Jukka Perko

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

Jan Lundgren - Potsdamer PlatzCD / Vinyl / digital Jan Lundgren piano Jukka Perko alto & soprano sax Dan Berglund bass Morten Lund drums Pianist Jan Lundgren makes music like a brilliant architect. If he were to build a house, it would – in the words of the song – be a very very very fine house. And it would have all his hallmarks about it. It would show his deep understanding of both tradition and modernism, together with his preternatural instinct for bringing the two together. It would visibly convey his unique way of blending the very best of American design and construction with immaculate European style and taste. To extend the metaphor, Lundgren's building on several floors would be a delight to inhabit, with rooms that have fascinating shapes, cosy corners, clear lines, rooms that would contain artefacts and objets trouvés which would allow nostalgia to well up in the visitor's mind. There would also be a spacious loft with the room to play, to improvise and to wander. Ever since the early days of his career, Lundgren’s artistry has been defined by change and renewal, and yet he never loses sight of the past. His album “Potsdamer Platz” is a statement that is personal, a faithful portrayal of the unique perspective from which he experiences and performs jazz. One German critic, writing for the highly-regarded DPA recently described Jan Lundgren as “a man who can, quite simply, do everything.” The pianist's starting point is his rootedness in the American jazz piano tradition, which was what first brought him together with mainstream players such as Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton. And yet his music is also deeply infused with the musical language of his native Scandinavia. He is a superbly skillful, classically-trained musician who knows the Western tradition well, but that heritage always co-exists quite naturally in his music with swing, with Nordic melancholy and a quicksilver impressionistic wit. In Lundgren's different projects, he has shown a variety of ways to carry European musical traditions into classic jazz. In “The Ystad Concert”, he has followed the paths travelled by Swedish jazz piano icon Jan Johansson, but what he left behind were his own new and distinctive footmarks. “European Standards” has demonstrated that jazz has long since moved from the USA, and has developed its own young cultural heritage back on the old continent. And in “Mare Nostrum” with Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu and French accordion player Richard Galliano, Lundgren has created a unique, distinctive and appealing “sound of Europe.” With ”Potsdamer Platz”, Lundgren goes further in this direction and has put down a significant marker. All of the pieces (except “Tväredet”) are his compositions. These are personal works, which flourish and blossom in this perfect setting. Lundgren has assembled a group which can really own these pieces, and give them stylistic heft and meaning. ”What I wanted,” says Lundgren, ”was to work with these people, my favourite musicians, and to make something new out of these tunes through the process of interaction. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against concept albums, in fact I have made a few; but here, it was as if we only realised what the concept actually was after we had done it.” So who is in this quartet of Jan Lundberg’s favourite musicians? Melodic duties are the domain of the great Finnish alto saxophonist Jukka Perko. In the rhythm section, the drummer is the Dane Morten Lund, who recently instigated and made a very well-received album with Lars Danielsson and Marius Neset. Lund is a stalwart: he was already occupying the drum chair of Jan Lundgren's regular trio in 2000. On the bass is Lundgren’s fellow Swede Dan Berglund, who for a long time played exclusively for the renowned Esbjörn Svensson Trio. He and the pianist have known each other for a long time, but Lundgren has never actually shared the stand with him before. “I've had the idea of this band in my head for a long time. Four years ago, we met at the festival in Milan and arranged the project,” recalls Lundgren. As so often happens, it took quite a while to put the idea into practice, but in this case the wait has been worth it: musicians who click together into a unit as well as these do are a very rare phenomenon indeed. These four musicians dispensed with all written music right from their first meeting. The joyous title track “Potsdamer Platz” is bursting with positive energy. “Ballad no. 9” then takes the listener right to the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. With its plaintive melody, it demonstrates what a capable and emotional songwriter Lundgren can be. “Lycklig Resa,” the Swedish classic, is then given an extremely cultivated treatment. It starts lyrically, but quickly hunkers down into a groove so solid you could drive your Volvo over it. In “Twelve Tone Rag”, things then take off in a virtuosic and tricksy direction, with a supporting melody built on a twelve-tone note row which has been craftily