The importance of the saxophonist, band leader and composer originally from Chicago cannot really be overrated. For the pianist Vijay Iyer, for example, Steve Coleman is on a level with the jazz giant John Coltrane. Taking the jazz tradition as the starting point, he has developed a musical language that is indeed rhythmically and harmoniously complex and experimental but always sounds soulful and funky.

The musician who lives in New York has his very own understanding of music where life and playing are inextricably linked. The reputation and success of the musician who released his first albums on the small German JMT label in the mid-1980s are based on an almost mystical interpretation of jazz and his live appearances. Back then he founded his ground-breaking band Five Elements out of a street music formation, into which he fed his knowledge of world cultures and his openness towards popular black American music styles like funk and hip-hop.

// alto saxophone – Steve Coleman
// trumpet – Jonathan Finlayson
// eletctric bass – Anthony Tidd
// drums – Sean Rickman

Organization / Institution

Jazzclub Karlsruhe e.V.