Mhdb concept     German

'Mozart has the blues' (Mhdb = abbreviation, 'Mozart has the blues' = 'Mozart hat den blues', English translation), Kassel (Germany), is an avant-garde jazz & absurd rock band. Mhdb present themselves mainly on the Mhdb sessions and videos. Mhdb's publications such as 'Mozart had the Blues' analyze the band, the theory & history of drums, as well as urban music, urban culture & development. The virtual Mhdb twin, Bambulete, performs the self-created 43 Mhdb songs (the Mhdb standards) in a largely atonal & percussive style and, except for the voices, entirely computer-generated, but also live since 2020: drumming tips, quarantine solo project.

Mhdb stage plan

• Mhdb have never had the ambition to be famous, but simply to develop their own music. Mhdb have frequently been in the recording studio and in the headlines, without ever wanting to launch into album sales or live from the past, e.g. by preserving their music in audio or video recordings. For Mhdb, recordings are only used as a means of documenting musical development, in particular, their own development as embedded in the context of local, regional and global trends.
• The consumption of jazz - at least, Mhdb jazz - already takes place at the moment of its genesis. The production and consumption of jazz coincide. Recordings (videos and audios, or MP4 and MP3, etc, whether recorded live or in the studio) merely capture the moments. Similar or identical-sounding recordings at most have only a similar or identical-sounding framework, while within this framework they are actually quite different.
• When J. S. Bach (1685-1750) had a musical inspiration, he would immediately sit down and compose something new, whereas Mhdb still integrate a new discovery into one of the existing 43 Mhdb songs.
• Such influences, whether classical or popular, are not copied or 'covered' by Mhdb, but processed or tested out and integrated into the Mhdb concept; for example: the tritone in the 'new music'; or Blackberry Smoke's contribution to the renaissance of live music.
• Over some 20 years (approx. 1990-2010) Mhdb have created a repertoire of 43 own songs, which have been interpreted by The Mhdb Session Trio as 'Mhdb standards' on the Mhdb sessions and which were fully documented as live videos on YouTube in 2016.
• As the basis for this interpretation and documentation, the 43 Mhdb songs or standards have been available since 2010 in a computer-generated version, approximately two thirds of which have German spoken lyrics, that could also be spoken in English or be sung. Around one third is purely instrumental.
• The live songs by Mhdb, which have evolved since around 1990, were systematically digitally reworked in the Mhdb style between 2005-10, and have since been available as a computer-generated Mhdb real book containing standards, which are used for the Mhdb sessions.
• With these digital song versions, Mhdb have also been establishing themselves since 2008 as a virtual band in the Internet charts, for instance at SoundClick.com.
• From October 2017 to April 2018, these MP3s on SoundClick.com were updated and completed.
• Since 2016, a raw and simple live video, as actually played by a band - in this case: Mhdb -, of all the 43 Mhdb songs has been available on YouTube. The Mhdb videos are kept up-to-date by replacing an old one with a new one.
• Right now the Mhdb style could be described as similar to boogie woogie. However, due to the spoken lyrics and keyboard-drums accompaniment it could also be placed between rap & gospel, or even avant-garde jazz & metal or alternative rock, based e.g. on the nuances in tone, the many irregular, hard rhythms or the attractive recorders sound. Nevertheless, the Mhdb style may well change again completely as time goes on.
• The Mhdb melodies and chords are based on American-European influences, particularly on modern jazz, but also have links to r&b/rap/hip hop or metal/alternative rock: a total of more than 230 years of influences (1787-2024)
• The Mhdb lyrics (for example: "KarlMaxShuffle", below) deal with the often grotesque everyday life in contemporary Germany. But these texts are more and more performed against the background of 'westernization' as well as massive developmental differences in and between the global megacities and historical metropolises. 'Westernization' also means that the USA continues to set global trends, especially musically (in jazz, hip hop, rock, etc).
• Bambulete - a virtual percussion project, established in 2010 - also performs the 43 Mhdb songs or standards with German spoken lyrics, but in a largely atonal & percussive style and, except for the voices, entirely computer-generated, however also live since 2020: Quarantine solo project.
• The Mhdb publications record and analyze the musical material, that has evolved during the several decades of Mhdb's prehistory and history and is embedded in a local, regional or global context.
• Finally, in the Mhdb sessions the Mhdb live trio or band in turn empirically reinterpret the theory derived from the analyses made in the publications. In this way, the computer-generated Mhdb repertoire continues to evolve.
• Hence, the Mhdb sessions, the virtual and live Mhdb band or trio, Bambulete and the Mhdb publications all form part of one whole concept and are closely interlinked and interdependent.
• The corona crisis led to the interruption of the Mhdb sessions and recordings as well as to the quarantine solo project (Bambulete live). Online band sessions did not work or were too complicated (test).
• Post-covid sessions (requirement: low covid risk). Latest sessions (usually now from the Mhdb studio): YouTube uploads
   
• Prehistory and history of Mhdb date back to 1964. The Esquires, for example, a Berlin-based beat band which existed from 1964-67, was the 2nd of 20 pre-Mhdb & Mhdb bands, and was the first semi-professional band of the Mhdb founder & drummer (Wolfgang Billmann).

The whole Mhdb story (approx. 1960-), theoretical background (texts, arrangements, melodies, chords, measures), and the 20 pre-Mhdb & Mhdb bands: "Mozart had the Blues, The theory, history & prehistory of 'Mozart has the blues' (Mhdb) - or: an amateur drummer's autobiography". By Wolfgang Billmann, Kassel, Germany, 2015 (updated from time to time, 1st ed. 1997), password via mozarthatdenblues@gmail.com

German - Mozart has the blues