Bewegtes Feld

Vincent Meissner - EigengrauCD / Vinyl / digital Vincent Meissner piano Josef Zeimetz bass Henri Reichmann drums "The more new discoveries you make, the more you go back to the beginning," observes pianist Vincent Meissner. The music on his third album, “Eigengrau”, is characterised by an inward gaze, by his reflections on experiences and encounters that have been meaningful to him. Together with his working trio, Josef Zeimetz on bass and Henri Reichmann on drums, Vincent Meissner has developed his own language, drawing inspiration from artists such as The Bad Plus, Esbjörn Svensson, Vijay Iyer – and his mentor, Michael Wollny. “The word ‘Eigengrau’ describes a state of darkness behind closed eyes,” Meissner explains. “But once you rub your eyes, you see patterns. Everyone sees something different: structures, objects, perhaps nothing at all...and that’s what our music is like – creating a distinct image for every listener." On stage, the trio is in constant motion, often exploding with pure energy. In the studio, Vincent Meissner, his fellow musicians and producer Andreas Brandis have sought a paring down of melody, texture and mood. On the album, the three are in close focus, with every note as an exploration, each of the tracks an invitation to finely honed and playful yet profound interchange.For Vincent Meissner, the fact that you can always listen to his mentor Michael Wollny is a compliment. What they both have in common is the urge to embrace the unknown, to accept things that simply happen. "Sometimes mistakes are the best thing you can do," says Meissner. "Through them you gradually understand more and more, a mystery dissolves, a new tool appears in the big playground. Wollny says: Now you have something new to experiment with again." Vincent Meissner listens to music non-stop in order to better understand what others are doing and then to better understand what he himself is doing. He can't play without listening. He needs encounters with people and also time without the piano, which leads him back to the piano. "Sometimes I might not touch the piano. It's essential, like a relationship. If you see each other all the time, 24/7, what else do you want to tell each other?"At its heart, then, and despite the depth and complexity, “Eigengrau” is an album of songs. That suits Vincent Meissner's unpretentious personality. Not always showing everything, playing what the music needs, not what the ego demands. Its nine highly focused tracks are always emotionally involved rather than detached, and each in a subtly different way.  “Eigengrau” flickers and shimmers with intense and carefully gradated pastel shades; their appeal is never less than totally hypnotic. Credits: Music composed by Vincent Meissner - except #A03 (Prince) and #B05 (T. Yorke, J. Greenwood, E. O`Brien, P. Selway) Produced by Andreas Brandis Recorded by Johannes Kellig, between 8-10 September 2024 at Jazzanova Studios Berlin, Germany Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Lacquer disc cutting by scape mastering Photo by Niklas Wagenbrenner Cover art by Mascha Schultz, used by kind permission of the artistCover design by Siggi Loch  

Vincent Meissner Trio - WilleCD / Vinyl / digital Vincent Meissner piano Josef Zeimetz bass Henri Reichmann drums "A new hope in German jazz" was German broadcaster mdr kultur’s verdict on Vincent Meissner's debut album "Bewegtes Feld" (2021). Deutschlandfunk went further, predicting that his band “will take off like a rocket." Downbeat (US) wrote of an "excitement” running through the album, which was produced by Meissner’s mentor Michael Wollny. The pianist was only twenty at the time, and already garlanded with prizes. Praise and an armful of awards are what they are...but at that point, because of Covid, Meissner’s young acoustic piano trio with bassist Josef Zeimetz and drummer Henri Reichmann had scarcely had any chances to perform live, to explore the richness of their bandleader’s compositions, or indeed to let this material develop properly. Things have now definitely moved on, and the wait may even have increased the fun they can now have. You hear that on the new album: the trio has become much more closely integrated, their joy in playing is palpable. Immediately after the first recording, they tried out new pieces, tested out ideas and just went on as if following a natural continuation of what they’d done before. However, when you’re around 20, life does have a way of moving on: Josef is now studying in Basel, Henri has moved to Leipzig to continue his studies at the city’s Hochschule, where Vincent's main piano teacher is now former WDR Big Band legend Frank Chastenier. Vincent calls his two mentors Wollny and Chastenier "a great combination". The trio has developed its interplay, and the way it approaches the pieces is much freer now. Through leaving