My Analog Journal: Jazzanova

My Analog Journal invited Jazzanova’s Jürgen von Knoblauch for a session and he chose what he’s doing best: diggin deep into his record collection of Brazil rarities.

Inspired by Acid Jazz, Rare Groove, Hip Hop, and Brazil, I started to spin in Berlin at the beginning of the ’90s at private parties and weddings. After I gained enough confidence, I began to play at clubs like Delicious Doughnuts, where I also met my future partners in Jazzanova and Sonar Kollektiv. During the late 90s and early 2000s, we collaborated with Compost Records in a label cooperation called Jazzanova-Compost Records, which ended in 2004. Since then, I’ve been occupied with A&Ring for Sonar Kollektiv and Djing for Jazzanova. In 2016 I partnered up with Oli Glage and Stefan Leisering to launch Notes on a Journey. It is a label mainly focused on Reissues, especially from Brazil, for which I joined forces with Junior Santos. Below is an excerpt of our Jazzanova DJ biography: For more than twenty-five years, the eclectic collective from Berlin has been busy producing, composing, arranging, remixing, djing and generally shaping our musical world – in the clubs, on the air, in the studio, live on stage, and with their labels Sonar Kollektiv. Their “very fertile musical world” (Time Out New York) “has dominated the jazz-dance and down-tempo scenes for the past few years, both with its own label and with countless remixes” (Phoenix New Times). Spreading their sounds and ideas with inspired DJ sets, Jazzanova’s DJs were among the first DJs from Berlin in demand all around the world. Jürgen von Knoblauch, Alex Barck, and Claas Brieler broaden the music’s appeal as DJs, not only on tour through the best clubs and festivals around the world but also on their weekly radio show on Radio1. “When MAJ invited me to do a Mix, I was in the middle of collecting tracks for a new chapter of our “Paz e Futebol” compilation series. So I took the opportunity and brought my potential selection to see how it all goes together. Expect a mix of Brazilian Soul, Boogie, and Jazz, including genres like MPB, Axé, Afoxé, Samba, and Tropicália, mostly from the 1980s and 1990s.”