DIE HOCHSTAPLER

Pierre Borel - sax Antonio Borghini - b Louis Laurain - tp Hannes Lingens - dr

Pierre Borel, Louis Laurain, Antonio Borghini and Hannes Lingens have been working as "Die impostors". The quartet's collective and egalitarian way of working is reflected in a joy of playing that is transmitted to the audience from the first moment. The pieces composed together are reassembled live, conventions are renegotiated and agreements are put to the test. Unconditional joy in experimenting is just as much a part of the concept as a tongue-in-cheek reference to jazz history.

For their new program, "Die Hochstapler" have taken on Thelonious Monk's quotes, which are circulating as "Monk's Advice", written down by Steve Lacy. Requests like “Let’s lift the bandstand!”, “You got to dig it, you dig?” and “Always know” are taken literally, decoded metaphorically and examined for their compositional form. The resulting game template, like a flexible set of rules, allows for ever new designs. The examination of Thelonious Monk's music and personality affects the sound of the impostors and vice versa. The result is music that does not deny tradition, but interprets it as a history of experimentalism.

The impostors played at the Moers, Météo, Jazzfest Berlin and the Donaueschinger Musiktage festivals, among others. Their music is documented on five albums.

Peter Margasak wrote about the quartet in the American jazz magazine “Downbeat”:

“Few working bands have been able to find so much vitality and invention in the building blocks of improvisation.”

Links band: https://www.diehochstapler.com/

Videos Live Moers Festival 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89jrmPa8ON8

Live in Halle 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5ghnkJthzM