inserted into a bebop frame. There is a gleeful lightness of touch and a carefree spirit pervading this album, even if it does go through different moods. “On The Banks Of The Seine” is a melancholic and romantic excursion, whereas “Bullet Train” is febrile and funky. There are moments when Balkan music is transformed into folk jazz (“Dance Of Masja”) or when a more sombre mood is created and held, such as in “Song For Jörgen”. The one thing that definitely could not be said about Lundgren and his fellow musicians on this album, is that they have played it safe in any way. All four of them just dive into the torrents of this music, try out new things, they are bold in everything they do, and yet the music never tips over into inaccessibilty. There seems to have been a magical, providential hand guiding this album too, if the way the choice of title is anything to go by. “I hadn’t thought up a name either for this piece or for the whole album. We were recording at the Hansa Studios at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, and one day when I woke up in the hotel, I suddenly realised I’d got it: “Potsdamer Platz.” The name fits perfectly with its jaunty, bright lights, big-city feel, to its funk-march character. This is a tune definitely more about strength than it is about beauty.” “Just as the reconstruction of Potsdamer Platz is, in a sense, a symbol of the new Germany,” says Lundgren. “as the title here it stands for the kind of positive force that I feel should always emanate from music. Music should be on the move, taking us somewhere.” This new album shows how well Lundgren's new quartet has not only fitted together, but has also grown together, and now started to move forward with a clear and strong common purpose. Credits:All compositions by Jan Lundgren, except 11 by Per Ödberg Recorded by Arne Schumann at Hansa Studio Berlin, May 3 & 4, 2015 Mixed and Mastered by Arne Schumann Produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Wiebke Siem, Untitled, 1986 - 1988, by courtesy of the artist & Esther Schipper, Berlin

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

Jukka Perko - Invisible ManCD / digital Jukka Perko alto and soprano sax Jarmo Saari electric guitar Teemu Viinikainen acoustic guitar Out of the Ordinary The first thing one notices about Jukka Perko's instrumental trio Avara is its unusual set-up: saxophone, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. While that might seem an outlandish combination, the harmonic inventiveness and the lyricism on the album “Invisible Man” are often so completely jaw-dropping, one has to ask why it hasn’t been tried more often. The sound of the group is surprisingly dense for just three players, with each of the constituent voices supporting and complementing the others. Elegiac soundscapes reach out into the distance, evocatively shot through with sudden momentary flashes. The prevailing mood might be Finnish-melancholic; but there is always a glimmer of hope. Rather than needing to be loud to establish its presence, this music defines itself with a quiet strength which is all its own. Jukka Perko is one of the leading voices on the Finnish jazz scene, combining the strength and muscularity of bebop with Nordic melancholy. There are also reflected shadows of European classical music, of the American jazz tradition and of Finnish folk music. Perko has worked alongside such stars as McCoy Tyner, Red Rodney and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, and more recently was a member of Wolfgang Haffner's “Kind of Cool” ensemble. He was also particularly inspiring on his ACT label debut, “It Takes Two to Tango,” with another luminary of Finnish jazz, Iiro Rantala. Perko’s path to forming Avara was a mixture of smart planning and good fortune. He remembers: “the bassist in one of my bands wasn't available one time, so I thought I'd give Teemu Viinikainen with his acoustic guitar a try-out. It worked out so brilliantly, he’s stayed. I've known Jarmo Saari since the nineties. When I heard him playing in a duo with another electric guitar player, I really liked how he got it together, and was intrigued to see how he would sound with an acoustic guitar. So I suggested to him that he should see how things would work out with Teemu and me. From the very first rehearsal, I just knew that the three of us had nailed it.” On “Invisible Man” the three musicians Perko, Saari und Viinikainen have equal entitlement to create the music. There is no role model to fall back on, the conventional demarcation lines between the rhythm section and lead instrument have been eliminated. The principle behind Avara is to give the protagonists complete freedom and the possibility to stretch out and to develop. They take turns to determine the direction of the music, they can lead, follow, dovetail contrapuntally, or break free. Each of the three has a major influence on how the music develops thematically. “What interests us is to tell stories and to create extended musical structures”, explains Perko. In fact the whole album is like a single film, a road-movie full of atmosphere, in which strong characterful melodies determine the plot. Whether being entertaining and exciting, or profound and contemplative, Avara definitely stirs the big emotions. “Invisible Man” may be musically multi-faceted, but is in essence a ballad album. That is partly because of its core sound, and its story-telling character, but also because of Perko's individual way of doing things: “My idea of music has changed in the past few years and become more condensed. You could say it has become 'slower', I mean that in the sense that I am less focussed now on tempo and technique, and much more on depth and meaning. I'm far less interested in the offloading of the emotions of the individual, which have been the mainstay of jazz for such a long time. What holds my attention far more these days is interplay. I want all the musicians to be involved all the time, and not to drop back into the role of listeners.” Thinking about it, what is true for the trio is true for the CD listener too. It is clear that Perko and his two bandmates have achieved what they set out to do: they have created music which you can watch as it unfolds before your very eyes.Credits: Recorded by Klaus Scheuermann at Hansa Studios, Berlin, November 19 & 20, 2015 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Antony Gormley, DOMAIN LV, 2005, with the kind permission of the artist

Various Artists - Magic Moments 8 "Sing Hallelujah"CD / digitalThe eighth edition of the popular series Magic Moments is a 71-minute musical joyride through the current ACT release schedule, and features not just the stars of the label but also its newcomers and discoveries. The ACT label's proprietor and producer-in-chief Siggi Loch has put together a programme of sixteen tracks, under the title “Sing Hallelujah.” Encompassing jazz, soul, gospel and Afro-American roots music, it is yet another example of the Munich-based label defining itself by the will to be different, and by steering well clear of predictable and well-trodden paths. This is music “in the spirit of jazz,” which slips effortlessly between genres. It is fresh and up-to-date, and refuses to be a slave to any pre-ordained style. Magic Moments 8, “Sing Hallelujah” places the vocal artists of ACT in the spotlight. The collection opens with soul-blues legend Mighty Sam McClain, who died very recently. He is heard here with Knut Reiersrud, the Norwegian guitarist. Reiersrud himself is also heard later on another track with singer Solveig Slettahjell and the trio In The Country. They perform “Borrowed Time” from the album "Trail of Souls,” a CD which marries the American gospel and spiritual traditions with a Norwegian sound aesthetic. The title track “Sing Hallelujah,” a song by Mike Settle, is sung by Torsten Goods. He is surrounded by an all-star band of Roberto Di Gioa, Tim Lefebvre and Wolfgang Haffner, and delivers the song with his characteristic cool and nonchalance. Ida Sand has one track "Hey Hey, My My,” in which she honours Neil Young. The voice of Natalia Mateo "has a story all of its own to tell,” in the words of Die Zeit. Mateo gives “I Put a Spell on You,” - sung in the fifties by American blues singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and later a huge hit for Nina Simone – a treatment which is bound to take people by surprise. Norwegian singer-songwriter Randi Tytingvåg shows her genuine class on “Steady Going,” a song with its roots in American folk and country music. Drummer Wolfgang Haffner in “Piano Man” brings vocals to his “Kind of Cool” group with the powerful soul singer Max Mutzke. The final tracks of Magic Moments 8 are all instrumentals, but they could not be more varied and contrasted. Bassist Dieter Ilg with his regular trio interpret Beethoven; Iiro Rantala plays John Lennon's “Imagine” alone at the piano; saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, a 3-time Downbeat winner in 2015, honours the great Charlie Parker with “Bird Calls. The old cowhand shout of Yippee Ki Yay….in Berlin? Kalle Kallema the Finnish guitarist now makes his home in the German capital and his trio's take on the western classic “Ghost Riders In the Sky,” by Stan Jones and the Death Valley Rangers really does bring High Noon to the mean streets of Kreuzberg. Pianist Frank Woeste, born in Hannover, is a new face on the ACT Label. He has been a major and consistent success in France where he now lives, and where he frequently performs with Ibrahim Maalouf and Youn Sun Nah. Here the singer brings her unique and inimitable voice to “Star Gazer.” “If music be the food of love, play on,” begins Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. Add the words “... and of life,” and what results is an artistic credo, the philosophy which underlies all that the ACT label does. Siggi Loch and his team have been producing nourishing music for the past 23 years with an unstinting passion and an instinct for quality. This is music which goes straight the hearts and minds of people whose ears are open to the unexpected, and who love good music. “Magic Moments 8” is 100% true to that vision.