Matthias Bröde

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Hallo everybody,
my name is Matthias Bröde I am an harmonica player, pianist and composer.

I come from a family of musicians in the south-west of Germany, my mother was a piano teacher and my father was a semi-professionel classical trained singer.
During my studies at the college of music in Karlsruhe, Germany I discovered the famous album „Affinity“ by Bill Evans with Toots Thielemans and immediatly fell in love with that grand and extraordinary sound of Toots and so I learned to play the chromatic harmonica. Some years later I also studied for some time in the Jazz department of the college of music in Cologne.

In the beginning my Jazz harmonica playing was influenced by musicians like Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder, later there were also Miles Davis, Art Farmer, Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett who inspired me.

I lived many years in Cologne and Dusseldorf, Germany before I went in 2007 for about five years to Barcelona, Spain. Since midyear 2013 I'm living in Berlin.

I worked with many different musicians and ensembles playing concerts and studio recordings in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and in Ireland for the German „Goethe-Institute; I recorded for different German broadcasting companies like „Bayrischer Rundfunk“, „Westdeutscher Rundfunk“, „Radio Berlin Brandenburg and played with Wolfgang Engstfeld, Claudio Puntin, the „Modern String Quartet“, Brasilian singer Rosani Reis, saxofonist Paul Heller from the „WDR Big Band“, the great Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima, multi-instrumentalist John Schröder and many others.

As a leader I published several CDs mainely with my own compositions. In 2013 I had the honor and the big pleasure to be winner of the „WDR Jazz Award“ given by the West-German broadcasting company in Cologne as well as receiving the „Studio Award Jazz“ from the Senate of Berlin in 2015. With the latter we were able to record the CD „Where is Wedding ?“ in the excellent studio „P4“ situated in the former broadcasting center of the GDR in East-Berlin.

As a Jazz musician it has always been very important to me to find my own style of playing and not only to imitate other famous musicians. So I am always into broadening my sound spectrum and the possibilities of my instrument. I am one of the very few musicians who bring the harmonica into „Experimental Music“ and „Free Improvisation“ without restricting myself on these.


The music I am playing with different bands includes Jazz-Standards as well as Contemporary Jazz, Latin influenced music and World-Music.

Here are some quotations about my music:

TOOTS THIELEMANS: „The world of Matthias Bröde – schooled musician pianist composer harmonica virtuoso…
I can only applaud Matthias and his friends. I enjoy and I learn...“

REINER KOBE in the magazin Jazzpodium: „On the harmonica Bröde is a master.“

ULI LEMKE im Jazzthing: „While many others keep walking on the tracks of the legends a harmonica player whose virtuosity is elaborated does not stick with classical precursers or commonly used riffs, but presents himself open minded (in “Where is Wedding?“) by mixing the full sonic pallette from clean to overdriven sounds."

DAVID LIEBMAN, ehemaliger Saxophonist bei Miles Davis:
„This is a very interesting and different approach to using the harmonica in jazz. With a giant like Toots around, it is hard to escape the shadow but Matthias has accomplished that admirably on this recording.“

HENDRIK MEURKENS, harmonica & vibraphone player from New York writes:
“.... with this CD, we see a sophisticated jazz album in front of us, with the harmonica being an integrated part of the ensemble. In the end, it is always about the man behind the instrument. If there is taste and musicianship, you have great music. With Matthias, there can't be any doubt that we are dealing with some serious jazz. Just listen to his piano playing and you know. On harmonica, he communicates the same message. And, here we go, we have a new and very personal voice on the harmonica. Great job, guys. 'Speak Tres' is a beautiful addition to the still small treasure chest of jazz harmonica CDs.”

These are my CDs:

MATTHIAS BRÖDE's OH!-KESTER-OSLOER-3: „Where is Wedding?“ (Unit Records, 2017)
BRÖDE-VIER : “Instinct to Play” (Jazzwerkstatt, 2013)
MATTHIAS BRÖDE's SPEAK TRES : “Space Between Intervals” (Quadrant Records, 2012)
MATTHIAS BRÖDE CHAMBER TRIO : “From East To West: Strange Beauty Of The World” (Mr.D.Music, 2003)
MATTHIAS BRÖDE QUINTET : “European Faces feat. Wolfgang Engstfeld” (GLM, 1999).

What I appreciate the most about Seydel harmonicas:
the strong and well-balanced sound, the long durability of the high quality steel reedplates, the excellent manufacture, the timeless beauty of the design, the service and the innovative attitude of the Seydel comany.



 

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