space for more open sections and extending them, the sound and the concept have changed. The trio can access far more emotional experiences. They evidently love the more complex forms in which they now play, these structures and allow ideas to develop as they are shared around the musicians. This has resulted in a compact band sound. They can either allow things to run on and keep a certain flexibility, or they can condense and work with stricter song forms. Energy and strength are there, but there is also contemplation and the chance to leave pauses to reflect. Everything is possible now. There is variation, vivacity and a close connection between the players, and those combined strengths come to fore particularly when the trio puts it focus on conveying the melody in a song. The album is called "Wille" (will). It has a bubbling energy and flow but also a strong sense of cohesion. What we hear is authentic and original, and it is also communicated in a way which is always flexible, fresh and agile. These three musicians know with certainty that they are capable of achieving a lot together. They are remarkably at ease with each other, and that leads to a feeling of serenity. The aim is to play catchy music, but to transcend the banal. Vincent defines the ‘will’ expressed in the title as the "development of mental ideas that one transfers into reality through into action", or as a "conscious decision to make an action.” There is a simple will to play and to find expressiveness, to portray oneself through one’s artistic work. And it is this particular imperative that gives the recording both its urgency and its persuasiveness. “Wille” is also defined by an affinity with pop music, and that choice brings with it a large body of material to draw on, and has led directly to the decision to record new cover versions. The way the three of them take on the raunchy "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, made famous by Whitney Houston certainly packs a surprise. They find a special subtlety in both the Beatles song "In My Life" and in the catchy tune "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John. In "Things" they take Louis Cole at his word. The lyrics state that “Things may not work out how you thought / Maybe it is good, maybe it is bad / Either way the only truth we have is / Things may not work out how you thought”. And that rings completely true: there is nothing about these adaptations which is either contrived or inauthentic, and they also sit very well alongside Meissner’s own compositions. His purpose in recording the covers was anything but commercially driven; it was because the band's individual sound comes across so clearly as a result of engaging so thoroughly with the material sourced from others. This focus and engagement is part of something bigger: what the Vincent Meissner Trio is able to do above all is to convince with its fundamental honesty and authenticity. Yes, the trio is being pro-active in determining how it wants to present its art, and also its members as individuals. "It's nice to have people listening to us," says Vincent Meissner, with the live experiences of the last few months very much in mind. He understands his pieces as a framework to be filled, as a space to be walked through as a group together. It is all about conveying impressions of the present beyond words, about evoking emotional experiences which go beyond the tangible moment in a way that is completely natural. "Wille" is an important step forward for the Vincent Meissner Trio, and it already will make listeners want more. This band is well on its way. Credits: Produced by Andreas Brandis

Various Artists - Magic Moments 14 "In The Spirit Of Jazz"CD / digital"More than any other art form, music touches people directly," is ACT founder Siggi Loch's credo. For nearly 30 years, the core of what the label does has been to find and to promote the artists who can inspire the mind, reach the heart and touch the soul, and who do so in ways that have a lasting impact. Perhaps this has never been more important than now in the time of the pandemic, when culture has been silenced, when people have felt emotionally isolated and – far too often – the only “reality” has been virtual. With sixteen tracks from the current ACT release schedule, "Magic Moments 14" gathers together all of the power of "Music in the Spirit of Jazz", this world language beyond words which is understandable to everyone. It not only brings people together, it also moves and inspires them. ACT’s main mission is in the absolute foreground on this album: to be a discovery label. ACT’s main focus has always been on European jazz, to document this art form growing and developing, to show it reflecting on its own musical traditions, linking them back to jazz’s American roots and thereby opening up new paths. So, in that