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Music loosely based on the motto "While my piano gently weeps" This music is gentle and seduces its audience into a decelerated world. The charismatic voice of Ralph Maten meets the melancholy warmth of a very young Cat Stevens. In combination with the piano played by him tenderly, it is a feast for the senses.
With the worldwide release of his fifth solo album "Yours & Mine (Live 2014)" via Amp-Media, the German press gave him the very appropriate nickname "Samtmann". Ralph Maten is a Music Producer, Singer (Rock/Blues & Jazz) & Pianist (Torch Music).
Maten not only appreciates the advantages of popular stage pianos as an endorser for traditional Japanese brands. In his stage shows, Maten convinces with the live use of his most important instrument: his strong voice. References: In the remix area, he has already been able to lend a hand for great productions by Udo Lindenberg, Wir sind Helden, Glashaus, Yello, Funker Vogt. He has released over twenty English-language albums on his own record label AMP-Media. Maten has already rocked live at major festivals. He played among others in the support act for strange artists like Marilyn Manson, Wolfsheim, HIM, De/Vision and his childhood idol Marc Almond (Soft Cell).

1. Sad Song
2. Shout
3. Friday I'm In Love
4. She smiles
5. Grandma's Hands
6. Gave You (All My Love)
7. Child On My Mind
8. Listening (To The Whispering Fields)
9. Intro waves
10. Waves
11. Oh My Heart (I Want More Summer Vers.)
12. Just The Two Of Us
13. Believe
14. Friday I'm In Love (String Edition)

With his seventh solo album, Ralph Maten proves once again that he doesn't bear the nickname "The Velvet Man" for nothing.
He worked on the album for a year beforehand: wrote songs, wrote lyrics, collected ideas. Everything recorded and sung by himself and also self-produced in his own studio. Here their own compositions flow calmly and with a touch of jazz into the mixer and like balm into the ears.
10 of the 15 titles are 100% his own pen. But Maten also put his own stamp on the cover versions, such as "Streets of London" or "Wonderful Life". He juggles between pop, rock, jazz, blues and reggae. But his trademark is and remains: voice and piano. The title "You're Under My Skin", a homage to Frank Sinatra, would probably have pleased "Old Blue-Eyes".
As with his last studio album "Cheers For Tears" (2018), Ralph Maten has also created a beautiful duet with "Let Me Down Easy" on "Colours" together with his daughter Lea-Tamara Maten (15 years).
Vocally, Maten is in top form, but the three instrumentals also fit seamlessly and reflect the melancholic mood of the album. Here Maten has dedicated himself to Nils Frahm. And on his last visit to a small jazz club, he felt strangely ashamed of a drunken business man who loves less music and more "seeing and being seen". Maten then created The Grasshopper In The Jazz Club.
All in all, a disc that is well worth listening to and that is best enjoyed in front of the fireplace with a glass of red wine! Text: F. Karsten / Amp Media
Ralph Maten's COLORS will be available in physical stores worldwide from April 24th and of course on all digital sales and streaming platforms.

01 Love Is Blind
02 Your Daughter
03 Open Door
04 Some Call It The Blues
05 Jump On My Wagon
06 Streets Of London
07 You're Under My Skin
08 Wonderful Life
09 Let Me Down Easy
10 Nils Frahm At The Bottom Of The Sea
11 Once Upon A Time In The West (Nils Frahm In The Desert)
12 salute
13 Whip You
14 A Grasshopper In The Jazz Club
15 You've Got A Friend In Me

The "Samtmann" is back and presents us with his eighth solo album.
A lot has happened with Ralph Maten: New podcast (talk in the recording studio). New live format on YouTube and in the middle of the 2020 pandemic, he fulfilled a lifelong dream.
Ralph Maten comments: "When I was a kid, my grandmother sang along to the songs of Sinatra - and I loved to listen. Now I'm old myself, but it's still in my ears and in my heart the whole time.
It was clear to me that I absolutely wanted to record a complete jazz album – with my voice! Without modulating my voice like it sounds like Sinatra. There are already enough recordings of that, including with the great Lothar Krist Big Band from NDR.
I wanted the album to sound like the Velvet Man. Harmonious and very intimate. I worked a lot with tube preamp and tape saturation in production. To get a bit of that 50's sound that I love so much.
In the middle of the pandemic, I worked on this album for almost a year - worked out almost everything on my own. The titles arranged, sung, played instruments. Produced, mixed, self-mastered and even designed the entire artwork myself.” It couldn't be more Ralph Maten.
The single "Misty" climbed high in the streaming portals in just a few days. The very atmospheric music video was filmed at Prince Alexander zu Schaumburg Lippe in his castle in Bückeburg.
time to enjoy!
Ralph Maten's soft, bell-like voice played from his grand piano. In addition, string arrangements, double bass, a quiet jazz guitar with saxophone and subtle percussion. It doesn't need more. Best enjoyed in front of the fireplace with a glass of red wine!
Text: F. Karsten / Amp Media

01 Misty
02 summer wind
03 As time goes by
04 Stars Fell On Alabama
05 The Lady Is A Tramp
06 Cry Me A River
07 Beyond The Sea
08 LOVE
09 Fly Me To The Moon
10 Moon River
11 Summer Wind (Extended Version)
12 Close To You