Shoot the Moon
Press & Radio Reviews
CD Saints & Fools 2016
Jazzzeitung, July 2016, Michael Scheiner
Interlaced and animated, frizzy and gloriously grooving, the album is an unusual find in the gerne jazz. It is a great pleasure to discover and follow its unexpected turns and jumps into stylistically ambigous corners. Read more
Culture Jazz, April 2016, Thierry Giard
Voilà une formation qui a retenu notre attention et que nous avons toujours plaisir à retrouver dans le cheminement aléatoire sur notre liste de lecture du mois. Shoot The Moon nous vient de Berlin, pépinière des musiques inventives européennes. Son répertoire puise dans les musiques anciennes et traditionnelles, des chansons (parfois en français!) développées avec intelligence et énergie. Belle découverte!
rbb Kulturradio, April 2016, Ulf Drechsel
All the real and imaginary stories which are told in an often bizarre manner are a wonderful kaleidoscope of moods and fanciful obscurities – carried by the spirited band reaching for the stars.
Jazzthing, März 2016, Wolf Kampmann
The quintet offers a toybox filled to bursting with very quirky songs which come alive with the powerful presentation of vocalist Winnie Brückner. Read more
Longplay-Blog, März 2016, Robert Ratajczak
Interestingly constructed vocal lines, the warm sounds of the alto saxophone and the characteristic tone of the bass clarinet create an extraordinary marriage of ideas, combining medieval aesthetics with modern improvised music.
Jazzflits, April 2016, Herman te Loo
Friendly and playful…
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Radio T Chemnitz, März 2016, Klaus Wiedenhöft
Almut Schlichting was inspired by medieval music and texts. Now Shoot the Moon presents a extraordinary and exciting product which is not only interesting for jazz lovers, but also for every curios and musically open pair of ears.
Jazzpodium, April 2016, Rainer Bratfisch
The musicians quote medieval harmonies, borrow from Dada and, apart from that, move stylistically assured in the Here and Now. The balancing act succeeds: from the first to the last note, the music is exciting, amusing and laid-back.
Melodiva, März 2016
An interesting mixture inviting repeated listening.
Sound and Image Blog, März 2016, Klaus Halama
Very high-class (…) and adventurous!
Press & Radio Reviews
CD Big Black Dogs & Concerts 2013
Kulturradio of the rbb, Late Night Jazz May 2013, Ulf Drechsel
Afraid of big black dogs? Not neccessarily – if they play as merrily as in the quintet Shoot the Moon…
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Whoever is still afraid of big black dogs, will most likely loose their fear while listening to this album.
BR-KLASSIK Jazztime, February 2013, Beate Sampson
On January 25, the Berlin Quintet Shoot the Moon presented their new songs from Big Black Dogs and elated the audience in the jam-packed club Jazzstudio. Read more
CD Review Rondo, October 2013, Josef Engels
Coffee is the fuel that keeps Berlin running. That`s what everybody knows since the wonderful film Oh Boy, that´s what the metropolis-based quintet Shoot The Moon shows with their hymn Coffee, written by band leader and alto saxophonist Almut Schlichting. A grumpy bass and scuffling drums are adrenalized with caffeine by strange bop horn lines and the voice of Winnie Brückner, oscillating between purring jingles and rap – to such an extent that finally they skip into happy South American rhythms from the home of the coffee bean.
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CD Review melodiva, October 2013, Tina Karolina Stauner
Warm grooves, imaginative improvisations, weirdly dazzling songs, music for visionary souls and agile spirits… you can catch a daily whiff of paradise everywhere with Big Black Dogs.
CD Review Jazz Thing, September 2013, Rolf Thomas
Breezy & summery… The opener Coffee instantly attracts you with its iresistible groove.
CD Review Westzeit, October 2013, Klaus Hübner
Well-observed scenes from daily life, profound nuances, distinct expressiveness…
Concert Preview, Nürnberger Nachrichten January 2014, Peter Gruner
A subtly grooving ride on a harmonical roller coaster, accelerating the pulse with rapid loopings…
Concert Review Thüringische Landeszeitung, May 2013, Dietmar Ebert
Shoot the Moon elated the attentive audience with poetical jazz songs, narrating stories filled with quiet mirth and silent melancholy. Read more
Concert Review Osterländer Volkszeitung, September 2013, Thomas Trummer
Delightful stories, wonderfully gnarly songs, intoxicating grooves – great music. There were quiet pop sections alternating with vivid rhythms and experimental episodes (…) The icing on the cake was the crystal clear voice of Winnie Brückner. The audience was enthusiastic – two encores and standing ovations!
