BIOGRAPHY - Michaela Rabitsch & Robert Pawlik
Michaela Rabitsch, singer, composer and Austria’s only and top female jazz trumpet player is called a modern day female Chet Baker by the US magazine Jazzscene. Michaela and her ingenious partner, composer and incredible fluid guitarist Robert Pawlik, co lead their quartet and duo.
They are presenting jazz with catchy melodies, strong harmonies, groovy rhythms and adventorious improvisations in a fine balanced vocal-instrumental mix.
With brilliant instrumental technique and a silky velvet voice they are clothing their songs into a trendy, smooth-cool jazzrobe.
“Voyagers“ is their 4th common CD and a program, inspired by their numerous tours of the last years through Europe, Asia and Africa. The (musical) impressions are reflected in their compositions and guarantee a deversified and multi-variant musical experience.
(National) musical elements of different countries or ethnic groups influence the compositions or inspire the tunes.
Weather with African rhythms or flamenco touch, Cuban fire or Balkan grooves – every song has that certain something, without denying the hallmarks of both leaders.
Recent tours to Morocco, Senegal, India and Malaysia led to cooperations with local musiciens and to contacts with Westafrican, Arab or Berber musical cultur, like the Gnaoua music of the Berber from Essaouira or the sophisticated Indian music.
Under the motto „diversity instead of simplemindness“ they pick off the most interesting elements and inspirations from different musical cultures and contrast them with their own musical background and create a refreshing new musical melange.
Their previous release Moods has Rabitsch and Pawlik emerging as the new face of Austrian jazz. This album presents ten songs that reflect the passion, energy and emotions of their life and is their first recording with exclusively original compositions presented by both leaders, reflecting the core of their current work.
It earned them not only raving reviews, but opened the doors to perform at highly prestigious international Jazz Festivals, concert halls and clubs.
They were the first Austrian band to be invited to perform at Cape Town International Jazz Festival, South Africa – one of the leading jazz festivals worldwide and Africa’s grandest gathering, sharing the stage there with George Benson, McCoy Tyner, Regina Carter, Toots Thielemans or Jonathan Butler.
They also performed at the International Jazz Festival Nisville (with Randy Brecker, Candy Dulfer, Incognito, Miroslav Vitous, Grace Kelly …), Bansko Jazz Festival (Bulgaria), Festival Lent (Maribor, Slovenia), International Jazz Festival Sibiu (together with the Vienna Art Orchestra, Enrico Rava, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Archie Shepp …), Jazz at the Hermitage Garden (Moscow, Russia), Jazzfestwoche Burghausen (Germany) and many more.
An extended China tour including Oriental Art Center Shanghai and performances in Austrias leading Clubs like Porgy & Bess, Joe Zawinul’s Birdland or Radiokulturhaus Wien are just some highlights out of their tour schedule through Austria, Germany, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Greece, Russia, Iran, Hungary, China, Poland, Senegal, Morocco, Malta, Luxembourg, India, Malaysia, Turkey. Albania, Kuwait, Quatar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Kenia and South Africa .
For fifteen years now they have shared their private and musical lives, playing together in their jazz quartet and their acoustic duo, writing for both groups and playing concert tours together.
They have released four common CDs as leaders.
The fact that they studied extensively the Jazz repertoire and a lot of Jazz related music genres gives them a rich musical vocabulary to draw from. Listening to their music will always bring new horizons to your listening palette.
Together they have developed a rich and eventful style, never trying to be purist’s only, but always looking for the core message of each song they are writing or playing, and how they can express it best.
The fact, that Michaela is a trumpet player and singer at the same time gives her an extra venue of possibilities in expression and interpretation. “The choice between instrumental and vocal expression or moving between trumpet and vocals in one song helps me to get to the essence of each tune and it’s mood.”
Michaela is a graduate of the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz and Robert is a graduate of the conservatory of Vienna and the American Institute of Music.
From Austria they come and this trumpet/guitar led crew just might conquer the world with their sound. (Chris Spector, Midwest Record Recap, USA)