Soleil Niklasson Quintet

Soleil Niklasson - voc

Andreas Laux - sax Sven Bergmann - p Caspar van Meel - b Andreas Griefingholt - dr

(...) Soleil Niklasson already belongs to the very great singers of Jazz, Blues and Soul (...) (Westfälische Nachrichten)

(...) Soleil Niklasson has one of the most captivating Jazz/Soul voices in a long time (...) (Akkustik Gitarre)

Blessed with a wonderful voice and a great aura, Soleil presents the new CD “RISE” with her excellent quintet, consisting of renowned musicians from the jazz scene.

Soleil Niklasson and her quintet offer a fascinating program that impressively combines jazz, Latin, gospel and soul.

Soleil Niklasson was born in Chicago and grew up in Los Angeles. At the age of five she was already singing with the singer/actor Oscar Brown Jr. Over the course of her career she worked with greats such as Stan Getz, Billy Preston and Linda Hopkins. The singer lives up to her name (soleil - French: the sun) vocally - her warm and at the same time powerful singing goes directly to the heart and under the skin, true to her motto: “My songs are food for the heart and fuel for the soul”. Together with her band, which consists of outstanding musicians, she creates a musical experience that is deeply touching. With every performance they captivate the audience and create an intense, emotional atmosphere that lingers for a long time.

Soleil Niklasson

Sven Bergmann

Sven Bergmann studied at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, at the Folkwang Hochule in Essen and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig with Richie Beirach. He also received lessons from Jasper van’t Hof. He is a graduated pianist and certified concert pianist and composer, each with a focus on jazz.
Sven Bergmann plays in various jazz bands, but is also active in other musical fields, such as the musical director of the theater “die baustelle” in Cologne, as one of the heads of the film music project “Bergmann & Bartkowski. ”Several studio recordings have been released on CD so far, including the much acclaimed albums “Mosaics” and “Seasons” by his trio and quartet. He played or recorded u. a. with: Tom Arthurs, Bill Elgart, Stefan Werni, Matthias Bergmann, Jan by Klewitz and Pepe Berns. In 2013/14, Sven Bergmann received funding for his artistic work from the Kultursekretariat NRW.

Andreas Griefingholt

Andreas Griefingholt, born in Osnabrück/Germany, where he received a classical drum training, then studied drumming at the Folkwang University in Essen and in New York with John Riley, Ralph Peterson, Gene Jackson and Tom Rainy. He lived a year in New York as a musician and had a rich musical experience there. He has worked with Herb Geller, Gerd Dudek, Gunther Hampel, Udo Lindenberg, Roger Cicero, Soleil Niklasson, Wolfgang Schlüter, Joel Frahm, Wolfgang Engstfeld, Ulli Beckerhoff, Carlos Bica, Paul Heller, Tim Sund, Gregor Hübner, Heiner Wiberny, Lutz Büchner and Fiete Felsch. He has been awarded several prizes, including Jazzpodium Niedersachsen, Competition Westphalia Jazz and Folkwang Sponsorship Award. He participated in various CD and radio productions and toured with different bands in Germany and abroad.

Andreas Laux

Andreas Laux studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Herb Geller and Dieter Glawischnig and with Hugo Read at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. In addition to regional jazz awards (“Jugend jazzt” 1991, “Cool Water Jazzwettbewerb” 1993) Andreas Laux was awarded the internationally recognized Folkwang Prize in the Jazz category in 1998.
He played in many different ensembles, from small ensembles such as the duet with his wife Carola Laux or the duet with the Finnish accordionist Janne Rättyä, to large ensembles such as the Big Band under the direction of Prof. Peter Herborn. In addition to his work as a jazz musician, he has also made a name for himself in classical music as well as in the Christian music scene. He toured with various bands around the world and took part in numerous CD and musical productions.

Caspar van Meel

Caspar van Meel is a Dutch bassist, arranger and composer living in Germany.
Before devoting himself entirely to music, van Meel obtained a Master of Arts & Culture with a focus on philosophy at the University of Maastricht (NL). At the same time he studied at the Maastricht Conservatory with Jan van de Boomen and the classical bassist Carol Hart (Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra). After that, van Meel went to Essen to study at Folkwang University with bassist of the WDR big band John Goldsby and to do his master’s degree in music. In 2014, he received a scholarship from the GVL to take part in the renowned “Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music” at the Banff Centre in Canada. He worked with Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Jeff Tain Watts, Reggie Workman and Marcus Gilmore.

Over the years he has won numerous awards. As a bandleader of his own quintet, he is a prizewinner of the Future Sound Competition as well as the Jazz Preis Ruhr. As co-leader of the band Trigonon, he was awarded the Jazzwerkruhr Prize, and with Mike Roelofs Band he reached the final of the Dutch Jazz Competition.

Caspar van Meel has worked with the WDR Big Band, Philip Catherine, Götz Alsman and Gerd Dudek, among others, and can look back on numerous international tours, concerts and festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, the WDR Jazz Night and the Leverkusener Jazztage.