Creative globetrotter

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Jazz musician Fabia Mantwill loves to go to and beyond limits

Despite her young age, saxophonist and vocalist Fabia Mantwill, who was born in Berlin in 1993 and grew up in Chemnitz, is already an established name on the German jazz scene - with a distinctly international flavor. She has traveled to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America and has incorporated the various musical experiences and cultural influences into her compositions. She has also received invitations to a number of first-class workshops in Canada and America in recent years. In 2016, she was awarded the Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead Residency and performed on stage at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem.

After studying at the renowned "Jazz Institute" in Berlin and at the "Sibelius Academy - University of the Arts Helsinki" in Finland, Fabia has been a student in the Dr. Langner Jazz Master Program at the HfMT since October 2017 - a real "win-win" situation for both the university and the musician. "This program is unique because it allows me to work very specifically and focused on my goals as a musician and composer, with professors and teachers from all over Germany but also internationally. In Germany, this is only available in Hamburg! I can focus freely and individually on my instruments as well as composition/arranging. The course enables me to deepen my concept of "writing for cross-genre ensembles" from small ensembles to large orchestras and to receive lessons from great musicians such as Christian Elsässer, Marcio Doctor and Ruta Paidere."

The fact that Fabia has numerous projects of her own running parallel to her Master's degree seems to inspire her rather than burden her. "The latest news is that I have been selected as one of eight arrangers worldwide to write an arrangement for the Metropole Orkest, which will be premiered on October 30th with the Metropole Orkest under the direction of Vince Mendoza and with Becca Stevens as guest soloist. I also founded an orchestra in January 2017 - the "Fabia Mantwill Orchestra". This is a chamber orchestra combined with a large ensemble, i.e. six wind instruments and an extended rhythm section. We played two concerts in Berlin in February 2017 with a program that I wrote especially for this line-up entitled "Encounters". The core of the program is the "Suite of Encounters" and this is supplemented with other original compositions and arrangements of traditional titles, including folk songs from Finland, Brazil and Ireland, for example."

Fabia was on tour at the time of this interview. She also seems to integrate this effortlessly into her career. At the beginning of June 2018, she played with her quintet, featuring bass legend Greg Cohen, guitarist Rob Luft from England, Berlin drummer Ludwig Wandinger and cellist Emily Wittbrodt, at Elbjazz in Hamburg and A-Trane in Berlin. Shortly afterwards, she was invited to Düsseldorf as a guest soloist for the 30th anniversary of the city partnership between Düsseldorf, Chemnitz, Haifa and Reading. She then played at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival and jetted off to London for a week to listen to a few selected concerts and work on various projects with musician friends."

Doesn't all this traveling degenerate into stress? "On the contrary: I really love traveling. I love discovering new things, experiencing other cultures and traditions, being in nature and pushing myself to my limits. I learn so much about other people and cultures on these trips, but also about myself, and I realize how much inspiration I draw from it and how much it affects my language as a musician, composer and arranger. The wanderlust started on a concert tour in India in 2009, and since then I've always tried to get away for a few weeks. But of course there are also phases when I only take time to compose. I've just spent a week sitting at my piano writing from dawn till dusk."

Do you have stylistic preferences for a musician with such a wide range of interests? And what about the "magical moments" often cited by artists when making music?
"It's those moments when music touches me and I react emotionally that I remember and look for. Sometimes it's hard to explain why you react to certain music, but it doesn't really matter. In moments like that, I just get involved and enjoy. And I don't care what style or genre you can classify this music in - whether it's jazz, classical, folk, singer-songwriter, soul ... I think the boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. I don't think it's necessary to classify or categorize music into a genre."

Does this also have an effect on your musical role models? And do they even exist?
"I am inspired by very different things - by special people I get to know, emotional states, by nature and the perception of my surroundings, by unknown traditional music from other peoples and their way of making music and, of course, by recordings that I find particularly interesting. And as for my role models: there are so many great musical personalities. If I had to name just a few, they would definitely include Maria Schneider, Joni Mitchell, Lester Young, Björk, Debussy, Bobby McFerrin, Dexter Gordon, Stevie Wonder, Sonny Rollins, Vince Mendoza, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and many more. But above all, I am very happy and grateful for the many wonderful people and musicians with whom I have and have had the chance to spend time, share thoughts and make music together".

Anyone who wants to experience this extraordinary musician live in Hamburg will have to wait a little longer. On November 20, the Dr. Langner Jazz Master students will play a concert together with the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie and other musicians in the small hall of the Elbphilharmonie. Fabia will also present some of her compositions on this evening. But that's not all, of course.
"I'm currently planning a series of concerts for 2019 in Halle 424 with my orchestra. The specific dates have not yet been set, but they can be viewed on my website www.fabiamatwill.com in good time. I will also be playing in Hamburg again next year with my quintet and my duo YRJON. We are still in the planning stage here too."

Text: Dieter Hellfeuer
Photo: Dovile Sermokas