Declan Forde - Piano (UK)
James Banner - Bass. (UK)
Fabiana Striffler - Violin (DE)
Mirna Bogdanović - Vocals (SVN)

James Banner and Declan Forde have been ‘Practically Married’ since April 2015, a name proudly awarded to them due to their ability to spend time together almost every day with only minor frustrations, and the fact that they play almost every concert together.

Since 2015 they have collaborated with Vilde&Inga, Tobias Delius, John Hollenbeck, Max Andrzejewski, João Lopes Pereira, Eric Vaughn and many more, and have become a regular fixture on the Berlin swing dance scene, performing with Ugo Alunni and The Good Old Good Ones. They also perform as part of other acts including the award-winning Rachel Sermanni and James Banner’s USINE, and have performed sold out shows at Spiegesaal and Konzerthaus Berlin (with Fabiana Striffler and Mirna Bogdanovic) and Leeds Jazz Festival in 2018. Upcoming releases are planned for 2019 with Jordan Dinsdale & Will Howard (UK), as well as Toby Delius & Max Andrzejewski playing the music of Herbie Nichols.

For this concert they present the music of Duke Ellington, with a mix of instrumentals and vocal arrangements. 

 James Banner und Declan Forde sind seit April 2015 "Practically Married" ("Praktisch verheiratet"). Ein Name, den sie stolz bekommen haben, weil sie fast jeden Tag Zeit mit nur geringfügigen Frustrationen verbringen können und dass sie fast jedes Konzert zusammen spielen.

Seit 2015 arbeiten sie mit Vilde & Inga, Tobias Delius, John Hollenbeck, Max Andrzejewski, João Lopes Pereira, Eric Vaughn und vielen anderen zusammen und sind mit Ugo Alunni und The Good Old Good Ones zu einem festen Bestandteil der Berliner Swingtanz-Szene geworden . Sie treten auch im Rahmen anderer Acts auf, darunter die preisgekrönte USINE von Rachel Sermanni und James Banner. Im Spiegesaal und im Konzerthaus Berlin (mit Fabiana Striffler und Mirna Bogdanovic) und dem Leeds Jazz Festival (2018) wurden bereits ausverkaufte Shows aufgeführt. Weitere Veröffentlichungen sind geplant 2019 mit Jordan Dinsdale & Will Howard (UK) sowie Toby Delius & Max Andrzejewski, die die Musik von Herbie Nichols spielen.

Für dieses Konzert präsentieren sie die Musik von Duke Ellington, mit einer Mischung aus Instrumentals und Gesangsarrangements.

Declan Forde  
Declan Forde is pianist based in Berlin and originally from Glasgow, Scotland. Although he has lived in Berlin for only about four years he has established himself as one of the city's most versatile and sought-after pianists. He has performed with John Hollenbeck, Tobias Delius, Max Andrzejewski, Vide&Inga, plays in the duo ‘Unknown Ellington’ with legendary American bassist Greg Cohen and in various projects with bassist James Banner. He has also recorded and toured with Scottish singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni, was a finalist in the 2015 Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year competition and received the Yorkshire Live Music Project Bursary Award 2013-2016.

James Banner
James Banner was born in Dudley, England in 1991. He has studied in Birmingham, Paris and Berlin, and is now based between Berlin and the UK, working around Europe as a musician, educator and composer. In the UK he is composer in residence for Make The Paint Dance, workshop leader for Jazzlines (Town Hall Symphony Hall Birmingham), as well as double bass tutor at Leeds College of Music junior school. His debut album as bandleader will be released on 18.10.2018 by the Cologne-based label JazzHausMusik, followed by a tour of Germany in March-April 2019. As a composer he received a studio award from the Berlin Senate Department of Culture and Europe and the Elsa Neumann Stipendium 2018 from the Berlin University of the Arts/Hanns Eisler, which supports the ambitious choral/improvising ensemble project Voices of Berlin.

