Habib Benedikt Elias
 

HABIB BENEDIKT ELIAS 

SINGER / PIANIST / COMPOSER



SHORT INFO (more details on Biography)

The singer, pianist and composer Habib Benedikt Elias discovered already at the age of 12 the music of Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman and thereby his fascination for jazz music which accompanies him until today. 

The free use of musical forms and elements, the improvising and the openness of jazz music to connect different stiles of music are the basis for Elias' projects.

Influences from the repertoire of the French Chanson, the Bossa Nova and the pop music flow into his interpretations and song compositions as well as his classical music studies (clarinet, opera singing), his experiences in film music composing and his interest in languages.


Current projects:


https://www.jazzklassiktage.de/2022/70.htm

Kartenvorverkauf:

https://www.reservix.de/tickets-habib-benedikt-elias-in-tuebingen-rainbow-dance-factory-am-23-10-2022/e1992013


 


Album "Auf halbem Weg (Half Way)", Release April 2022



                                                                                                        Album Teaser

Many thanks to NEUSTART KULTUR whose scholarship program supported and made possible the release of my solo album "Auf halbem Weg (Half Way)"!

The album contains 5 own original compositions with German lyrics, 3 songs with poems, by William Wordsworth, Eduard Mörike and Victor Hugo that I have set to music and 2 jazz arrangements of classical works (Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini).

The album is available on online platforms (iTunes, Spotify, etc.), link below:

On the one hand, the title "Auf halbem Weg (Halfway)" has a geographical meaning. It refers to my impressions and experiences in different places. It's also the title of the song I wrote for my wife, who is from Brazil, we met in Barcelona, ​​halfway so to speak. On the other hand, the album title refers to my professional experience as a musician in jazz and chanson as well as in classical music. For me the music on the album is kind of in motion, on the way between styles and places.

Below you can read a few backgrounds and details about the songs.

Album "Auf halbem Weg (Half Way)":

"Kennenlernen (Getting to know)" (H.B.Elias)
The theme of this song is inclusion in our society, in our daily lives. I wrote it for our son Adam, he has Down Syndrome and autism, and our daughter Clara, they live inclusion every day. When people are open to getting to know each other, there is creativity and ideas which emerge so that inclusion happens naturally.

"Am Samstag (On Saturday)" (H.B.Elias)
It's a description of the feeling you sometimes have on Saturdays when there's a short break and there's energy for reflection, new perspectives and plans.

"Auf halbem Weg (Halfway)" (H.B.Elias)
This song I wrote for my wife who is from Brazil. We met in Barcelona, ​​halfway, so to speak.

"Air on the G String" (Johann Sebastian Bach)
I recorded Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air on the G String" as a jazz arrangement, without lyrics, just with scat singing. It's a work that, like many jazz standards, leaves room for plenty of movement beneath the slow tempo.

"Che gelida manina" from the opera "La Bohème" by Giacomo Puccini.
This recording is not an attempt to tie in with the interpretations of many wonderful tenor voices. The beauty of the composition and the lyrics that are charming and at the same time funny tempted me to record a jazz arrangement of this aria.

"Ein Tag am Strand (A Day at the Beach)" (H.B.Elias)
The piece is about impressions and experiences with nature on the beach.

"Season des semailles. Le soir (Sowing season. The evening)" (lyrics: Victor Hugo, music: H.B.Elias)
In this poem, Victor Hugo describes how he observes with admiration the activity of an old man who is sowing seeds in a field in the evening.

"Erinnerungsakzent (Memory Accent)" (H.B.Elias)
It's about small situations that you suddenly remember, casual moments that are the opposite of spectacular or special, and yet they suddenly pop into your head.

"Lines Written in Early Spring" (lyrics: William Wordsworth, music: H.B.Elias)
In this poem, William Wordsworth describes the beauty of nature in spring while lamenting at the same time the misery people inflict on one another, emphasizing the connection between humanity and nature.

"At midnight" (lyrics: Eduard Mörike, music: H.B.Elias)
In this poem, Eduard Mörike describes the falling night, personifying night, nature and day to a certain extent.

 

 25. April 2021, 11.00 Uhr 

Matinee, Online-Livestream-Konzert im Theater Lindenhof, Melchingen, "Songs from the Movies", mit Wolfgang Fischer (Piano), Steffen Hollenweger (Bass), Joachim Gröschel (Drums)

Video compilation



17. Oktober 2020, 20.00 Uhr 

Jazz und Klassiktage Tübingen, Hammerschmiede Rottenburg, "Voice, Flute & Rhythm", Habib Benedikt Elias Quartett featuring Bobby Baur, mit Martin Trostel (Piano), Steffen Hollenweger (Bass), Dieter Schumacher (Drums), H.B.Elias (Gesang), Bobby Baur (Querflöte, Sopransax)

https://www.jazzklassiktage.de/2020/76.htm


Quartet project "Songs from the Movies":

Jazz arrangements and improvisations on songs and themes from movie soundtracks.

(H.B.Elias-Voice, Martin Trostel-Piano, Florian Dohrmann-Bass, Felix Schrack/Dieter Schumacher-Drums) 

What would be movies without music, without catchy songs? What would be "Breakfast at Tiffany's" without Audrey Hepburn's "Moon River" or "The Wizard of Oz" without "Over the rainbow"?

Music that enters in the movie or emerges from the movie, contributes significantly to the quality of the movie.

It doesn't only serve to complement the pictures, but also to explain the events. It points to moments of tension and release and affects eminently the emotional state of the audience.

With the program "Songs from the Movies" the top-class quartet around the singer Habib Benedikt Elias (who, inter alia, participated in the award-winning cinema documentary "Rhythm is it") gives to this music an own stage and tells with its jazz interpretations from Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" to "Al otro lado del rio" from the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" its own versions of the stories from the world of movies.

A musical journey from the French cinema across romantic comedies to independent movies.




Video compilation from the "Movie songs"- Jazz Matinée, "Waldhorn-Cinema" Rottenburg, 30.09.2018, quartet with Martin Trostel (Piano), Florian Dohrmann (Bass) and Felix Schrack (Drums). 



Video compilation from the "Movie songs" matinee concert, "Waldhorn" cinema Rottenburg, November 2016, duo with Felix Schrack: Drums. 


Solo project „JOURNEYS":

Jazz arrangements of songs in English, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian

(H.B.Elias-Voice/Piano)

When the different sound colours and forms of expression of various languages connect with the interpretations and improvisations of jazz music, it's a musical playground, and at the same time it’s a journey. 

The title "JOURNEYS" on the one hand refers to the musicians, the audience, who immerge into the language sounds and ways of story telling, on the other hand the songs themselves go on journeys. They have, so to speak, to move from their comfort zone, to walk new paths. A song like "Sous le ciel de Paris" seems to be inseperably connected with the 3/4 waltz time signature, but it has charming aspects that are revealed especially when the 3/4 time signature almost doesn't appear.

In this project the poetic and popular French Chanson meets the Bossa Nova, which since the sixties has given new facets to jazz music, and standards from the American Songbook meet philosphical Evergreens from the Italian cantautore Paolo Conte.

You can listen to examples in "Video"