De-Phazz

De-Phazz is a band from Heidelberg. The name of the group its members interpret as DEstination PHuture of jAZZ. De-Phazz was formed in 1997 by the composer Pit Baumgartner, who was producing advertisements and worked in various art projects before he started a band. In early 90’s Baumgartner founded his own music studio. De-Phazz are well-known for their experiments with different musical styles. It turns out that it is connected with the fact that the town where Pit founded his studio was quite small. That is why he invited many musicians to come to his studio. They collaborated, and such kind of activity definitely had good sides: there was no lack of new and fresh ideas. In 1994 Pit met Barbara, a member of noise-rock project Janet The Planet. He was amazed by her strong voice, and later the decision to work together was taken.

In 1997 with the help of sessional musicians the debut album Detunized Gravity was recorded. De-Phazz created an original cocktail of various styles: jungle, hip-hop, dub, soul and rhythm-n-blues. The second studio work titled Godsdog was released in 1999. The musicians slightly changed their style: the sound became closer to acid-jazz. During that time the band from Heidelberg was gaining popularity, and their third album was recorded in Universal studio. The work was titled Death By Chocolate and it was issued in 2001. Very soon their videos were included into MTV’s broadcasting, and the band was regularly invited for tours.

In 2002 the band’s discography was enlarged with two albums in a row: Daily Lama and Plastic Love Memory. A year later, De-Phazz made several performances in Russia and that brought them many new fans: the group’s original style and delicate arrangements were highly appreciated by music lovers. In 2005 Heidelberg’s ensemble released their sixth album named Natural Fake, created according to the band’s best traditions. However, the fans did not have to wait long for the next record: the musicians managed to release their next album in 2007 and it was titled Days Of Twang. In 2008 the band issued their first compilation album Big. In 2010 Pit and company made their fans happy with the new studio work LaLa 2.0. That record includes sixteen wonderful compositions. Each of them is unique and has its own character and mood: the members of De-Phazz are talented musicians and professionals, who love what they do. All their records prove that, and there is no doubt that LaLa 2.0 is an exception.