MAUER BLUES
MAUER BLUES (UY/CZ)
The international ensemble MAUER BLUES - duo, trio, or quintet around the exceptional Czech saxophonist "Sensational Saxophone” Joe Kučera - whose biography is rich in musical and life experiences - and the sophisticated jazz guitarist Carlos Mieres from Uruguay, performs compositions from Mieres’s album “Mauer Blues,” as well as music from Kučera’s album “Take a Heart.”
Joe Kučera and Carlos Mieres share a decades-long friendship as musicians, which the audience can feel right away, and so even as a duo they create a wonderful atmosphere.
Depending on the occasion, they are joined by piano, double bass, or drums (Mauer Blues Trio) or perform as a quintet, known as the Mauer Blues Five. No matter of the ensemble size, this top-notch lineup grooves stylistically between jazz and world music, hard bop and Latin, soulful ballads, and forays into modal jazz—all with great inspiration and a gift for improvisation.
At the age of 20, Juan Carlos Mieres fled the military dictatorship in his native Uruguay, first to Argentina and eventually to Europe. For 40 years, he has lived and worked in Berlin as a guitarist, composer, and arranger. Among other things, he led the well-known Latin band PA’QUE, which performed exclusively his own compositions. He has collaborated with Pete Wyoming Bender and Joe Kučera, played with the Latin rock band IPANEMA and the first salsa big band “SALSANCO,” and founded “TANGO Y MAS.” His sensitive and virtuosic guitar playing, combined with his talent for improvisation, set him apart as an exceptional guitarist.
His compositions are inspired by the rhythms of his native South America—and thus also by African-American rhythms—such as tango, candombe, bossa, milonga, and chacarera. Elements of modern jazz-rock and pop give rise to the distinctive style of his music.
Joe Kučera, a
self-taught musician and composer born in Prague, has devoted himself to the soprano saxophone since the beginning of his career. From 1997 through 2007, he served as artistic director of the
“Jazz Meeting Berlin” jazz festival, and in 2009 he was the founder and longtime artistic director of the “Europe Blues Train” festival.
With his natural style of playing, he’s truly in a league of his own. The list of artists Joe has played with is very long, as is the number of productions for which he has been invited to perform as a soloist. It’s worth noting, however, that Joe was never the typical big band or studio musician; it has always been his very own unique style of playing that was - and still is - in demand.
Teaser: youtu.be/w0Wxczs-bHo
www.youtube.com/user/MrSaxophoneJoe/videos
Photo (c) Zuzana Richter
06.09.2026 Centre Bagatelle, Berlin-Frohnau
25.09.2026 Showfenster Theaterbühne Berlin
08.11.2026 Bahnhof Klasdorf