Recognition for the avant-garde
Central German Jazz Award 2024 for "Max Löbners KLSD" with Weimar participation
The band "Max Löbners KLSD" has won the Central German Jazz Award 2024. This prize, endowed with 2,500 euros, was awarded for the third time by the Music universities in Leipzig, Dresden and Weimar. A jury consisting of Prof. Johannes Enders (University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig), Prof. Sebastian Merk (University of Music "Carl Maria von Weber" Dresden), Prof. Frank Möbus (University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar) and jazz musician Mareike Wiening decided on the programme, which can be freely selected and submitted online.
The winning band will open the Jazz Festival of the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre (HMT) on Saturday, 23 March at 7:30pm in the Great Hall in the university building at Grassistraße 8. The members of "Max Löbners KLSD" are Max Löbner (electric guitar, University of Music Leipzig), Fridolin Krön (electric guitar, University of Music Weimar), Julian Drach (saxophone) and Eddy Sonnenschein (drums).
"Max Löbner was my student until 2022, and Fridolin Krön is my current student," explains Weimar Professor of Electric Guitar Frank Möbus. "For both of them and of course the whole band, this award is an important step that will generate a certain amount of attention."
"We are very grateful and delighted to receive the award," says the band's namesake, Max Löbner. "The award enables us to continue as a band and to play our planned tour in April. Prizes like this, together with state or private music funding, are essential in our music genre."
After completing his bachelor's degree in Weimar, Löbner is currently studying for a master's degree with Prof Werner Neumann at HMT Leipzig. Julian Drach completed his bachelor's degree in Cologne last semester and Eddy Sonnenschein is studying for a master's degree in Bern.
The style of "Max Löbners KLSD" can be categorised as contemporary jazz or avant-garde jazz. The band was founded by Löbner in September 2021. The quartet consists of two electric guitars (Fridolin Krön and Max Löbner), drums (Eddy Sonnenschein) and alto and soprano saxophone (Julian Drach). The music, mainly conceived by Max Löbner, blurs the boundaries between improvised and composed music.
The focus is always on joint creation and individual interpretation of the material. The result is a band sound that defies most genre categorisations and impresses with its powerful fragility. In 2022, KLSD won the "recording project" of 2ndFLOOR e.V. in a competition organised by LOFT Cologne, as a result of which an album is to be released shortly.
[6 March 2024]