Press

»On est ici dans la rencontre entre deux univers…une véritable complicité harmonique et humaine.«
Jazz Mania, by Eric Therer, May, 2022

»rings with enigmatic melodies, provocative harmonies and bursts of street-vibe hustle.«
The Guardian, John Fordham, March 18, 2022

»Ein Album, das klingt wie ›the real thing‹. Die Berliner Saxofonistin Silke Eberhard hat mit einer kongenialen Formation ein starkes Album vorgelegt.«
dpa, May 15, 2020

»This is an absolutely superb album in every way: conception, scoring, execution and solos. I simply cannot praise it highly enough.« 
Artmusiclounge, Lynn René Bayley, 2020

»Das originelle Eric-Dolphy-Projekt der Berliner Gruppe Potsa Lotsa gehörte zu den Highlights des Jazzfests (Berlin).« FONO FORUM, Mario Vogt, Januar 2015

»Keine Hochzeit und ein Todestag — Den arbeitsreichsten Weg der Dolphy-Verehrung ging die Altsaxophonistin und Bassklarinettistin Silke Eberhard. Sie hatte nämlich ein unvollendetes Werk Dolphys entdeckt — die Love Suite […]. Krause Choräle, fahle Kontrapunkte, Geräusche, vielschichtige Klang- und Struktur-Überlagerungen, klare Jazzphrasierungen, die vom Himmel fielen, wenn man sich ihrer gerade entwöhnt hatte, und viel (nach eigener Aussage nie bewusst gesuchte) Neue Musik des ausgehenden zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts waren das Material für dieses denkwürdige Ereignis.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Ulrich Olshausen, 6.11.14

»[…] konnte Silke Eberhard mit Dolphys posthumem Kammermusikwerk Love Suite punkten: In der Bearbeitung für Bläser und Elektronik ließ die Klarinettistin notierte Struktur und energiereiche Improvisation in geistreiche Dialoge eintreten.« Der Standard, Andreas Felber, 4.11.14

»Nun spielt sie, die Nachgeborene, das Altsaxofon und die Bassklarinette, jenes Instrument, das Dolphy im Jazz etablierte. Ihm und ihr zuhörend, fühlt man sich zurückversetzt in eine Zukunft, die eine Zeit des Aufbruchs sein wird.« DIE ZEIT, Stefan Hentz, 1.10.14

»24 Minuten dauert die wiedergefundene Love Suite in Silke Eberhards Version, bietet Kammermusikalisches neben Free Jazz, fesselnde Sounds, effektvollen Witz, fantasievolle Soli, packende Duette und Trios. […] Die Entdeckungen gehen weiter.« Jazzthing, Hans-Jürgen Schaal, Nov. 2014

»Potsa Lotsa gelingt der zeitgenössische Widerhall von Dolphys doppeltem Wesen als Komponist und Interpret ohne einen Anflug von Musealisierung, dafür mit gehöriger Spielversessenheit.« TAZ, Franziska Buhre, 25.6.14

»European Scene: German Saxophonist reimagenes Eric Dolphy« DownBeat Magazine, Peter Margasak, December 2010

»Indeed, collective improvisation was the common denominator for many of the German musicians, especially during Silke Eberhard and Potsa Lotsa`s rousing send-up to Dolphy. A horn quartet led by alto saxophonist Eberhard and featuring tenor saxophonist Patrick Braun, trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser and trombonist Gerhard Gschlössl, Potsa Lotsa brought sparkling imagination, collectice improvisational zing and humor to the proceeding as they delved into Dolphy classics such as Hat and Beard, Straight up and Down and Burning Spear with no one playing bass clarinet or flute. A reason why the group´s performance was so magical was that none of the members seemed intent on playing Dolphy but rather playing his music.« DownBeat Magazine, John Murph, December 2009

»Eliminating expected rhythm section incursions, Swiss alto saxophonist Eberhard’s Potsa Lotsa, had saluted Mingus’ favorite saxophonist — Dolphy — in the same location the day previously using only horns — her own alto saxophone, Patrick Braun’s tenor saxophone, Nikolaus Neuser’s trumpet and Gerhard Gschlössl’s trombone. Rather than being limited by the instrumentation, this layered polyphony added new tinctures to Dolphy’s best-known music, which sadly had been created in less than half a decade. 
The compositions were re-harmonized canon-like with trumpet grace notes at the top and Braun’s deeper sax tones providing the ostinato glue holding together the undulating improvisations. Distinctive touches included Gschlössl adding downcast moans to a reading of Out to Lunch, which otherwise bounced along on rubber-mute fanning from the brass; and blustery vibrations from the saxophones in broken octaves, as they worked through pieces from Dolphy’s storied Five Spot-recorded LPs.« JAZZWORD, Ken Waxman

