Album Notes

Take Off! Reinmar Henschke presents a brilliant piece of work with this album, true to label „Ozella Lounge“style. “On Air“ is a balmy breeze that whispers to its listeners to let everything run wild – the soul, the inspiration, the thoughts, everyday life. The cover already points in the right direction for taking off and letting go: Up, up through the air, towards a sunny blue sky – optimally with the new CD „On Air“ in your headphones.

The pianist and composer has fulfilled a musical dream with this work, and created a counterbalance to the various jobs he does in his daily routine as a musician. „On Air“ gives the listeners the opportunity to lose themselves completely in perfectly balanced lounge-jazz music, to dream, and most of all, to listen in peace.

Henschke’s work otherwise consists of giving concerts with diverse bands and projects (among others: Henschkeschlott - Cafe Thiossane / Ozella Lounge) in China, Japan, West Africa, Russia, Scandinavia, and of course touring Germany or playing concerts with Ulla Meinecke, Helen Schneider or Katja Ebstein. He’s played gigs with Till Brönner, Bill Ramsay or Jocelyn B. Smith while composing film music or a radio play on the side.

On „On Air“, Reinmar Henschke gave himself the space and the time to put his collected song ideas and fragmented song sketches together to form a creative whole. As a result, a wonderful album has emerged that leads its listeners through brilliantly varied tracks. Lounge-grooves á la Café del Mar, atmospheric sounds like Morcheeba’s, and up-tempo numbers and subtle break-beats like Moloko’s are all presented in an extremely tasteful and jazzy manner, with the grand piano– Henschke’s actual work utensil –at the core, tying everything together.

Guest singer Pascal von Wroblewsky shines out beside well-tempered saxophone and vibraphone parts. The voice she lends to the balladesque „No Mercy“ sounds wonderfully soulful and at the same time delicately smoky. It’s exactly this contrary mixture that transports perfectly the moods Henschke has created on „On Air“. It’s remarkable how keenly he has understood studio technology to be a medium to shape his music with.

Henschke has also let something of the commonplace flow into his euphonic dream „On Air“, for example on the track, „We Survived Köckern“. Köckern is a rest stop on the A9 highway, and whatever happened here will undoubtedly remain Henschke’s best-kept secret. Vibrating beats and some weird harmonies mixed with strange samples of a car motor indicate that something truly “trippy” and pulsating must have happened. We can only wait in suspense and hope for the secret to eventually be disclosed. But this much can be revealed, the final conciliating chord implies that in the end, all turns out well. Good music, good artwork, good concept – all in all a brilliant piece of work!

Reinmar Henschke: piano, fender rhodes, keyb, perc, electronics
Volker Schlott: Sax, Flute
Jürgen Heckel: Guitar
Andreas Ockert: Clarinet
Harald Kündgen: Vibraphone
Micha Joch: Percussion
03 feat. Pascal von Wroblewsky: Vocals