spirit, "Magic Moments 14" begins with a "Canzon del fuego fatuo" from the remarkable young Spanish pianist Daniel Garcia. Here is a fascinating new voice from Spanish jazz, taking up the music of his homeland in a refreshingly new way. We also mark here the ACT debut of mesmerising Austrian actor Birgit Minichmayr. Here is a voice and a personality with charismatic presence, delivering a Shakespeare Sonnet in the grand manner, together with Quadro Nuevo’s versatile world music team and the early jazz specialist Bernd Lhotzky. Other examples of new shining stars in the European musical firmament are the French-Algerian cellist and singer Nesrine and Austrian pianist David Helbock’s new trio. This focus on new and recent arrivals at the label does not mean neglecting the artists who have been with ACT since the beginning and who have made it the leading label for Swedish jazz: trombonist Nils Landgren contributes a new humdinger from his Funk Unit, a band which has been giving soul jazz a European face for over twenty-five years. Bassist/composer Lars Danielsson again celebrates the combination of classical music, jazz and Nordic sound with "Cloudland" from his new Liberetto album. Ida Sand conti-nues the tradition of Scandinavian singers who enrich the world's songbook with their pop "in the spirit of jazz". And for the final track, Jan Lundgren and Lars Danielsson, toge-ther with Emile Parisien, the French musician who has single-handedly redefined the soprano saxophone, show us Euro-pean art music with a Swedish accent at its most communicative and inspired. Last but not least, ACT was one of the first important labels to promote contemporary German jazz. There are more German artists on "Magic Moments 14" than ever before, demonstrating this important strand: violinist Florian Willeitner from Passau; guitarist Philipp Schiepek who has made a meteoric rise in the South German scene; the feisty attitude of KUU! led by singer Jelena Kuljic – like Minichmayr also primarily known for her acting and stagecraft; the Jazzrausch Bigband, whose techno jazz is attracting attention worldwide; and two rising stars who are currently harvesting all of the major awards, Johanna Summer and Vincent Meissner.Summer and Meissner - like Garcia, Lundgren and Helbock - also stand for the special place ACT has always found for the best pianists in Europe. Thus it is two German pianists of major international significance who complete the offering on "Magic Moments 14": 77-year-old Joachim Kühn is still utterly driven and a major force; his heir apparent Michael Wollny can also be heard here in his new all-star quartet with Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre and Christian Lillinger. The drummer was a multiple award-winner at the new German Jazz Prize, including one for KUU!. "Magic Moments 14" is a quintessence of the many directions which genre-crossing, innovative jazz is currently taking. These difficult times need remedies that are both energising and emotionally affecting: here are musicians who unfailingly show us the value and importance of trust and dialogue.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Vincent Meissner Trio - Bewegtes FeldCD / digital Vincent Meissner piano Josef Zeimetz bass Henri Reichmann drums It is hard to believe it as one listens to this album: pianist Vincent Meissner is just twenty years old. The drummer in the trio, incidentally, is even younger. Recognition for this major talent has started to grow, however, and the prizes are rolling in. Meißner has so far won six: the Bechstein Piano Competition, the Concert Prize of the Jazzo-pen Stuttgart, the Förderpreis of the German Jazz Union, the Jazzhaus Competition Freiburg and the Central German Jazz Prize. And he is also already showing quite some capacity to make smart decisions and follow them through. When he was chosen as to represent Saxony in the prestigious “Jugend jazzt” event in 2019, he opted to take a new approach to presenting his music. Rather than building pieces out of fragments or sketches, as he had done until then, he created a suite of connected pieces. This mature quality, the desire to present a coherent programme is also a hallmark of his debut album "Bewegtes Feld". For the past year and a half, Vincent has been studying at the Leipzig Hochschule, where Michael Wollny is among his teachers. So, when Wollny heard that Meissner had been offered the opportunity to make a recording at Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg, he offered to be involved. As Wollny explains: "I saw several good things coming together here. A highly talented young pianist and composer with his own genuine 'working band' ...being given the opportunity to record the material they were creating...under perfect conditions in a top studio. Since I was familiar with the development of his compositions