen and hope that the sound will evolve. There's much to be learned from them."
Seuffert has also listened carefully to Tony Scott, Buddy DeFranco and, most recently, Eddie Daniels. "They are too strong to be overlooked," he asserted. "So, for playing, I just like to find out how it works."
Seuffert picked up the tenor sax after the clarinet. "It was not before I was 22 or 23 that I took up the tenor seriously," he recalled. "I started off with Coleman Hawkins and, to this day, I think he's one of the best jazz players ever. Then afterwards I went to Chu Berry, Lucky Thompson. Lester [Young] came a bit later for me, and I had a sharp look at what he does. It's very interesting to combine the more vertical Hawkins approach with the linear Lester Young approach, which lots of players have done already. It was very interesting to have a sharp look at how they work, how they swing, how they work with the rhythm section. It's very different.
"I took a liking to Don Byas after Hawkins," he continued. "His basic approach -- though you can't categorize it -- is basically swing, with all the harmonic things that became common in the early '40s. He was one of the first guys who did bop in a very clear way. So, that's how I got onto that road: Don Byas, Lucky Thompson, Paul Gonzalves, Benny Golson.. then you end up with Coltrane, and you're in the middle of modern jazz. And you don't know how it happened. I studied the `Giant Steps' period of Coltrane, but I haven't studied the other stuff properly yet. To sit down to have a good time listening to music, I wouldn't put on a later Coltrane record because it's very strong, emotionally very strong music. For me, at this point -- it may change -- it doesn't cheer me up in the way that, say, a Luis Russell recording cheers me up."
In addition to the many festival combinations with which he has played, he has worked regularly with a number of groups, including Keith Nichols' small and big bands when he lived in England. He continues to play with Nichols from time to time.
"Then there's a band from Europe, the Blue Rhythmakers, which I put together," he said. "That includes [trumpeter] Bent Persson from Sweden, Keith on piano from London and [trombonist] Rene Hagmann from Switzerland. That's a band we can only do short tours with, maybe three times a year. Then I have my own quartet with very good local guys from the Cologne-Bonn area: Johannes Zink, guitar; Michael Shoeneich, bass; Michael Neusser, drums, and now we have added a piano player, Ebi Herpin. Patrick Artero, a French trumpet player formerly with the great Anachronic Jazz Band who now lives in Germany, joins my local quartet whenever there is a possibility. And then we have the European Saxophone Quartet."
April 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag
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