He is active as a co-leader and sideman in projects including the Birgitta Flick Quartet, The Good Old Good Ones, Mark Pringle, Double Double Bass (with Greg Cohen) and the trio Elias Stemeseder/James Banner/Ugo Alunni, as well as numerous other international collaborative projects. He also co-curates a monthly residency alongside pianist Declan Forde named Practically Married at Berlin’s Donau115, voted one of Europe’s best jazz clubs by The Guardian.

Fabiana Striffler

Born in Germany in 1988, Fabiana studied Jazz and Classical violin at the University of Arts in Berlin (UdK) and the Conservatory of Music (Hanns Eisler). Her early years she spent with her lovely family in Italy. During her childhood she was encouraged to engage in a variety of artistic and musical activities. By the age of 13 she was performing music styles other than classical, which awakened her interest in improvised music.
Fabiana is both, a brilliant violinist and a robust fiddler.

She learned with Greg Cohen with whom she has maintained a musical collaboration and a close friendship above all since the beginning of her studies, Mark Feldman, Carla Kihlstedt, Ken Peplowski, Andy Statman, Garry Dial, John Hollenbeck, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Friedman, Stephan Braun, Ulrich Bartel, Stephan Picard, Dragan Radosavievich and others.

“FABIANA STRIFFLER is a very talented violinist who plays directly from the heart. Her beautiful sound is a reflection of herself. Fabiana has a unique balance of keen Intuition and Intellect that allows her to make pure music no matter what creative situation she finds herself in.“ New York 2016, Garry Dial (Grammy “live at the Village Vanguard”)

Mirna Bogdanović
Mirna Bogdanović is a slovenian jazz singer-songwriter based in Berlin. She has graduated from the Jazz Institute Berlin in the class of Judy Niemack, Greg Cohen and Kurt Rosenwinkel. In 2015 she has won the Downbeat Student award for “outstanding performance”. She has taken private lessons from many renowned jazz musicians across the globe, was a member of the German National Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO) and is an active member of the Berlin jazz scene. This year she is preparing her debut album with the support of Elsa Neumann scholarship (NaFög).

“Singer/composer Mirna Bogdanovic has been a strong presence on the European jazz scene for some years now.

Her sultry tone, expressive phrasing and total musicality, make her the choice of many musicians “in the know”.

Comfortable in all walks of musical life, Ms. Bogdanovic is guaranteed to please.” - Greg Cohen, bass player known for his work with Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Tom Waits, Woody Allen…

https://jamesbanner.com/practicallymarried/ 


Beginn 20:30 Uhr( Einlass 19:30 Uhr) 
Eintritt frei – Beitrag erwünscht

Sitzplatzreservierung

EINTRITT
Einer der Gründe, die den Zig Zag Jazzclub so einzigartig machen, ist, dass er der erste und einzige Jazzclub der Welt ist, dem es gelingt nur durch freiwilligem Eintritt/Crowdfunding Events von Weltklasse zu finanzieren. Und wie machen wir das? Ganz einfach. Während der Konzertpause geben wir bekannt, dass wir Geld einsammeln werden. Bei den meisten Konzerten (außer Jam Sessions) informieren wir unsere Kunden, dass ein Beitrag von ungefähr 15 Euro es uns erlaubt die Musiker gerecht zu bezahlen. Manche geben dabei mehr und andere weniger... und das ist auch in Ordnung. Wir haben auf diese Weise schon Hunderte Konzerte organisiert.

ENTRANCE FEES
One of the reasons that makes the zig zag jazz club so unique is that it is the first and only jazz club in the world that manages to finance world class events through a crowd funding concept. How do we do it? Its quite simple… during the break of the concert we make an announcement regarding the collection for the evening. For most concerts (excluding the jam session) we inform our customers that a fee of around 15€ per person will allow us to fairly compensate the musicians. Some people give more and some give less… and that´s ok… we ´ve already successfully promoted hundreds of concerts like this!!!