Potsa Lotsa is the heart and soul project of the Berlin saxophonist Silke Eberhard, which has been appearing as the Potsa Lotsa XL formation since 2017. In the line-up as the wind quartet Potsa Lotsa (4), the musicians initially devoted themselves to the compositions of the African-American multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy (1928–1964), the result of this collaboration was the double album The Complete Works Of Eric Dolphy. With the septet Potsa Lotsa Plus, which combines the sound of six wind instruments with electronic sounds, Silke Eberhard subsequently performed Dolphy’s wedding music, Love Suite, which had long been thought to be lost. Beyond jazz, the ensemble, especially as a quartet, sometimes also performs modern classical pieces such as works by Giaccinto Scelsi and Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate in its concert program, often in collaboration with other artists. In the new XL formation, however, Potsa Lotsa only performs pieces by Silke Eberhard.

Potsa Lotsa XL  [*2017]

What is jazz and what can jazz be? The first question does not necessarily have to be linked to the second, but Berlin saxophonist Silke Eberhard answers both questions at the same time with her extra-large band Potsa Lotsa. Her answers are complex and yet they go straight to your ears and stay in your mind.
The names not only read like a »Who is Who« of the current creative jazz scene in Berlin, but there is clearly a system behind the way they have been brought together. The band consists only of musicians with striking signature styles of their own, which they express with self-conscious restraint when they are integrated into a larger context. In this way, solos do not seem solo efforts, but rather come across as specific highlights in a collective group process.
Silke Eberhard is a subtle mediator between various arrangements from past and present, transmitters and receivers, as well as the intentions and obsessions of ten individualists who she purposefully unites in her compositions. Unobtrusively and with remarkable empathy, she sets the joy in playing over intellect as well as humility and respect for the material over virtuoso exhibitionism. »It is composed music, but everything is always allowed, and anything can happen,« she explains cheerfully. 
Silke Eberhard’s music is exactly what she is. Its strength lies in its impartiality. If this music is called free jazz, it is not because of its structural freedom, but rather thanks to its inner freedom. It does not rise above other forms of music, but rather remains with all the 20 feet of its musicians firmly on the ground. And it is precisely with this attitude and its consequent abundance of sound that Silke Eberhard not only gives the answers to what jazz is in 2020, but also what it can become. 

  • Silke Eberhard — Alto Saxophone
  • Jürgen Kupke — Clarinet
  • Patrick Braun — Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet
  • Nikolaus Neuser — Trumpet
  • Gerhard Gschlößl — Trombone
  • Johannes Fink — Cello
  • Taiko Saito — Vibraphone
  • Antonis Anissegos — Piano    
  • Igor Spallati — Bass
  • Kay Lübke — Drums

Potsa Lotsa Plus  [*2014]

»When you hear music, after it is over, it is gone in the air; you can never capture it again.« /// This quote from Eric Dolphy from 1964 belongs to the classical repertoire of music commentaries on jazz. A short time earlier, Dolphy had taken an apartment in Paris. He was planning to marry his fiancée, the dancer Joyce Mordecai, there in July. Dolphy was working on a piece titled Love Suite… the work was apparently lost and remained a subject of speculation for decades. Now, fifty years after Dolphy’s tragic collapse during an opening concert in a Berlin club, Silke Eberhard recorded the Love Suite with Potsa Lotsa Plus in a studio of Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB). [Thomas Fitterling, from the Linernotes]

  • Silke Eberhard — Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
  • Jürgen Kupke — Clarinet
  • Patrick Braun — Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet
  • Nikolaus Neuser — Trumpet
  • Gerhard Gschlößl — Trombone
  • Marc Unternährer — Tuba
  • Antonis Anissegos —  Electronics

Potsa Lotsa  [*2009]

»The complete works of Eric Dolphy — newly arranged, freshly interpreted, expanded by means of improvisation, and brought up to date for performance by Silke Eberhard and a quartet especially formed for the purpose.« [Bernd Noglik, from the Linernotes]

  • Silke Eberhard — Alto Saxophone
  • Patrick Braun — Tenor Saxophone
  • Nikolaus Neuser — Trumpet
  • Gerhard Gschlößl — Trombone

»… Arguably the festival’s most successful tribute was alto saxophonist Silke Eberhard’s Potsa Lotsa.« [Allabout Jazz New York, USA, November 2009]
»A reason why the group´s performance was so magical was that none of the members seemed intent on playing Dolphy but rather playing his music.« [Downbeat Magazine, USA, 2009]