Berlin People

The dream of many international jazz musicians is to experience the jazz life of New York City. Saxophonist Tobias Meinhart had the same dream and made a move to the City from his native Germany a decade ago. Having lived in New York for ten years, he came to the realization that a young man from Bavaria can never be from Harlem and that his German roots are central to his musical identity. // For his new album Berlin People, Meinhart wanted to bridge the musical cultures of New York City and Germany by recording with a band of his German peers and an American jazz guitarist who has made Berlin his home, the great Kurt Rosenwinkel. // Though Meinhart had made his home in New York, he regularly returned to Europe and frequently stayed in Berlin during the summers, where he would reconvene with his musician friends. It was his long time friend, bassist Tom Berkmann, who put Meinhart in touch with Rosenwinkel, a musician that the saxophonist had long admired and hoped to perform with.