REINER WITZEL & DATFUNK

Seit einiger Zeit arbeite ich mit dem Athener Souljazztrio "DATFUNK" zusammen. Im Herbst 2016 erscheint unsere gemeinsame CD "Steppin Up" bei "Unique-Records .

When I met Asterios Papastamatakis in Athens' trendy downtown district Keramikos in the fall of 2014 there was immediate affinity between us . We talked about music and live and made plans to play together.

Soon afterwards he invited me to join his trio "Datfunk" for a number of concerts in Greece, and the following year I invited the group to play in Germany.


Playing with "Datfunk", a band that had been playing frequently in clubs in and around Athens felt great. The sound of the trio was so soulful and funky … For quite a while I had had the idea in mind to make a soul-jazz-record and I realized that now I had found the right team to record it:

Asterios Papastamatakis, a relentless organ activist, a soulful virtuoso full of depth;

Michael Kapilidis, one of Greek's most wanted drummers who is coming from a background with lots of musicians in the family-tree and whose style of playing is really unique;

and Adedeji Adetajo originally from Lagos/ Nigeria, who came to Athens in 2007 and mixed up the scene with his funky guitar style.


In December 2015 we went to the studio in Athens and recorded two late-night-sessions. The atmosphere was energetic, but also relaxed and friendly.


The result are these 10 songs that we would now like to share with you ...