CD GLORY & DECAY & Concerts (2010 & 2011)
„Sparkling, funny, raucous… extremely stimulating music ..“
(Jazzpodium)
„One of the most enchanting German jazz bands…“
(Rondo)
“An audacious crossover trip through jazz genres – it s great fun!“
(Jazzzeitung)
„An appealing mixture of gripping density and lyrical fancifulness…“
(Jazzthing)
„The poetic texts and expressive melodies move hearts and minds equally…combined with intoxicating rhythms… Shoot the Moon creates very convincing music…“
(Jazzthetik)
„Uncompromising, twinkle-toed and alert!“
(Jazzdimensions)
„Theatrically blazing, very amusing and musically great, the imaginatively dressed Berlin band „Shoot the Moon“ played in the Jazzstudio: Gnomes are rocking in the German forests, and the Queen is dancing.“
(Nürnberger Nachrichten)
“Last weekend, the Berlin-based saxophone player and composer Almut Schlichting played with her formidable band „Shoot The Moon“ …. Schlichtings intricate compositions, songs and suites, sometimes more related to contemporary classical music than to jazz, combined with the freedom of stormy improvising…, result in quirky and idiosycratic tone poems…“
(Mittelbayrische Zeitung)
“La parité femmes-hommes existe dans le jazz, le sextet berlinois Shoot The Moon en est l’illustration. Leur disque “Glory & decay” n’est certes pas une nouveauté (paru en 2008, il nous est parvenu en cours d’hiver) mais il permet de découvrir une formation qui ne manque ni d’air, pour proposer une musique pleine de fougue et de vitalité assez délirante, ni d’airs pour captiver l’oreille de l’auditeur.Read more
(Culture Jazz)
CD TREASURE ISLAND & Concerts (2008 & 2009)
„Almut Schlichting`s Sextett with the beautiful name Shoot the Moon makes Tom-Waits-Polkas collide with the controlled madness of Ornette Coleman; drunken waltz flirts with lopsided blues, and Marvin Gaye drowns in the bow waves of a postmodern pirate shanty.“ (Berliner Morgenpost)
„Profound ease …stylistic border crossing…imaginative songwriting…expressive solo statements…“
(Jazzzeitung)
„Heartily expressive…openness and new, individual forms of expression…“
(Jazzpodium)
„Variète and vaudeville, urban grooves and shantys, rock loans and singer-songwriter-feasting, Brecht and Weill, Polka, Klezmer and imaginary folklore, Tango and funeral march….something dreamy and fabulous in battered idylls …le fabuleux destin of Almut S.“ (sonic)
„Lightyears removed from the mainstream, somewhere between contemporary jazz and angular chanson, Shoot the Moon have created their own very special fantasy-grooves. Between the South Sea and the Arctic, the Berlin sextett dives down to hidden musical treasures with their songs of sunken sailboats and bathing tigers…“
(Saarbrücker Zeitung)
„(Shoot the Moon) roam the music fund, beautifully and off-key…“
(Nürnberger Nachrichten)
„Music Pirates keen on experimenting…Shoot the Moon elates the listeners in the sold-out Kulturbahnhof…“
(Hessisch-Niedersächsische Allgemeine)
„Never a jazz band in the straight sense of the word, Shoot the Moon have build many causes of friction into their music. Theatrical street ballads evocative of an imaginary Berlin of the twenties alternate with Calypso-infected songs, roughed up with folkloristic ingredients, which sometimes remind of Klezmer or Balkan sounds…“
(Jazzthetik)
„(Shoot the Moon) inspire with a distinctive and inventive sound… powerful and rough…from the morbid air of Viennese waltz to excursions to the south sea and the greek ancient world… very special charm. .“
(Saarbrücker Zeitung)
„Even Captain Jack Sparrow himself would swoon over (Shoot the Moon)…..“
(Nürnberger Nachrichten)