Stamina means as much as perseverance and is a fitting title for the debut album of Grand Couloir, because the five musicians in Berlin have known and appreciated each other for a long time. Keyboarder Volker Meitz, tenor saxophonist Dirk Steglich, trumpeter Christoph Titz, bassist Roland Fidezius and drummer Tilo Weber have succeeded in creating a highly individual sound that often seems as risky as playing with fire. "We've known each other for a long time and have already played together in a wide variety of constellations," Volker Meitz summarized their past experience. "This band has also been around under a different name for a long time, but we decided that it was finally time for an album. "Grand Couloir creates sensitive ballads and fast-paced fusion sounds, acid jazz snippets and dub swaths, soul jazz grooves and reggae sounds, free sound research and spacey electronics without the band sounding like an indefinable general merchandise store. There are recognizable influences that have affected the more or less long musician lives of the five without the personal individual styles having to be given up or warped - in short, "Stamina" is a musical cornucopia that is unparalleled.