EGGS, STAIRS & SHELLS

Brussels and Berlin blend together in Stairs & Shells, the new quartet of Bo Van Der Werf (baritone saxophone – Jozef Dumoulin/Bo Van Der Werf Duo, Octurn, Lynn Cassiers, Sylvain Cathala, Brussels Jazz Orchestra…), Elias Stemeseder (piano, synths, electronics – Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Greg Cohen, Anna Webber, Christian Lillinger, Eric McPherson, Lester St. Louis…), Felix Henkelhausen (double bass, electric bass – Vice Versa with Bram De Looze & Eric McPherson, Andrea Parkins, Marc Copland, Nate Wooley’s Knknighgh, Mirna Bogdanovic Group…) and Samuel Ber (drums – Pentadox with Bram De Looze & Sylvain Debaisieux, Malaby/Dumoulin/Ber with Tony Malaby & Jozef Dumoulin, KARTET, Benoît Delbecq, Michaël Attias European Quartet, Marc Ducret, Lotte Anker, Michael Formanek…).

Samuel Ber and Bo Van Der Werf, who have often played together in projects like Pentadox and Mantra Magnets, are the duo from Brussels. On the Berlin side, we have Elias Stemeseder and Felix Henkelhausen, who know each other from the Jim Black Trio and Felix’ quintet. The two international pairs merge as four equals, each contributing compositions to this new project.

Each of the musicians has, in their own way, a playful approach to rhythm; and has developed a personal vision of how to organize sounds in time. Angularity and switches, oscillations and flow, or interwoven rhythmic structures that open space for interpretation and meditation. But their compositions also share one thing in common: like eggs, they are full of potential, not yet structured in a final and only way to be interpreted, open to all directions at once.

Straight lines and curves, temps strié et temps lisse, discrete and continuous values. It’s Kandinsky meets Paul Klee. Stairs & Shells: like the basic elements of a visual language for painting sounds into time.

Album planned for 2027

« Bringing together four visionary musicians from Paris, Brussels and Berlin, Eggs, Stairs & Shells is an intrepid exploration of rhythm, form and improvisation. Bo Van Der Werf, Samuel Ber, Elias Stemeseder and Felix Henkelhausen fuse their distinct compositional voices into a dynamic collective, where pulsations, fluid textures and open structures shape music that is both precise and unpredictable. » Jazzdor