Family Tree

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XVI: Piano Night IICD / Double vinyl / digitalLeszek Możdżer pianoGrégory Privat pianoiiro Rantala pianoMichael Wollny pianoFour unique top-flight European jazz pianists, each with limitless freedom of expression. Limitless joy too for the audience in the completely full main hall of the Philharmonie Berlin. But perhaps there is also something even more im-portant here: music’s unique power to unite people. It was this intense magic that brought the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series into being. At the first concert in 2012, there were three pianists: Iiro Rantala, Michael Wollny, and Leszek Możdżer. It all started as a one-off experiment, a spe-cially curated jazz concert at the classical music temple, the Philharmonie Berlin. But that was just the start: this unique series of concerts and recordings has gone from strength to strength. More than a decade later, Rantala, Wollny, and Możdżer meet again at this special hall, which was always intend-ed to have ‘music at the center.’ This time, the original three are joined by Grégory Privat, another unique pianistic talent. The principle is the same as in 2012, and yet the out-side world has changed immeasurably, so the repertoire choices and interpretations reflect the many contradictions of our time. There is more seriousness now, and thoughtfulness and introspection – but also hope, joy, and curiosity. And, as if to defy all the uncertainties of the world, we hear outbursts of fun – childlike, playful, unrestrained.Perhaps what Rantala, Wollny, Możdżer and Privat achieve above all is to let us experience the essence of what music as an art form truly is: a reflection of our times, but also a means of expressing pure emotion... and a uniquely powerful form of communication with the power to affect people to their very core.Credits:Produced by Siggi Loch Recorded live at Philharmonie Berlin on December 3, 2024 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus ScheuermannCover art by Stanley Whitney © 2024, “Song”, ACT Art Collection, Cover design by Siggi Loch

Various Artists - Magig Moments 10 "In The Spirit of Jazz"CD / digitalThe anniversary sampler Magic Moments 10 gives an insight into the current album releases from the ACT catalogue. 14 tracks, over 1 hour of the best jazz infotainment "in the spirit of jazz".Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Lars Danielsson - Liberetto IIICD / Vinyl / digital Lars Danielsson double bass, cello, piano intro on 05 & 08, wah-wah cello & guembri on 09 Grégory Privat piano John Parricelli guitars Magnus Öström drums & percussion Guests: Arve Henriksen trumpet on 01, 02, 06, 09, voice on 06 Dominic Miller acoustic guitar on 10 Hussam Aliwat oud on 04 & 07 Björn Bohlin english horn on 02, 03, 08 & oboe d'amore on 01 Mathias Eick trumpet on 10 Music must touch the emotions For Lars Danielsson, that consummate craftsman of sound on both cello and bass, the power of music resides in melody. It is the heart from which everything else develops, and his Liberetto ensemble has stayed true to this principle again in its third album. The word 'Liberetto' which Danielsson coined for the name of the group also serves well as a descriptor of his art. 'Libretto' is a reference both to Western art music which is the source of his compositions, and to their lyrical, vocal character. But also hidden in the band's name is the Latin adjective 'liber' (free). That stands for improvisation, for how individuals can take lines and shapes and adapt them, but above all it refers to Danielsson's musical understanding which acknowledges no boundaries. This third edition of “Liberetto” transcends more of those boundaries than ever before. The opening track of the album looks heavenward: “I wrote 'Agnus Dei' for my mother,” Danielsson explains. “She sang in a choir - as I did later too. The spirituality and the ceremony of liturgical music left their mark on me.” Following on from this gentle, almost classical hymn is “Lviv”, a tune which is very differently wired: it’s brisk, based on a simple poppish melodic hook and it has an uncommon sense of rhythmic forward propulsion. What follows is many-sided: “Sonata in Spain” the band toys with Spanish folklore, “Taxim By Night” has a waft of Turkish-Arabic scent, and “Gimbri Heart” has African charm and warmth. By contrast, “Mr Miller” is a touching ballad with a ‘Nordic Sound’ aesthetic. All twelve tracks are compositions by Danielsson, and they sum up what 'Liberetto' is all about: through keeping structure and freedom in such a fine balance, the musical expression acquires an almost weightless sense of poise and easefulness. And binding it all together is the wonderful interaction of the musicians. Whether they are playing unison lines, solo-ing and accompanying, or engaging in interplay, the ball is generously and deftly passed from one player to another. “The band has developed massively since 2012”, reflects Danielsson. “We have played together so much, we all seem to have a sixth sense now. And that helped us to make the new album more varied and colourful, to take off in even more directions.” However, one member of the original quartet including guitarist John Parricelli and ex-e.s.t. drummer Magnus Öström, is no longer there: Tigran, the pianist on both of the first albums. But it happened that Danielsson became aware of the extremely talented French pianist Grégory Privat. His origins are in the Caribbean island of Martinique and he also happens to be a member of the ACT family. Danielsson invited him to play and found straight away that they were on the same wavelength. “He is a fantastic addition. Grégory is a hugely gifted storyteller at the piano, with loads of rhythmic sensitivity, plus he brings a Creole element into our music. We are thrilled to have him with us.” As was the case for the first two “Liberetto” albums, there are some carefully selected guests, who bring their talents and energies to particular tracks: Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller makes another appearance, as does trumpeter Mathias Eick with his inimitably rounded sound. Arve Henriksen takes the other trumpet parts - he was in the mix on the “Liberetto” debut album too. The striking oboe solo on “Da Salo” is played by Björn Bohlin of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, with whom Danielsson has been working recently, and finally there is the sensitivity and fair of oud player Hussam Aliwat. As a co-producer singer Cæcilie Norby supported Danielsson to make his musical visions come true. “Lars Danielsson has a knack of forming great bands", Stuart Nicholson wrote in Jazzwise in 2014."He manages to realise the potential of his musicians in directions even they had not imagined.” With Liberetto III, he has done it again, and produced a beautifully constructed, and yet deeply felt album.Credits: Music written by Lars Danielsson Recorded and mixed by Bo Savik at Tia Dia Studios, Mölnlycke Sweden Additional recording: Simon Danielsson & Michael Dahlvid Mastered by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, Norway Piano tuning by Bengt Eriksson Produced by Cæcilie Norby & Lars Danielsson Executive Producer: Siggi Loch

Grégory Privat Trio - Family TreeCD / digital Grégory Privat piano Linley Marthe double bass Tilo Bertholo drums“Grégory always puts great spirit into the music. He is a real performer. As soon as I started listening to the album, I got carried away and did not want it to stop.” (Lars Danielsson) The tree of jazz has many roots. One of them is to be found on the islands where the biguine began. It happened in the 1920’s in the Caribbean, or - to be more precise - in the two French “Départements d’Outre Mer” of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The beguine emerged as a swing dance, normally quite slow, which drew its inspiration from the Afro-Caribbean rhythms of the Gwoka and Bèlè, from the French musette, and from elements of Creole-American jazz. In the heyday of “Négritude” it was incredibly popular, which meant that it not only left a durable mark on jazz in France, but also on “Zouk,” the dominant pop music of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The musical tradition of his native Martinique is, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the defining strands in the musical DNA of pianist Grégory Privat, who was born there in 1984. He is the youngest and latest of the exceptional pianists in the ACT family of artists. And in his debut album on the label, “Family Tree” he demonstrates that this exalted company is precisely where he belongs. The earliest musical influence on Grégory Privat was his father, a pianist and a member of one of the best-known Martinican bands, “Malavoi.” He was already encouraging the young Grégory to take piano lessons from the age of six. After ten years of classical piano training, Privat fils started composing and improvising: jazz became his musical home territory. For the next stage of his playing, it was a steep learning curve of sessions and gigs in Toulouse, the French city to which Privat had moved in order to pursue studies to qualify as an engineer. That experience garnered in Toulouse served him well when he moved to Paris, where his name started to become known on the jazz scene. The French capital‘s jazz life is vibrant and relatively open to different styles. At 27, Privat took the plunge, abandoned his well-paid office job for good, and finally began to concentrate solely on music. Before long he was playing with the most illustrious of the musicians originally from Guadeloupe such as the saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart, the trumpeter and Miles Davis devotee Franck Nicolas and the master of Gwoka, the percussionist and drummer Sonny Troupé, who was to become his musical companion and close friend. Privat also worked with some of the key figures on the European scene, such as Stéphane Belmondo, Rémi Vignolo and a musician currently making major breakthroughs with his highly individualistic style of jazz-rock, Guillaume Perret. Privat also recently joined the Liberetto Ensemble, which is run by his Swedish ACT label-mate, the world class bassist Lars Danielsson. Beyond the France, Privat has made the most impact until now with his 2013 project “Tales of Cypris.” This work is his setting to music or the story of the lone surviver of the 1902 Martinique eruption in which the Mont Pelée volcano buried the town of Saint-Pierre under ashes and rubble. That piece was the blueprint for “Family Tree,” an album in which he has brought all of his very fine qualities as musician to the fore. Privat is a highly gifted storyteller. He has taken the almost ritualistic call-and-response “crick-crack” folktale tradition, a standard entertainment during extended outdoor gatherings in many Caribbean islands, and has continued the patterns of it into music. The title track “Family Tree” shows straight away the masterful way in which Privat sketches out elegiac melodies and brings them to life by timbres, voicings and moods that point directly to his Caribbean origins. Then there is his compelling, almost intuitive way of handling rhythm, to be found for example in the programmatic track “Riddim.” This is a virtuoso piece in which the underlying theme goes through dramatically bold tempo changes, but without ever losing touch with the core pulse. And there is “Ladja” which is inspired by the traditional martial art from Martinique and is based on Bèlè music. “Happy Invasion,” on the other hand, is a dialogue between two very different elements: rhythmically asserted chord clusters versus fine flowing single-note lines . “All the elements of Caribbean music are present in me,” says Privat. “They find their way intuitively and naturally into my music. But I always try to go somewhere else, to discover new styles each and every day. It is a great privilege to meet musicians from other cultures. I’m really grateful that I am able to gather together such amazing experiences.” With Grégory Privat, another strong personality is stepping forward into the spotlight of the international jazz scene. “Family Tree” singles him out as being in the foremost rank of creative talents who use all the musical means at their disposal to create a form of jazz which is modern and universal, while emphasizing its individual expression, and also its antecedents. “My aim is to find a voice of my own which brings something new into the music,” he says. “I want to be surprised myself by what I do. I want to create music capable of making the world a more magical place.” It is no exaggeration to say that in “Family Tree” he has successfully accomplished this. On this album he has used the world language of music - and his own authentic and persuasive Caribbean accent - to tell new and completely magical stories.  Credits: Recording, mixing & mastering on January 24 - 26th, 2016 at Recall Studio (30), France Sound Engineer: Philippe Gaillot. Assistant: Renaud Van Welden Produced by Grégory Privat

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