WENET

Although jazz and improvisation form the basis of their ensemble playing, the three musicians from Leipzig revel in the thrill of breaking with convention. From reggae and tango to blues and rock, from backbeats to intricate 11/8 time signatures, from free jazz to catchy tunes, from delicate and fragile to the elemental force of brutal unison passages. WENET celebrates this stylistic diversity, pays homage, as it were, to the songs, and honours that sacred moment in jazz: improvisation, ensemble playing, and the communication between the musicians and between the band and the audience.
Since its formation in 2018, the band led by guitarist Werner Neumann has played around a hundred concerts across Europe, released two CDs (‘Neue Heimat’ and ‘Alte Liebe’) and written and performed the music for two productions with the Sebastian Weber Dance Company.

Tom Friedrich is a highly sought-after drummer on the German jazz scene. He plays with the Monika Roscher Big Band, amongst others, and is a winner of the City of Leipzig Jazz Prize and the Burghausen Jazz Prize. Steffen Greisiger studied under Richie Beirach and has won the John Williams Award as a film composer. Werner Neumann has been a professor of jazz guitar at the HMT Leipzig for 20 years and has played with countless leading figures from the national and international music scene (Richie Beirach, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Katharina Franck/Rainbirds).

wernerneumann.com/WENET/