and ideas from supervising his studies anyway, it seemed only logical to take a role in the recording and to go into the studio with the trio as producer." Vincent grew up in a small village near Dresden. Essentially, the story starts with what he found lurking on the shelves of a chainstore in the nearby university town of Freiberg. The young Vincent – at that point he was not playing the piano yet – found a selection of jazz CDs. Most of the stock was from the two renowned German labels which are both identified by having three letters in their names. Here was music to discover, to make his own, to become increasingly deeply involved with – to the point where what started as a passion became a life-goal. At sixteen, he went off to Dresden to the Landesgymnasium für Musik. It was there that he met drummer Henri Reichmann, and their friendship flourished: both of them were finding music to animate and inspire them. And so they listened, they practised, they sparked off each other, fanning the flames of their enthusiasm by continuing to make new discoveries: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and Bud Powell were followed by Paul Bley, Monk, Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer. And there were German musicians too: Pablo Held, Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny. Making the journey brings its own rewards. Vincent has remained a seeker and discoverer, immersing himself in the piano music of our time. All of this shines through on his CD, which already brings this early phase of his career full circle. And how! You don't hear slavish imitati-on here, this is an astonishingly balanced statement of intent from a highly original talent. He is fully aware of the foundations that his predecessors have left him, and is able to use them as the jumping-off point into his own expressive world. Since forming his piano trio with double bassist Josef Zeimetz at the beginning of 2020, they have – to put it mildly – not had the best of circumstances to deal with. In fact, Corona has meant that they have only performed one live gig. "We are a 100% studio band," says Vincent ironically, with a big smile. The three players are based in Leipzig, Dresden and Amsterdam, but they were able to get together for intensive weeks of rehearsal together. And the result of that work is worth listening to – here is a y-oung trio who are clearly ready to bring their freshly created music out of the studio and rehearsal room and onto the stages of clubs. Vincent and his fellow musicians are concerned above all to be honest and authentic in what they do. Indeed, that is something they see as far more important than being revolutionary firebrands. These are musicians with a clear sense of form and structure, sometimes finding the humorous and the euphoric, at others the melancholy and the poetry of ballads. At any event, each of them has many different sides to him as a musician, and together they find surprises and all kinds of fascinating and manyhued timbres as they develop Vincent's compositions through playing them. They experiment with complex shapes and rhythms, and yet we hear their joy in playing together. There is also a remarkable sense for melodies that are unusual and memorable. Vincent loves metaphors, and uses one to describe the way they discover as they play: "When we play, each time it is as if we’re walking across an orchard. finding different fruit to pick." That idea captures the spirit of the CD title "Bewegtes Feld". The field also perhaps being a demarcated area within which Vincent, Henri and Josef can move. There is exploration going on here, and connections and reconnections to be found as they shake up the material and put it back together in different permutations. There is always a big pic-ture, but the listener is also drawn in to uncover the detail, to follow the music’s many twists and turns. This is spontaneous music, and yet there is nothing random about it. Ideas are developed, refined and deepened. Vincent Meißner describes this with another image:"My compositions are as if we had a shelf in the room, and everyone puts things onto it." That might sound like a long process, but they always do get very quickly to the point. And that is the raison d’etre of these three musicians who have come together to form a trio of equals. Another metaphor: "We are like a young wine which is now maturing. It's only the second year after the grapes have been harvested!" Robust...refined...subtle...sparkling! This is Young, even very young, German Jazz at its best and most life-affirming. Credits: Recorded by Johannes Kellig at Bauer Studios Ludwigsburg, January 15 -17, 2021, except 01, 02, 04 & 15 recorded by Nico Raschke at Hansahaus Studios Bonn, February 17 -19, 2020 Mixed by Johannes Kellig Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Michael Wollny