Butter Bei Die Fische | Jazzthing Next Generation Vol. 105 Red Hering

• 1 Carrer De J.C. 04:53
• 2 Journey 05:13
• 3 Park Sonsbeek 08:11
• 4 Nostalgia 04:42
• 5 Butter Bei Die Fische 06:02
• 6 The Lost Once 03:35
• 7 Corredors De L'alba 06:03
• 8 Farewell Season 06:21
• 9 Ein Zug Nach Halle 06:42
• 10 Marona 03:28
• Total Runtime 55:10

Info for Butter Bei Die Fische | Jazzthing Next Generation Vol. 105

The debut release from Red Hering, a German-Dutch sextet.

His name is Hering—Maximilian Hering (English: “Herring”). It quickly became clear to the German drummer and composer that he should use it as a tag for a band name and the title of the album debut. The English "to throw a red herring" literally means deliberately introducing irrelevant or misleading information to divert attention away from the real issue and consequently create a distraction. "Butter bei die Fische" is a traditional, even today ubiquitous saying from northern German, with which one asks someone to get to the point or not to do any half-way measures.

Maximilian Hering admitted with a laugh that he was originally not familiar the saying with the fish. No wonder: the musician grew up in Mainz, studied in Arnhem in the Netherlands, then lived in Barcelona for two years, and recently moved from Mainz to Cologne. "Butter bei die Fische” is a northern German saying that literally translates as “Butter with the fish” but means get to the point; he hadn't heard that anywhere on all his paths in life. Hering likes something like that. “I've always found it funny when people like Thelonious Monk or Lee Konitz refer to their name in titles.” There is also an attitude to life contained therein: “I often try to take things with humor. It can seem strange and even dangerous to take something too seriously. In principle, it is good not to always take yourself too seriously." This is also reflected in a pleasant degree of modesty. After all, he himself emphasized, his name is not among the widely established ones in the field, but instead he is just getting started with Red Hering as well as the other groups and projects in his sphere of activity.

Red Hering has existed since 2019. All those involved in the German-Dutch sextet are connected to Arnheim, the capital of the province of Gelderland on the Lower Rhine. Maximilian Hering was born in 1994 and turned 30 in July. He had already received his first little drum kit as a gift in preschool age: the start of a passion. He discovered the world of jazz one day. After having received several young talent awards, studying music was an obvious option. The drummer went to Arnhem in 2015. For his bachelor degree concert in 2019, he put together a six-piece line-up that is almost identical in personnel to the current Red Hering line-up. Sara Bax is the new singer today, even then a fellow student of Hering’s; he also plays in her group. The concert was not only extremely successful, but it also had an impact. The band agreed that it had to continue with the sextet. As a result, Red Hering came into existence.

Maximilian Hering had previously spent an Erasmus semester in Barcelona shortly before that. After his studies, he returned there for the first time. The drastic restrictions of the first Corona lockdown only temporarily prevented him from gaining a foothold in the music scene there. "The scene fascinated me for a long time, especially the special mentality of the people, which is also expressed in the way they play: everyone is very positive, everyone dares to do something." He founded the Maximilian Hering Group there and recorded his first album "Nostalgia" with a classical quintet in 2021. In addition, an EP with a completely different band was recorded: Max Hering & The Foaming Waves is a surf-jazz quartet! Maximilian had developed a love for surf sound through Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". His enthusiasm for films is related to his parents' home. Hering's father is a film music composer. Maximilian has also composed or developed music for short films. However, one thing is certain: "I'm more of an instrumentalist who likes to go out and make music together with others."

The bandleader composed and arranged eight of the ten songs on "Butter bei die Fische". His second instrument is the piano. "I usually find it a pity when drummers compose in such a way that the pieces form only a framework for beats and blatant things, but otherwise do not inspire much with them." Maximilian's pieces are the complete opposite. A shining role model for him is Brian Blade and the music the American composed for his Fellowship Band. Herring developed very little based on the drums. A striking exception is the cool 7/8-8/8-groove, which makes "Journey" a gripping digression in the program. Many compositions have an autobiographical background. The opener names a street in a central, rather rough district of Barcelona that he came to appreciate (Carrer de Joaquín Costa). The fast-paced "Corredors de l'Alba" about joggers at sunrise on Barcelona's beach is also available in a version with the Foaming Waves. "Marona" is the nickname of an old flame: a melodic, embracing album finale. With "Farewell Season", a melancholy highlight of the program, he captures the emotional states of two farewells: from the Catalan metropolis and from the place where he studied. The "Park Sonsbeek" is located in the middle of Arnhem. a green oasis that entices you to linger. "A lot happened to me emotionally there, including dates and breakups." With its moods and sound colors, this multi-layered piece points to the influence of film music on Maximilian. The track is one of two for which he included the Paranormal String Quartet from Munich. He composed the chamber music piece "Nostalgia" in Arnhem, and he specifically added the flugelhorn of Marko Mebus later.

If you really want to construct a relation between music and album title, "Butter bei die Fische" does not exaggerate in promising too much. And this is exactly what Maximilian Hering has provided here in every respect. And how!

Sara Bax, vocals
Dion Nijland, double bass
Maximilian Hering, drums
Philipp Rüttgers, piano
Marko Mebus, trumpet
Milan Kühn, alto saxophone Paranormal String Quartet:
Felix Key Weber, violin
Gustavo Strauss, violin
Katherine Barritt, viola
Jakob Roters, cello

Red Hering
is the six-member ensemble led by drummer Maximilian Hering from Mainz. Unconventional melodies over driving grooves, a sextet lineup with the human voice as part of the brass section, and the absence of stylistic norms: Red Hering achieves a veritable diversion from the classical modern jazz of the 21st century.

The debut album of the band founded in 2019 is titled "Butter bei die Fische", which, after pandemic-related delays, could finally be realized thanks to a scholarship from Deutscher Musikrat. It will be released in October 2024 as Vol. 105 in the Jazz Thing Next Generation series on Double Moon Records. In the ten original compositions by drummer and saxophonist, with two appearances by the Munich-based Paranormal String Quartet, all band members come into their own. Initiator Maximilian Hering sees his music as "European Jazz." While in his other projects, musicians from Spain often participate, Red Hering is a Dutch-German fusion.

Maximilian Hering
born in 1994, is a drummer and musician based in Cologne, Germany.

Maximilian has been playing the drums for most of his life: he got his first drum set at the age of 4 and took formal lessons since he was five. He has also been awarded the Laureate of Jugend Musiziert in 2014 and the Jugend Jazzt Rhineland-Palatinate und Hesse prizes in 2009, 2010 and 2014. During his early career, his teachers were René Creemers, Etienne Nillesen, David Xirgu, Simon Zimbardo, Ralf Schumacher, Jan Zelinka and Bernd Bott. Maximilian took part in masterclasses of i. a. Jeff Ballard, Martijn Vink, Pablo Held Trio, Mark Turner & Ethan Iverson, Elliot Zigmund, ICP Orchestra, Christian Lillinger, Jorge Rossy and Ralf Gustke. In 2019, he graduated at ArtEZ Conservatory in Arnhem with a Bachelor of Music degree.

On his musical path, Maximilian has worked with a wide variety of bands. In addition to a vast number of concerts all around Central Europe, he took part in about 20 album / EP productions (Universal, UBM Records, Klangraum Records) and appeared on German TV. With the Federal Youth Jazz Orchestra Phoenix Foundation he toured South Korea.

Maximilian composes for his bands Maximilian Hering Group, The Foaming Waves and Red Hering, but also for motion picture, like the short film Feindesland (2016) by Christine Wetzel and El Hamdu Lillah (2018) by Jonathan Kaiser. Furthermore, he regularly cooperates with the film music studio Klangraum. In 2022 he released his first album "Nostalgia" and later the EP "Max Hering & The Foaming Waves".

Maximilian explores the possibilities of working interdisciplinary and is passionate about the combination of dance with drums and sounds. Since 2021 he collaborates with dancers/choreographers Sabrina Gargano and Rafa Jagat (Elelei Company), lately in their new creation "Too Much".

This album contains no booklet.