Lipp der Funkverteiler’s Hommage to a Life-changing Jazz Fest (Album Stream)

To say Austrian beatmaker Lipp der Funkverteiler was raised in the midst of a jazz festival, is a bit of an exaggeration. But the festival his father and a group of fellow jazz-loving friends founded in 1978, now known as Jazz Saalfelden, surely shaped his love and interest in jazz. His new album Jazz Fest is a tribute to that festival — and indirectly, to his family and friends.

The cover design of Jazz Fest shows Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Abbey Lincoln – and Lipp der Funkverteiler together with his dad. All photos taken at Jazz Saalfelden, showing the festival was a go-to place for the then to-be-beatmaker to discover music, and hang with friends and family.

“My first visit was in my mother’s womb,” mentions the description on the Bandcamp page. “By now, I am convinced that my father and his friends set the festival around my birthday on purpose. Because the festival was and still is a get together of family and friends. Three years ago, my daughter had been to the festival in my partner’s womb. This album is dedicated to both of them – they provide the most beautiful rhythm in my life.”

Jazz Fest consists of 22 tracks floating somewhere between hip-hop productions, jazz, his personal funk-drenched production style, and sampled fragments from the festival. The album came to life on vinyl through a crowdfunding campaign, which is available now on Bandcamp, including a Name Your Price download: