Playground

David Helbock - Faces of NightCD / Vinyl / digital David Helbock pianoJulia Hofer electric bass, fretless bass, celloGuests:Lorenz Raab flugelhornMahan Mirarab guitarVeronika Harcsa vocals Pianist David Helbock and bassist/cellist Julia Hofer have things in common: a playful curiosity combined with the urge to try out new things and to have fun. Both of these Austrians are also perfectionists...and natural communicators...and that’s why their musical combination works so well. “I was looking for a new duo partner,” says David Helbock, "because although I am completely passionate about my ‘Austrian Syndicate’ project, it's a really tricky thing to put together, a large band...lots of keyboards. Together with ACT CEO and producer Andreas Brandis, the idea of an acoustic duo reduced to its emotional essence was finally born - a format in which musical communication works more directly than in any other line-up. And I quickly came across Julia Hofer. What particularly attracted me to her was her versatility - and the wealth of possibilities that this opens up. I was immediately fascinated by her energy from the very first rehearsal. You can tell she enjoys the music from the very first note she plays and that motivated me enormously and is also very infectious." Julia Hofer’s career as an artist has reversed the normal order of things. Musicians usually learn their craft, tour everywhere, maybe become well-known, and only then do they settle down and start teaching. Hofer was already making a series of teaching videos for the online music retailer Thomann while studying for her master's degree at the Popakademie Mannheim – her first degree had been in Vienna. The videos had an impact and received millions of views. She now has teaching posts in Klagenfurt and Vienna, as well as being part of the team at the Vereinigte Bühnen in Vienna.Julia Hofer is a go-to bassist on the Austrian scene. From a musical family and classically trained as a cellist, what stands out above all is her stylistic versatility. Alongside poetic cello playing which can melt the heart, there is a wonderful ease and energy to her groove playing on the bass as well. She covers the whole gamut of pop, funk, and fusion, with repertoire all the way from Earth, Wind & Fire to Jamiroquai and the Yellowjackets. And her method of familiarizing herself with music has never been led by the convenience of sheet music: she listens meticulously, makes her own transcriptions. Her process gets her closer to the originals while simultaneously enabling her to make them truly her own. No wonder David Helbock is so enthusiastic about his new duo partner. After all, the pianist and composer from Vorarlbeberg in the West of Austria has a relationship with the piano which can often turn cheerfully acrobatic. Through his trio Random Control, Helbock’s profile became established as a genuine boundary-breaker with virtuosity – and humour too. Albums such as “Playing John Williams” (2019) and “Austrian Syndicate” (2023) anchor him not just as a pianist in a chamber music setting, they also demonstrate the jazz-rock power he brings to neo-fusion. David Helbock is one of the most versatile musicians in the Austrian music world. And he loves duos, notably “Playground” (2022) with singer Camille Bertault, which has taken them on triumphant tours of the European club and festival circuit.In “Faces Of Night” with Julia Hofer, we find Helbock taking on an even wider stylistic range. The album's repertoire includes songs by Prince as well as Thelonious Monk's “Round Midnight,” a cello-hued version of George Gurdjieff's “Woman's Dance,” a soul-funk interpretation of Eddie Harris’ “Freedom Jazz Dance,” and a surprising adaptation of motifs from Robert Schumann's A minor Piano Concerto. "We tried out working with effects and electronics at the beginning, but found that we were using them less and less. Now it's an almost entirely acoustic album, except for the electric bass. And we’ve really rehearsed and tried out lots of different things. It’s been a delightful process.” A few guests have joined the duo, including soulful and lyrical trumpeter Lorenz Raab, with whom David Helbock has been playing for two decades, and singer Veronika Harcsa, also a long-time acquaintance, who scats on “Freedom Jazz Dance” and brings something totally unexpected to Monk: lyrics in Hungarian. “I've also been wanting to do something with Mahan Mirarab for a long time. He plays a double-necked guitar, one of which is fretless, and that fits very well with Gurdjeff,” says David Helbock about the second contributor to “Faces Of Night,” – this is a new collaboration. And so, we find on ‘Faces Of Night’ a team, completed by producer Andreas Brandis, which is notable for its energy, its live-wire intercommunication and its sense of unfettered adventure – all of which came together in the studio. At the epicentre, Julia Hofer plays with astonishing openness and precision, with the inspired David Helbock as her ideal counterweight. The guests – Harcsa, Mirarab, Raab – expand the foundation and take the music beyond this constellation with new colors. “In the end, it all fits well with the title ‘Faces Of Night.’ For me, the night is a border zone where opposites are possible and complement each other.” These faces of the night open the gates for a new duo whose entrance into the music world comes in the form a debut album positively brimming with enthusiasm and energy.Credits: Produced by Andreas Brandis & David Helbock  Recorded on May 20th and 21st at Wavegarden Studio, Mitterretzbach, AustriaRecorded and mixed by Werner AngererMastered by Klaus ScheuermannPhoto by Severin Koller at Reaktor, ViennaCover art (detail) by Tanka Fonta The Meditative Movements; The Dawn Incantations III (2024) Acrylic on canvas,160 cm x 120 cmDesign by Siggi Loch  

David Helbock - Austrian SyndicateCD / Vinyl / digital David Helbock rhodes, synthesizers & effects Peter Madsen piano Raphael Preuschl bass & bass ukulele Herbert Pirker drums Claudio Spieler percussion Guests: Alex Acuña percussion Lakecia Benjamin saxophone Maria João voice Fred Wesley trombone Dhafer Youssef voice Austrian Syndicate…the phrase immediately brings to mind the best-known and most influential of all Austrians in jazz, Joe Zawinul. And yet David Helbock’s project is much more than just a homage to his compatriot. It is a return to the roots of fusion jazz and how things developed from then on. It is also a new direction stylistically for Helbock, who has harnessed a panoply of inspiration with a refreshing openness to new sounds from far and wide. As Helbock himself puts it: "This is close to my heart." Helbock has been able to enlist the best rhythm section in Austria for the Syndicate: Raphael Preuschl on bass and bass ukulele, drummer Herbert Pirker and percussionist Claudio Spieler. The quintet also has an American in it, one for whom becoming Austrian was a matter of choice: pianist Peter Madsen. This Austrian supergroup is also a place where Helbock’s stellar international guests shine brightly: Maria João, Fred Wesley, Dhafer Youssef, Alex Acuña and Lakecia Benjamin. Very much in the spirit of Zawinul who pioneered the use of electronic keyboard instruments and was a giant of fusion jazz, David Helbock is heard here for the first time only on keyboards, leaving all the piano duties to Peter Madsen. "Practically everything I know about music and jazz I learned from him," says Helbock about his former teacher and mentor, and – these days – close friend. A true piano hero, but one little known outside specialist circles, Madsen toured the world with Stan Getz from 1987 onwards, and has since played with many other greats of jazz: musicians who made their names in earlier eras such as Benny Golson, and Stanley Turrentine to major figures from modern jazz like Chris Potter, Joe Lovano or Kenny Garrett, or free jazz heroes like Dewey Redman and Don Cherry. And there are stars of funk too: Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. In 2001, Madsen moved from New York to Austria, where he met the then 16-year-old Helbock and took him under his wing. Which is why Madsen, in addition to his piano role, is also co-leader of the band, and we also hear his considerable acumen as composer. Raphael Preuschl and Herbert Pirker are also long-time companions of David Helbock and have been the most sought-after bass-drums team in Vienna for over 20 years. Preuschl has also found a particularly individual voice on an unusual instrument, the bass ukulele. Pirker is just as versatile. He plays drums, for example, in Austria's sensational band Shake Stew. Percussionist Claudio Spieler studied with Afghan master drummer Hakim Ludin in his youth, and now performs at major venues with German singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker and celebrated Austrian multi-percussionist Martin Grubinger. There are fabulous guests too. All are global stars, giving the album both international glamour and the colourful exoticism: the great voice of Maria João from Portugal, Peruvian percussionist Alex Acuña (a member of Weather Report alongside Zawinul in the late 1970s), Tunisian singer and oud virtuoso Dhafer Youssef, who is having huge success with his album "Streets of Minarets" and is playing to sold-out houses; funk mastermind and James Brown acolyte Fred Wesley and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, one of the brightest sparks in the American jazz sky right now.This band has a way of communicating energy, surprise, variety and – perhaps above all – fun. Helbock has a way of finding all kinds of outlandish sounds from his synthesisers and keyboard pads, and uses them to kick up sudden thunderstorms. But we also hear subtle jazz improvisation, irrepressible interplay, funk and Latin rhythms and no shortage of Afro-Caribbean flair. It’s all there right from the opener: "Money in the Pocket". Other tracks draw their inspiration from all kinds of intriguing places: dark mysteries from Vienna, Indian Konnakol chanting, King Crimson, acid jazz. Helbock has conjured up all kinds of different moods and vibes. The ending of the album requires something truly special and Helbock does not disappoint. Mozart's "Komm, lieber Mai", an innocent little song which later became a German folk melody, has been dressed up for a party with Cuban rhythms. Maria João is not just playful here, she even invites us briefly away from the party and into a trippy dream sequence. Like the rest of the album, such invitations are instantly and infinitely persuasive. David Helbock's "Austrian Syndicate" welcomes the world into boundless fusion jazz with irresistible grooves. “Austrian Syndicate” might prove to be one of the feelgood – no, make that feel...GREAT! - albums of the year. Credits: Recording Details: Produced by David Helbock

Nils Landgren - 3 GenerationsCD / Vinyl / digital Nils Landgren with Joachim Kühn, Michael Wollny, Iiro Rantala, Lars Danielsson, Cæcilie Norby, Viktoria Tolstoy, Wolfgang Haffner, Ulf Wakenius, Jan Lundgren, Ida Sand, Youn Sun Nah, Vincent Peirani, Emile Parisien, David Helbock, Marius Neset, Nesrine, Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr, Anna Gréta, Johanna Summer, Jakob Manz, and many more We are Family – Celebrating 30 ACT Years Nils Landgren has been and remains the absolute linchpin of the ACT family. To date, the Swede has made forty albums on the label as leader, plus another twenty as producer or soloist. Michael Wollny, whose many many projects with Landgren give him a special connection, sums up a key ele-ment in his success: “With Nils everything becomes easy.” There is indeed a particular ease about Mr. Red Horn’s way of being; it is infectious and runs through everything he does. Which is all the more remarkable when one considers the sheer number of roles he takes on: trombonist, singer, band-leader, producer, festival director, professor, curator, talent scout and mentor.All of Landgren’s multiple roles and traits come to the fore on “3 Generations”. Working alongside producer and ACT founder Siggi Loch, Nils Landgren brings together three gene-rations of ACT artists’ in various line-ups to mark the label’s 30th anniversary. Landgren and Loch have a friendship and habits of working well together which go back almost as long as the existence of ACT itself. The two met for the first time at the 1994 Jazz Baltica Festival, just two years after the label was founded. Landgren became an exclusive ACT artist shortly thereafter. Since that time, it has been through Landgren’s network that artists such as Esbjörn Svensson, Rigmor Gustafsson, Viktoria Tolstoy, Ida Sand, Wolfgang Haffner and many more have joined the label. Nils Landgren continues in his trusted role as ACT’s leading connector and integrator. Finding and nurturing young talent has always been one of ACT’s strong suits. It was true for Nils Landgren, then later for Michael Wollny who joined the label in 2005 and is today one of the most significant pianists in Europe. With artists such as Johanna Summer and Jakob Manz - both born many years after ACT was founded - the label looks to the future with its younger generation of musicians bringing new ener-gy and impetus to the world of jazz.The Times (UK) has written: “Since 1992, ACT has been building its own European union of musicians, fostering a freedom of movement between nationalities and genres, and has given us an authentic impression of what the continent is about.” “3 Generations” demonstrates quite how true that assertion is. Around forty artists from the ACT Family make this anniversary album a celebration of the breadth, openness and inclusive power of jazz. The core of the album consists of recordings made at a summer 2022 studio session lasting several days. In reality, it is only Nils Landgren and Siggi Loch who could have brought this pano-rama of musical Europe into being. The influences here range from jazz, popular song and folk to classical and contempo-rary music, and much more. Thirty tracks from three generations of musicians marking thirty years of ACT, with Nils Landgren as driving force. Not just a retrospective, but above all an insight into the present and future of the discovery label “in the Spirit of Jazz”.Credits: Recorded by Thomas Schöttl at Jazzanova Studio, Berlin on June 7 - 9, 2022, assisted by José Victor Torell – except as otherwise indicated Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Siggi Loch and Nils Landgren The Art in Music: Cover Art by Yinka Shonibare CBE: Detail from Creatures of the Mappa Mundi, Mandragora, 2018

Various Artists - Magic Moments 15: In the Spirit of JazzCD / digitalBest jazz infotainment for the 30th anniversary of ACT: 16 tracks, 65 minutes of music in the spirit of jazz, featuring artists like Nils Landgren, Emile Parisien & Theo Croker, Iiro Rantala, Vincent Peirani Trio, Michael Wollny Trio, Joel Lyssarides, Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer, and more.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

David Helbock & Camille Bertault - PlaygroundCD / Vinyl / digital Camille Bertault voice David Helbock piano, percussion, live-looping, effects Camille Bertault and David Helbock are two of the most jaw-droppingly talented members of the cohort of European jazz musicians currently in their mid-thirties. Their journeys in improvised music are always adventurous, playful and exciting. She is the new rising star of French vocal jazz. He, Austrian-born, is one of the most fascinating pianists on the scene. Their two personalities might appear to be polar opposites, yet Bertault’s live-wire humour and Helbock’s calm self-assuredness only appear to be different on the surface. When it comes to the musical choices they make, they are emphatically on the same page. Each is astonishingly versatile, with an innate sense of dramaturgy. This voice-piano duo reaches unbelievable levels of inventiveness here on “Playground”. This dream team had its first appearance at the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele in 2019. The festival has the motto "Song Conversation", and gives artists carte blanche to choose a partner with whom they have never played before. Helbock nominated Bertault, who in turn asked to work with trumpeter Médéric Collignon – so the three of them played there together for the first time. This was the occasion when Helbock and Bertault realised how well they worked together, and how much they had in common. They both have a grounding in classical music. Bertault also studied the piano until she was 20, before taking up singing; they both love the whole spectrum of music; they are both masters in allowing works from the established canons of different genres to shine in a new light, imprinting their personalities and their own style on them.  It quickly became apparent to both of them that they would pursue their collaboration. However, because of several deferrals due to Corona restrictions, it was not until summer 2021 at the INNtöne Jazz Festival that their live premiere as a duo happened. It was very enthusiastically received, and the set performed at the influential boutique festival in Austria became the he basis for "Playground": "We exchanged emails about what we were in the mood for, which pieces we liked, just like before Ludwigsburg," Bertault recalls. "We both love Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Pascoal, Björk and Thelonious Monk. And we wanted to have a classical piece in it," Helbock explains. And so the homage "Para Hermeto", Gismonti's "Frevo", Björk's "New World", Monk's "Ask Me Now" and Alexander Scriabin's C# minor Etude Op. 2 No. 1 form the basis of the album… fascinating points of departure for this duo which combines so many special qualities, skills, talents and inclinations: Bertault’s ways to deploy her vocal artistry are hers and hers alone. Her voice is a magnificent instrument to carry a melody, sometimes at breakneck speed and with devastating precision, sometimes at pindrop volume. But we also witness Beartault’s passion for writing her own texts; she also studied acting. Helbock’s creativity, exploiting all of the sound possibilities of the grand piano, is completely ‘sui generis’ as well. He doesn’t just dampen the piano strings, he also plays directly on them, he uses the piano case as a percussion instrument, and makes use of electronics. "For the first time, I also worked a lot with loops here," he adds. His accompaniment therefore has an almost orchestral scale and depth, a jewel-case for this scintillating and very special voice. “Camille always knows exactly how she wants a piece to look and sound. It is then great fun to finesse it and to reach that point together." The two worked through that full process on the seven original pieces (four by Helbock, three by Bertault) which they wrote for this album. We hear the whimsical blues of "Lonely Supamen", the mysterious "Fabelwesen", the chansonesque "Aide-moi" and the ethereal-melancholic "Bizarre". "Playground" is a kaleidoscope of sounds and emotions which invigorates, excites – and will always surprise. The craft and technique may be breathtaking, but neither musician ever forgets the essential: "It's not about showing strength or virtuosity, but about expressing the truth of the moment," says Camille Bertault. And that is what she and David Helbock deliver with each and every track. Credits: Recorded by Michael Ungerer at Blackbird Music Studio, Berlin, December 15 &16, 2021 Mixed by Michael Ungerer Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by the artists

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

David Helbock’s fine musicianship goes hand in hand with a remarkable ability to communicate on several levels. As British writer Peter Bacon has written, there is “much to intrigue the mind, much to warm the heart and much to tickle the funny bone.” German critic Roland Spiegel has elegantly described his music as “never cerebral, but capti-vating both the head and the body....” For his new album the Austrian-born pianist brings those strengths and that ability to engage and appeal to audiences into a new and different venture. “It was my wish to cool things down a bit,” he explains. He has formed a new trio with guitarist Arne Jansen and trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky, and it is clear when he talks about it how far he has already moved on since his previous group: “In the Random Control Trio we had a lot of instruments on the stage, there was a lot of changing from one instrument to another… and a lot of notes.” And the new group? “It is more about emotions. And emotions are the most important thing in music.” This trio has are other differences from his previous groups: in the past, his bands have been made up of musicians from his native Austria. But he has now been living in Berlin for five years, and “The New Cool” presents his first group formed with players who have also adopted Berlin as their home city. With Arne Jansen, originally from Kiel, what appeals to Helbock is that “he is such an unselfish player, very centred and very calm – and subtle too. With him it’s all about the music.” Studnitzky is originally from the Black Forest, and Helbock likes “his style of playing with that very airy sound” and the fact the range of timbres and moods he creates with just one effects device. And how does it work in the trio? “All three of us are melody players, but we are all capable of holding back and giving space to the others.” It would be wrong, however, to see the elegaic feel of much of this album as a response to the pandemic. Helbock and producer Siggi Loch were having “a productive and fruitful discussion” about these ideas a full year before the recording sessions took place at the Emil Berliner studios in August 2020. Loch has a fascination for the way cool jazz “turned the wheel around” to connect with a wide audience, and references and connections with the cool jazz movement are scattered throughout this album. It is also the very first time that Helbock has included a tune by his teacher for over a decade, American pianist Peter Madsen, who toured extensively with Stan Getz and also taught Maria Schneider. While the overall mood and vibe of “The New Cool” tends towards the lyrical and the spacious, the range of expression is remarkably wide. The fine filigree piano opening of “I Feel Free” is in complete contrast to the anthemic grandeur which the trio reaches at the peak of “Angel Eyes”. Helbock also has a remarkable way of setting the tone of piece from the very first utterance: “Hymn for Sophie Scholl” is softly elegaic, whereas the forward momentum of “Truth” sounds like it could easily do duty as a film or TV theme. Helbock has been inspired by the innovations and concepts of Lennie Tristano, and his sense of affinity with the Chicago-born genius runs deep. Tristano once decreed that "the jazz musician's function is to feel.” Helbock Jansen and Studnitzky have taken that maxim to their hearts. In “The New Cool” it becomes a totally convincing and natural way to make music; and to be.

Various Artists - Romantic Freedom - Blue in GreenCD / digitalACT is a label with a clear sense of its own identity, values and mission, and these virtues find strong expression in this new compilation. ACT has been a major force since 1992 in bringing to the fore Euro-pean jazz which transcends the old genre boundaries, and has played a major part in helping this music to become far better known in its many and varied forms. This is in fact the second compilation album from the label to bear the motto “Romantic Freedom”. Back in 2006, fourteen years after the label was founded, the first album with this title focused on performances by solo pianists, a particularly strong area for ACT. Now, another fourteen years on, "Romantic Freedom - Blue in Green" brings the story and the message up to date - and does so in several fascinating ways.The ACT family continues to grow with the addition of fascinating artists from all over Europe, so it is fitting that David Helbock, a pianist who has only recently risen to prominence beyond his native Austria, and whose association with ACT started in 2016, should be given the honour of starting the album with his Random Control Trio in a moodily, atmospheric version of the modal Miles Davis/Bill Evans ballad “Blue in Green”. Another pianist who has only recently made his album is Carsten Dahl from Denmark. Dahl's “Sailing with no Wind” has calm, balance and great beauty. And for contrast there is the catchy, rock-inspired immediacy of the Stockholm-based Jacob Karl-zon Trio in “Bubbles”. The nurturing of fruitful dialogue across national borders and styles of music is a real strength at ACT, and is a key feature of "Romantic Freedom - Blue in Green". As Chris Pearson of The Times of London reflected in early 2020: “Since 1992 Act, the German label, has been building its own European union of musicians, fostering a freedom of movement between nationalities and genres.” It is worth noting that, whereas almost half of the pianists on the 2006 album were from North America, all the musicians apart from three on the new album were born in Europe. A band which epitomizes civilized conversation across borders, indeed has it at its very core is Mare Nostrum, the trio of Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, French accordionist Richard Galliano und Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren. They play Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills of Your Mind” . Fresu’s appealing and warm flugelhorn sound is to also be heard irresistibly on Komeda’s “Sleep Safe and Warm” (also known as “Rosemary’s Lullaby”) in duo with Lars Danielsson. We also hear the very different heritages of Polish violinist Adam Bałdych and French/Israeli pianist Yaron Herman as the pair create and then release tension in “Riverendings”, the first of two tracks on this album featuring a violin.Musicians from Europe walk, quite literally, in the footsteps of the great classical composers. The young German pianist Johanna Summer, the youngest musician on this album and rapidly becoming a star of the label was born in Saxony very near Zwickau, the birthplace of Robert Schumann’s. She is heard here in her affecting “instant com-posing” version of Schumann’s “Of Foreign Lands And People” from “Scenes of Childhood”. David Helbock lived for some years in Vienna, and in “Beethoven #7, 2nd Movement”, we hear the Austrian in a delicate and thoughtful version on prepared piano. Norwegians pia-nist Bugge Wesseltoft and violinist Henning Kragerrud have a deep feeling for the melodic beauty of their compatriot Grieg’s “Våren” (Last Spring). ACT is home for pianists with a central role in European jazz in recent decades, such as Michael Wollny, Joachim Kühn, Leszek Możdżer. All three (and also Bugge Wesseltoft) were represented on the 2006 and the listener can reflect on the journey they have travelled over the decades with a label that above all help to ensure that their reputati-ons can build beyond their home countries. Michael Wollny’s “Little Person”, a cover of Jon Brion’s song from the film “Synecdoche, New York.” is quietly reflective with a gentle pulse and a deliciously open ending. We also hear Wollny on prepared piano accompanying another core member of the ACT artist family, Nils Landgren on both vocals and trombone), in Sting’s “Fragile”. We have the decisively carefree and rocky side of Joachim Kühn’s New Trio in “Sleep on it”. On this compilation we go back to the beginning and hear the very first track from “Pasodoble” Leszek_Możdżer’s 2007 debut on ACT: “Praying” in a duo with Lars Danielsson. Another massively influential figure in European jazz, and until his untimely death in 2008 a core member of the ACT label family was the late Esbjörn Svensson. He was also on the 2006 album. We hear an e.s.t. track which has become a classic, “Believe Beleft Below”, and also a homage to the Swedish visionary from another pianist who has revealed many sides of his character and his story on the ACT label, the Finn Iiro Rantala, who plays his heartfelt tribute “Tears For Esbjörn”. If we now know what European jazz is, that is at least in part because ACT has shaped an important part of its story. "Romantic Freedom - Blue in Green" shows how appealing, how approachable and how universal European jazz at its best can be. Credits: Curated by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

David Helbock - playing John WilliamsCD / Vinyl / digitalDavid Helbock pianoFrom “E.T.” to “Harry Potter” and “Jurassic Park” – Great Music from the Movies for Solo Piano. Austrian jazz pianist David Helbock plays music by multiple Oscar- and Grammy-winning American film composer John Williams. We all have the music in our lives from which there is no escape. It reaches deep inside, becomes planted ineradicably in the memory. Other, extra-musical occurrences can often get mixed in with the experience of listening, which has a way of imprinting the music on the mind even more firmly. This was what happened to David Helbock when he discovered cinema for himself and had his first encounters with the music of the American film composer John Williams: "He’s been with me just about all of my life. I can still remember clearly how as a child I saw "E.T." countless times and was excited about the extra-terrestrial being and his human friends. Or “Jurassic Park”. That was the first time I went to the cinema without my parents. And I won't forget how my feelings would flicker between fascination and fear when I first saw the shark in "Jaws". These were all deeply emotional and formative experiences for me, and it was always the soundtrack to the films that was at the root of them." But why is John Williams’ music quite so effective, how is it that his music comes straight to mind when one thinks of any of the films in which he has been involved as composer? " Helbock explains: "Of course his music in the films is magnified onto a grand scale, and also wonderfully orchestrated. But deep down, Williams is a great writer of melodies. They touch the heart profoundly, they release emotions. Take “Hedwig's Theme" from “Harry Potter”, it’s a simple but incredibly deeply felt melody. Or the emotive theme from “Schindler’s List”. That is why, for me at least, Williams is a film composer of the old school, compared to more modern composers such as Hans Zimmer, who focus much less on musical composition, but rather on effects and sonic ostentation". There is an anecdote which illustrates the extent of Williams’ concern that the essence of a film should be conveyed through its music. "Because he was so impressed by "Schindler’s List", he at first didn't dare to compose for the film. He feared that his artistic abilities might not be sufficient for this great film. So Williams went to director Steven Spielberg and said: ‘Steven, you need a better composer than I am for this film.’ To which the film director replied: ‘I know! But they're all dead.’ Encouraged by this idea, Williams went into action and composed the main musical theme of the film. Another unforgettable score is the music for "Jaws". Simple, but highly effective is how Helbock describes it: "There isn’t anything particularly horrific to see in this film, compared to today's horror films. But the music makes it incredibly exciting. It’s just the same two notes in a steady rhythm, but whenever that rhythm comes, it just grips you." "I've done all kinds of things with John Williams' music," says Helbock. "I’ve re-harmonised it, I’ve used different time signatures and much more, so that my own voice can flow naturally into it. But despite all the alterations, the melody always stays the same and remains recognisable. Much of the process of adaptation was done intuitively, driven by the emotions that the films sparked in me. So I wrote down the main melodies, I watched the films, before finally developing my improvised versions on the piano and slowly extending them." The music of John Williams for solo piano seen through the prism of jazz – it all fits together well, and in several respects: the film composer himself has jazz roots. During the time he was studying piano at the Juilliard School in New York, he also played jazz in bars. That influence can still be heard today, for example in "Moonlight" from the film Sabrina, which is a genuine jazz tune. And there's another thing: "Of course Williams quickly developed into a classical orchestral composer, but for me, the piano itself is an entire orchestra with a panoply of possibilities in sound. Even more so when I use various techniques of going inside the piano, i.e. damping strings with my hand, playing chords directly with my fingers on the strings, or using the piano frame as a percussion instrument." Helbock shows here that the piano and the orchestra don't have to be as unlike each other one might think they are. And so this "storyteller at the piano" (3sat) gives us a very different John Williams from the one we know from the cinema, but the man in the picture remains unmistakably the doyen of film music himself.Credits: Music composed by John Williams Produced by Siggi Loch Recorded, mixed & mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Recorded at the ACT Art Collection Berlin, May 10, 2018 Cover art by Rainer Fetting, Der Pianist, 1983, ACT Art Collection

Magic Moments 1167 minutes of pure listening pleasure: The eleventh edition of the popular Magic Moments offers a comprehensive insight into our latest ACT releases with newcomers, ACT stars and real insider tips at a special price. Among others with Michael Wollny, David Helbock, Vincent Peirani, Iiro Rantala, Joachim Kühn New Trio, Ida Sand, Lars Danielsson & Paolo Fresu and many more.Credits:Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Manufacturer 

David Helbock - Tour d`Horizon - from Brubeck to ZawinulCD / digital David Helbock piano, electronics & percussion Andreas Broger saxophones, clarinets & various reed instruments Johannes Bär tuba, trumpet & various brass instruments Austrian pianist David Helbock has been called “a consistent trail-blazer” and “a gifted story-teller at the piano” (quote from 3sat Kulturzeit). In his ACT debut album “Into the Mystic” (2016), he left his personal and individual imprint on well-known compositions from Beethoven to Thelonious Monk and John Williams, setting them in a context of mythology, legends and the spiritual. For this new outing with the Random/Control Trio, Helbock concentrates mainly on pianists who have been his musical role models. His new album is a “Tour d'Horizon” – as the title suggests – of the greats of the jazz piano. “For this album I have chosen pieces by my favourite jazz pianists, the ones who have expanded my artistic horizons.” His 12 interpretations form a broad arc, ranging beyond the jazz sphere to include Spanish classical composer Joaquín Rodrigo, with the popular second movement of the “Concierto de Aranjuez” – reminds us of Helbock's background in classical music. Carla Bley is included with “Utviklingssang”, a tune based on just one melodic fragment. The piece proves, as Helbock explains, that she “is a complete master of the simple but ingenious melody that stays in the listener's ear and immediately establishes a mood.” When it came to songwriters, two fellow musicians who were both hugely influential composers in their time proved shoo-ins for this album. Naturally, Duke Ellington is there. His “In A Sentimental Mood”, says Helbock, “occupies the middle ground somewhere between his epoch-defining suites and his danceable chart-toppers, and feels like a good choice.” And there is Esbjörn Svensson, who died exactly ten years ago, far too early. Svensson’s innovative combination of dynamics, groove and melody brought into being a new and broad stylistic movement in jazz. Here David Helbock gives an impressive and vivid account of “Seven Days of Falling”. . Naturally, Duke Ellington is there. His “In A Sentimental Mood”, says Helbock, “occupies the middle ground somewhere between his epoch-defining suites and his danceable chart-toppers, and feels like a good choice.” And there is Esbjörn Svensson, who died exactly ten years ago, far too early. Svensson’s innovative combination of dynamics, groove and melody brought into being a new and broad stylistic movement in jazz. Here David Helbock gives an impressive and vivid account of “Seven Days of Falling”.There is also a pianist whose influence Helbock absorbed extraordinarily early: “I have a very special and emotional relationship with Keith Jarrett’s music,” he says, “because my mother listened to his music through her pregnancy, so I suspect that the first music I ever heard, even before I was born, must have been ‘My Song’.” Herbie Hancock's “Watermelon Man” stands for Helbock's musical awakening as a teenager: “The first album I bought for myself was one of his Greatest Hits compilations”. Joe Zawinul is not to be overlooked either, as he is an illustrious forerunner for Helbock, an Austrian who conquered the world of jazz. Miles Davis' “Blue In Green” and Paul Desmond‘s “Take Five” are two pieces not actually composed by pianists, but which are nevertheless indelibly associated with the giants of the piano who played in the bands that first recorded the tunes, Bill Evans and Dave Brubeck. ‘Covers’ is an inadequate word to describe the way Helbock interprets and adapts these pieces, his approach to the classics of jazz piano history is far too individual for that. And originality begins with the instrumentation he uses: Helbock has entrusted the project to his percussionless Random/Control Trio with two multi-instrumental wind virtuosi Andreas Broger and Johannes Bär. These friends from the Vorarlberg region of Austria have already made a name for themselves as humorous sound anarchists at the ‘Holstuonarmusigbigbandclub’ (HMBC), and have even climbed up the pop charts. This pair of one-man bands brings a particular brand of anarchy. They always follow a pre-conceived plan, whether it be in the bands of Matthias Schriefl or Phil Yeager. This approach is to the fore in Abdullah Ibrahim's tune “African Marketplace”. It bursts with joie de vivre, and provides the ideal entry point into this “Tour d'Horizon”. Using over 20 instruments including a didgeridoo and a tuba, they make sense of the title quite literally. Helbock doesn’t just play the keys of the piano, he also hits the strings directly and plays percussively on the piano’s wooden case. Shrill flutes, beatboxing voices or synthesizer sounds... this trio of whirling dervishes use everything imaginable – and more – in a rousing power trip through Helbock's highly personal musical history. The jazz spirit of “Tour d'Horizon” fires up the glowing embers of tradition and turns them into a blazing beacon for the future.Credits: Recorded by Klaus Scheuermann at Hansa Studios Berlin, December 11 & 12, 2017 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann in February & March 2018 Produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Paul Quick Rhapsodie VI, 2017, ACT Art Collection

Various Artists - Magic Moments 9 "In The Spirit of Jazz"CD / digitalPresenting the 9th edition of ACT's popular Magic Moments series. This CD presents sixty-five minutes of the best of current jazz. Thoughtful moments sit alongside pure joy and entertainment. Coruscating energy is there, but serene contemplation too. With established ACT stars and promising newcomers, this is music for open ears, for the mind and soul. And for everyone who loves good music. “Jazz is the freedom to play anything.” At ACT, we let those words of Duke Ellington resonate through everything we do. Our releases do not adhere to a single musical canon or to a fixed sound aesthetic. Our motto is: “in the spirit of jazz.” Jazz is at the centre of our vision, because we delight in its openness to so many strands and inspirations: classical music, music from other traditions, and pop and rock. Magic Moments 9 opens with a homage straight from the heart to a person we all miss in the ACT family; the first track is a symphonic interpretation of the e.s.t. piece “From Gagarin’s Point Of View,” remembering pianist Esbjörn Svensson. “ACT seems to be on a mission to introduce the world to Europe's rising new jazz-classical pianists”, wrote John Fordham in The Guardian a couple of years ago. We have continued further along that path and Magic Moments 9 offers vivid reports from some places where that continuing journey has taken us. We take in Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, where the new duo CD by Michael Wollny and accordionist Vincent Peirani was recorded. From their album we hear “The Kiss.” Plus we travel to Austria and then to Martinique: two piano players who are both making their hugely promising debuts on the label are David Helbock and Grégory Privat. We also hear from two pianists of renown: the 'old master' Joachim Kühn is joined by his 'young lions' Eric Schaefer (drums) and Chris Jennings (bass) for a refreshing take on “Sleep on it,” a reggae-dub number by the French band Stand High Patrol. Iiro Rantala is on fine form in the “super-trio” with Lars Danielsson and Peter Erskine. They play Kenny Barron's “Voyage” with a Finnish lightness of touch. Der Tagesspiegel wrote of the “Jazz at the Berlin Philharmonic” concerts: “This is jazz history in the making”. We have released recordings of two further completely memorable evenings in one of Europe’s great halls: in “Tears for Esbjörn,” a group consisting of stars of the ACT label unite to pay homage to Esbjörn Svensson. In “Celtic Roots” we set off into the swirling mists of the North, in search of the Celtic influences on jazz. ACT is the place to hear European sounds. A good example is the new Mare Nostrum recording, seven years after the first. In the track “Kristallen den fina,” Jan Lundgren und Paolo Fresu have combined the musical hues of Sweden and of Italy, and the results are magical. For more than 20 years, Nils Landgren has been setting the agenda for European jazz like no other musician. His project “Some Other Time” also draws its inspiration from the other side of the Atlantic. He pays tribute to the great Leonard Bernstein, deploying all of the rich textural possibilities offered by the Bochum Symphony Orchestra. Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren, with a classical string quartet honours one of the great pioneers of Swedish jazz, Jan Johansson. In “Lycklig resa” (meaning 'bon voyage'). The extraordinary encounter of the guitarists Gerardo Núñez from Spain and Ulf Wakenius from Sweden demonstrates what can happen when an intercultural musical exchange really delivers the goods. The interplay, the sense of flow generated by three Scandinavians Lars Danielsson (b), Marius Neset (sax) und Morten Lund (dr) in their album “sun blowing” is “a testament to the power of spontaneity and trust” (Irish Times) - evident in the track “Folksong.” The Finn Jukka Perkko and a new “strong and distinctively touching voice” (Jazz Magazine) from France Lou Tavano also make their mark, and contribute to the richness of the ACT label's offering of characterful European sounds. Magic Moments 9, packed with all kinds of excitement and emotion, not only captures an up-to-the-minute snapshot of European jazz in the many different forms it exists today, but also offers a glimpse into its future.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

David Helbock - Into the MysticCD / digital David Helbock piano Raphael Preuschl bass ukulele Reinhold Schmölzer drums In search of the mystical “Musicians can’t really invent anything completely new,” says the 32-year old Austrian-born pianist David Helbock. “What we can do is to take ideas, and add something of ourselves. When things are working well, what emerges from that is something really exciting.” Helbock belongs to the generation of jazz musicians who are heading off in their own individual directions, pushing the boundaries, radically re-configuring our understanding of what old and new music is, re-aligning composition and improvisation, and challenging common pre-conceptions about style and personality. “These days jazz musicians often take pop songs as their point of departure,” says Helbock. “Speaking frankly, it doesn’t matter what you cover, whether it’s pop, classical music, world music - whatever. But what does matter is what you then make of it.” The press has seen the force of that argument when it has tried to define Helbock himself: the German cultural TV channel 3sat, for example, called him “an extremely adept manipulator of sound and an experimenter whose sensitivities are those of the here and now” and the respected Munich broadsheet paper Süddeutsche Zeitung described him as a “shooting star of the European scene.” “Into the Mystic,” his ACT label debut is another important step in establishing that profile. Helbock draws on a wide range of sources of inspiration to make his music. Incidents in everyday life and nature are in there, but also a wealth of musical influences, and written texts of all kinds. “My experience of life outside music have always been an influence on my music,” he remarks. “I always knew that just putting a few interesting crotchets and quavers together in a row was never going to be enough for me.” That is an approach which runs right through his musical life to date. He began the piano as a six year-old in the mountainous Austrian region of Vorarlberg. At twelve he attended the jazz seminar in Dornbirn, but he pursued his tertiary education as a classical pianist, going right through to Diploma level. “After that, I found the perfect teacher, New York pianist Peter Madsen. “It was insane, he was just right for my jazz education, nourishing me with every musical style you can imagine, and art and philosophy. I could then look around in all that for what intuitively suited me.” Since that time, Helbock has taken this authentic spirit of improvisation, followed it through, and developed it for himself in several forms with clear and coherent structures. Very few young pianists can have quite the level of work-rate and productivity as Helbock. In around 2010 he published the 600-page “My Personal Realbook” a kind of musical diary written over a year, during which he composed a new piece every day. By 2013 he had recorded more than ten albums in all kinds of ensembles, of which those with his Trio Random/Control have had the most impact. This group (with two multi-instrumentalist wind players) has made its mark by traversing all kinds of musical styles with an iridescent unpredictability – and a sense of humour. Now, however, the musical storyteller Helbock feels he has reached the point when it is right to tie all these threads together, and to concentrate on the mystical heart of what it is to make music. In this trio recording with Raphael Preuschl, on the very rare bass ukelele, and Reinhold Schmölzer on drums, Helbock is adventuring “Into the Mystic” on several levels. The album is enriched by all kinds of mythology, from sagas about the gods of ancient Greece, to the cosmology of the earth, and a multitude of literary, filmic and artistic inspirations. Helbock proceeds here in a very different way from in his earlier sometimes wild experiments, which occasionally took him in the direction of electronica. Here his compositions are a tapestry of dreams. He stays true to the dictum of the American professor of mythology Joseph Campbell: “Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths.” Campbell’s exegesis of the universal structures and the local particularities of myths were a decisive influence on George Lucas’s “Star Wars” saga, and Helbock has made four tracks which incorporate the well-known music from the films by John Williams into the backbone of the album. Around this, Helbock, Preuschl und Schmölzer have woven, in their subtle and virtuosic way, tales of gods, heroes and miracles. It is sometimes lyrical, sometimes hymnic, but there is always an element which will take the listener by surprise. That is certainly true for the touching ballad “Eros” dedicated to the Greek goddess of love; or indeed of “Spiritual Monk,” Helbock’s simple and straightforward homage to his hero Thelonious Monk, which is overlaid with complex ideas; or the secretly shimmering title track. Perhaps the most captivating piece on the album is “The Soul,” in which Helbock has taken a mystical story by the 14th century Persian Sufi poet Hafez, which describes how at the time of the creation of humanity, the soul was imprisoned in the body through the agency of music. “One can try to reach a rational understanding of music, or one can engage the emotions - and just love it,” says Helbock. “Music has that capacity to take a mysical hold of us at the point where words end. One of my objectives was to track down the mystery inherent in music.” The listener gains a sense of what Helbock means by that from the very first solo foray with which he starts this album. He has taken the haunting processional theme of the second movement in Beethoven‘s Seventh Symphony, and brought out its essence by surrounding it with the interplay of chords in the bass and muffled overtones. As in many other instances on this album, the mystical becomes the magical.Credits: Music composed by David Helbock, unless otherwise noted Recorded by Klaus Scheuermann at Hansa Studios Berlin, January 11 & 12, 2016. Recording assistant: Nanni Johansson Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann, May 2016 Produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Gert und Uwe Tobias, by courtesy of Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin