Two compelling improvisers emerging from London’s jazz scene, James Kitchman (UK) and Sylvia Schmidt (DE) are an accomplished guitar-vocal duo. Originally drawn together by the richness and variety of the jazz tradition, they have recently explored more diverse sources of inspiration, including Anglo-American folk ballads of the Appalachian mountains. Their sound embraces the dynamic tension between forces of preservation and transformation, creating a space in which the haunting beauty of nostalgia and irriesistability of change intersect.
For this night, they have curated a cycle of songs of which the stories posess timeless truths of love, jealousy, murder, nobility and avarice with melodies that have a haunting and pure quality, tempered by an internal logic. In the second half of the concert they will be joined by special guests Michele Tacchi (fretless bass) and Simon Roth (drums).