Concertos. Andreas Willers

Montauk

Andreas Willers (Berlin, 1957) is considered as one of the best guitarists of today’s jazz. His main influences are to be found in blues, improvisation and the new musics. However, Willer also explores the many possibilities of electronic and ethnic musics. He is a multi-faceted and skilled instrumentalist and can take his guitar across a wide range of different styles. His music moves masterly from the parameters of bizarre sounds −for example, in his recreations of Jimmi Hendrix’s songs− and the avant-garde visibly present in Montauk (Between the lines, 2005) that he now brings to this fifth issue of Imaxinasons. As a composer, each one of his projects departs from an idea or concept, being the underlying building block of Montauk a literary work of Max Frisch.

It is not the first time that literature is the source of inspiration for the compositions of this German guitarist. That was the case in for example his album Tin Drum Stories (Between the Lines, 2000), based, in turn, on German Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass’ The Tin Drum, published in 1959. In Montauk Willers recovers guitar effects of the 1970s with a touch of ethnic music, especially when he plays the banjo, and gives a leading role in his projects to the violin of Dominique Pifarély, who already visited as a solo player the Imaxinasons festival in its second issue of 2006. Both of them are the pillars of the solid sound of Montauk, an open and wide-scoped project where Willer’s compositions are perfectly suited to the characteristics and skills of his colleague-instrumentalists.

• Andreas Willers: Guitar
• Dominique Pifarély: Violin
• Alain Grange: Violoncello
• Rudi Fischerlehner: Percussion

More information available on

• www.andreaswillers.de
• www.myspace.com/andreaswillers