Johannes Enders - Endorphin (2018)

In May of this year I saw the saxophonist Johannes Enders with Karl Ratzer in the jazz club Unterfahrt, which is my second jazz home. The club has a very balanced sound and you can hear especially wind instruments excellent. Johannes Enders had a lot of soulful deposits in his game.

The album "Endorphin" contains numerous autobiographical references. In the "Lucky Joe Street No 4 - Hans-Glück-Strasse 4" Enders was born. The song "Captain Roland Kirk" is dedicated to the saxophonist of the same name and "Oreman" of love to Ornette Coleman. The title of the album "Endorphin" is a happy hormone, luck can be felt while listening to the album.

The album was recorded in March 2017 in Munich. In addition to Johannes Enders on tenor saxophone, Jean-Paul Brodbeck plays piano, Phil Donkin bass and Howard Curtis drums.

Right at the beginning of "Oreman" Enders takes the book of action in his hand, with a lot of power he leads through the piece, flanked by matching piano chords. The next piece "Endorphin" is very rhythmic with ascending and descending rhythms, as if one were in the permanent state of bliss. A rather swinging piece is "Amerikarma", here is a fiery drive from Howard Curtis, who swings on the melody and takes the other three players nicely. In "Memory Ship" Johannes Enders takes us on a journey. The piece has a lot of poetry and tenderness and overall a very nice, pleasant atmosphere. He sets a monument to the multi-shot Roland Kirk with the last piece "Captain Roland Kirk", which, like Roland Kirk, is a firework of different sounds.

The album shines through a strong sound, every instrument is perfectly mixed. You can feel the American influence in Ender's game, especially from soul jazz to the modern free jazz of the 60s. The music is by no means strained, but an honest image of the person of Johannes Enders. The music is to be noted in every tone. Therefore, the album is suitable for a stimulating jazz evening with a good cheese platter and a beautiful Bordeaux.