In the organizer's words:

When Ben Barritt released his latest album Everybody's Welcome in spring 2019, the world looked very different. At the time, the singer, songwriter and musician had only been living in Berlin for a few years, but was already well integrated into the capital city scene. Born in London in 1984, Barritt had previously worked with the likes of Bobby McFerrin and Kenny Wheeler in his home country, shone on stage at the venerable Royal Albert Hall and toured Europe and Asia.

After moving to the German capital, he also received a good response in this country. "With this album at the latest, Barritt is one of the stars of an art that was thought to have been forgotten, outstanding in his playing, profound in his writing and stylistically unrestrained like Sting on his very best solo albums", Musikreviews.de noted. Impressed by a performance in Frankfurt, the FAZ praised "the independent profile" of the Brit from Berlin: "Barritt's flair for nuance is evident in his clever guitar picking, some funk or blues rock-inspired riffs and tasteful solos. [...] Stylistically, Barritt's music can undoubtedly be classified as pop, but it still falls outside some of the usual frames."

With his new album Reunion, Ben Barritt builds on his predecessor in some respects and yet breaks new ground in others. Hannes Hüfken was already part of the nucleus of the band in 2019, but the collaboration with the bassist (who has played with Ed Motta, Dave Stewart and Katharina Franck, among others) is now an equal partnership. Together they have developed a characteristic sound aesthetic for Barritt's songs, with the aim of "becoming a little faster and more colorful".

Catchy melodies and extremely cool grooves as concise anchor points are embedded in multi-faceted arrangements with fine details. These include jazzy horns, variable Rhodes/Wurlitzer/synthesizer inserts and Barritt's clever electric guitar interjections. His interesting harmonies, as well as his warmly timbred vocals, sometimes evoke memories of the ingenious Steely Dan. Here and there you may discover elegantly processed 70s inspirations, ironic references to yacht rock and parallels to current bands such as Young Gun Silver Fox. From afar, the synthesizer stylings of jazz rock icons such as Herbie Hancock and Joe Zawinul/Weather Report sometimes greet you. All these flavors result in a kind of "fusion music with more songs and fewer solos", as Hannes Hüfken summarizes with a wink.

The long gap between Everybody's Welcome and the new album was caused by external and personal circumstances. "We started back in October 2021, and things progressed quite quickly at first," recalls Hüfken. Then Barritt's daughter was born and interrupted work on the album, followed by appearances as sidemen for artists such as Alin Coen and the Hamburg-based Silverspoons. "The production was slower now, but the arrangements and production have matured over the years. As we kept thinking about nuances and adding things, we are now extremely happy with the result," say both musicians. And Barritt adds: "It was important to us to keep our creativity 100% in our own hands, even if that meant it took a little longer."

Hüfken and Barritt created large parts of the music at home, programming synths and processing self-recorded keyboard passages into samples. Additional recordings in Berlin's Basement Studio were spread out over a longer period of time in favor of repeated reflection on the state of things. Guests include various drummers and vocalists (e.g. Leona Berlin in Use Your Powers...), saxophones, trumpet/flugelhorn and trombone as well as several keyboardists. One of them is Matti Klein, whose jazz-inspired piano parts have a decisive influence on the song Just. The most sparing arrangement (with more BPM and rocking guitar riffs) is Trust People, which was completed as the last track shortly before the end of the production.

"It's the poppiest album I've ever recorded," says Ben Barritt, adding that this was a conscious decision. "My real goal is simple: I want to make people smile, sing and tap their feet. And I don't think you have to compromise on lyrics, harmony or rhythm to do that. It's really important not to underestimate your audience - if you respect their ability to hear something challenging, you're inviting them to embark on a musical journey."

Price information:

Tickets are available for 12/16 euros in the VVK (excl. VVK fees) at Culton Ticket and TixforGigs, B.O.: 14/18 euros. VVK runs until 17:00 on the day of the event, after that remaining tickets are always sold at the B.O.!