Gris Gris is an exuberant, highly energetic sound object that marks a further stage in the development of Lukas Kranzelbinder's and Shake Stew's already distinguished oeuvre. The original facets of this album reflect the irrepressible urge to take a musical stand. Not only as far as the development of jazz is concerned, but also with regard to the social relevance of the genre. How Shake Stew manages to address these statements simultaneously on head and belly and to put both receptors in a blissful state is impressive. If a young Austrian-German formation is invited to the most renowned international festivals in its first two to three years, it must be something special. The soloist septet Shake Stew, founded in 2016, has experienced an unusually steep career since its premiere in the same year at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and its debut album The Golden Fang. She has already led the band to North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam, Jazz au Chellah in Morocco and festivals in Mexico City, Montreal and Istanbul. The band is a cross-generational sweeper, as is the case with the hip X-Jazz in Berlin, which is mostly visited by young people. At the beginning of 2019 Shake Stew thrilled 900 spectators on two evenings in their "home club" Porgy & Bess in Vienna as well as with an extraordinary, partly theatrically choreographed performance at the Jazz Festival M?nster. The stormy concerts and the second album, Rise And Rise Again, released in 2018 (including cooperation with Shabaka Hutchings) were accompanied by extremely positive reactions in the media. While the enthusiastic audience still has the sounds of the last album clearly in their ears, the creative ensemble around "Basssenkrechtstarter" (S?ddeutsche Zeitung) Lukas Kranzelbinder already delivers a new musical firework of ideas. Even the mysterious title Gris Gris suggests a magical sound journey. Again, the unusual instrumentation interlocks so seamlessly that doors open to undreamt-of sound worlds time and time again. It also quickly becomes clear that the band is united by the consensus "not to take any musical shortcuts on this third album, but to go all the way," says Kranzelbinder.
