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KASE + Tiffany Miller, Live at The Jazz Estate
De La Soul rapped “Three. That’s the Magic Number” on their classic track “The Magic Number.” On this latest live album from the Jazz + Hip Hop group Kase, the number three could represent the members of this eclectic ensemble – Jamie Breiwick (trumpet), John Christensen (upright bass) & Jordan Lee (turntables, electronics). But on a deeper level, the number three represents the magic of Black creative culture – Jazz, Hip Hop & Spoken Word.
KASE and spoken word artist Tiffany Miller seamlessly blend improvisational jazz rhythms with a sonic palette of beats and scratches. At the album’s heart is Miller’s soulful and honest words that are spoken with an unbridled passion.
If there was a sequel to the 1997 film Love Jones, these beautifully crafted songs would definitely be featured in the movie and on its soundtrack. Miller’s words could be the backbone of this imaginary plot with themes of self-care, curiosity, and of course, love & relationships.
Yes, this album is a beautiful tribute to Jazz, Hip Hop and Spoken Word. But the album is so much that. I feel joy and nostalgia simultaneously. I feel the possibilities of what could be. KASE and Tiffany Miller created something magical out of the number three.
TARIK MOODY, Radio Milwaukee/Hyfin
Full Bloom
“They are a thoughtful, challenging group happening at the perfect place in time, both culturally and sonically.”
– Blaine Schultz, Shepherd Express
“When someone achieves truly sublime spontaneity, skepticism is sure to follow.That’s the trouble with improvisation. When you do it well, nobody believes you came up with it on the spot. KASE doesn’t need to worry about that as much; the jazz trio’s credibility is beyond doubt after dropping a series of albums featuring music made in the moment.”
– Brett Krzykowski, Radio Milwaukee
::
Imagine
Imagine the journey of intentionally finding joy
every single day
sifting through all the shit
to intentionally find joy
every single day
like, how do you do that?
how do you empty your mind?
to just focus on that single, solitary… more
Live At The Opera House
Jamie Breiwick, trumpet, electronics
Klassik, keyboards, vocals, electronics
John Christensen, upright bass
Jordan Lee, turntables, electronics
Recorded Live at the Stoughton Opera House, Stoughton, WI
on Sunday, June 6, 2021
Engineered by Andrew LaValley and Greg White
Mixed and Mastered by Jordan Lee
Photography by Jamie Breiwick
Design by Jamie Breiwick
Seasons
"The intersection of Jazz and Hip Hop, KASE is approaching these two separate but deeply connected genres/cultures in a way that prohibits the audience from separating them anymore. Their process prevents the audience from being able to recognize where one style ends and the other begins.
Ultimately, this record works because it has a DEEP and authentic love and respect for its roots."
-Dwellephant
Pop Art
“On Pop Art, the experiment quickly takes on a remarkable fluidity. While exploring the decades-long affinity between jazz and hip-hop, everyone in KASE stretches into territory that sounds like neither.”
-Scott Gordon, for Tone Madison
“…it’s with this experience KASE would find their flexibility and dexterity as a collective in electronic-infused jazz.”
Ben Slowey, for Breaking and Entering
Alive
“This is one of the best hip-hop-jazz collaborations I’ve ever heard.”
“Nearly as impressive, these highly appealing tunes are improvised from start to finish, revealing jazzers with deep vocabularies responsive to whatever the moment demands.”
-Shepherd Express, Kevin Lynch
“More than just “Alive,” these four tracks exemplify live music in its most liberating and adventurous form, from the alien ambience of “The Beholder” to Breiwick’s dizzying trumpet improvisations and knowsthetimes’ pulse-quickening turntable skills on “Heatwave”, with magnetic verses from rapper CRASHprez throughout the EP.”
-Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
About KASE
Unlike the Classical player, the jazz artist must achieve a technique that uncovers the self, that answers the question that Ellison says is the question of American art: Who am I?
We are musically restless. Sometimes we feel unsettled, unprepared, uneasy – maybe a sense of searching is a more appropriate (positive?) way of putting it. There are times when we think this is a good thing, other times – maybe not.
Many of our favorite musicians possess this quality of searching and evolution in their music. We are fascinated by musicians who started out playing a certain way, but evolved their style, sound, vocabulary, and musical identities. Keep pushing, keep moving, keep creating.
Merch
Press & Media
“This is one of the best hip-hop-jazz collaborations I’ve ever heard.”
“Nearly as impressive, these highly appealing tunes are improvised from start to finish, revealing jazzers with deep vocabularies responsive to whatever the moment demands.”
-Shepherd Express, Kevin Lynch
“More than just “Alive,” these four tracks exemplify live music in its most liberating and adventurous form, from the alien ambience of “The Beholder” to Breiwick’s dizzying trumpet improvisations and knowsthetimes’ pulse-quickening turntable skills on “Heatwave”, with magnetic verses from rapper CRASHprez throughout the EP.”
-Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Rife with spontaneity and elegance, this KASE record is a perfect foot to start on with the New Year.”
“Classics meet the ahead-of-its-time as conventional jazz elements mesh seamlessly with modern electronica.”
-Breaking and Entering
“…the album crackles with the spontaneity unique to a live jazz set — you can sense the musicians playing off each other, reading each other, clearing out space for each other at times and claiming it for themselves at others.”
-Evan Rytlewski, Radio Milwaukee