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Jukka Perko - It Takes Two To TangoCD / digital Jukka Perko alto & soprano saxophones Iiro Rantala piano With only five and a half million inhabitants in an area as big as Germany, Finland is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe. At the same time, the Finns are at the forefront of many fields - be it education, design or technology - and a good number of their European neighbours regard the North with some envy. The signs are pointing to a bright future for Finnish jazz as well: alongside pianist Iiro Rantala, Jukka Perko is considered to be one of the most important ambassadors of Finnish jazz. Born in 1968, he was hired to the “Dizzy Gillespie 70th anniversary big band” at the tender age of 20, with which he toured intensively through Europe and the USA before collaborating with legends of Bebop and Hardbop such as Red Rodney and McCoy Tyner and Scandinavian icons like Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. Like Rantala, Perko also has roots in occidental artistic music as well as in jazz, and he plays regularly with classical orchestras. These two aspects - the American jazz roots and the European classic and folklore – are reflected to this day in his music and compositions. "It Takes Two To Tango" focusses a central musical point of reference in Perko and Rantala’s musical language: the tango. It may come as a surprise to some, but Finland is second only to Argentina on the list of countries where the tango plays a big part in popular culture. Indeed, the tango may be even more important to Finland because it is not considered a musical performance there like in South America, but a dance music for everyday use. The tango, alongside the Humppa and Jenkka, has been ubiquitous in public Finnish life since the first wave of European immigrants entered the country just before World War I. This was then intensified by the nation's state of mind in the fight for independence from Russia and the Soviet Union, and can now be heard played in restaurants, on ferries, at village summer festivals or as wedding music. Of course, they do embellish it in that uniquely idiosyncratic Finnish manner, adding German marching music and Slavic romanticism into the mix, which sees its played in a minor key, unlike most Tango Argentino pieces. With that age old saying “it takes two to tango” in mind, the two commence their dance with power and tempo on the heavily syncopated "So Beautiful Is My Darling", before finding their way to the classical tango rhythm on "Jealousy" and remaining closely entwined and "entangoed" in the lyrical-poetic dialogue that follows – the Charles Aznavour chanson "For Mama", the Victor Young version of the standard "Stella By Starlight", their own compositions and even a composition by their compatriot Sibelius, "Finlandia". Rantala is always surprising, exciting and lively and yet here also highly supportive to Jukka Perko, with his unmistakable lyricism, elegant to the very highest note, in which the strength of bebop is just as evident as Nordic melancholia and of course the passion of the tango. Once again Finland is the first on the floor and leaving footsteps. “It Takes Two To Tango” is the first joint recording of the two, in a lyrically dense discourse on the topic of love in all its facets. It is an homage to their musical homeland and the uniting power of jazz.  Credits: Recorded at the ACT Art Collection Berlin, November 6 & 7, 2014. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann. Iiro Rantala played on the legendary Alfred Brendel Steinway d-524780 grand piano. Cover art (detail) by Philip Taaffe / ACT art collection

Wolfgang Haffner - Kind of CoolCD / Vinyl / digital Wolfgang Haffner drums Christopher Dell vibraphone Jan Lundgren piano Dan Berglund bass Dusko Goykovich trumpet Jukka Perko alto saxophone Guests: Max Mutzke vocals Frank Chastenier piano Christian von Kaphengst bass Nils Landgren trombone James Dean and Marlon Brando were the glamorous heroes of the silver screen in the 50s. Character actors, sex symbols, blasé eccentrics with a penchant for extravagance. Role models for the rebellious youth: the embodiment of cool. A new attitude towards life was spreading around the USA. "The Birth of the Cool" also happened at the same time in the field of jazz, leading it to become the soundtrack of a generation. Miles Davis, John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker (the "James Dean of jazz") gave jazz a whole new direction: the search for a special "cool" atmosphere based on tone and space in jazz, on substantial melodies with a laid-back approach designed for the collective. But this music was never cold-cool, it was merely played and conceived with what one might call a cool head. It is exactly this feeling and understanding of music that speaks from the heart of Wolfgang Haffner and drives his music forwards. So producer Siggi Loch didn't have any problem at all in convincing him to reinterpret an old understanding of the attitude with "Kind of Cool" in a way that was reminiscent of the origins of coolness in jazz: "The first jazz record I ever had was a gift: "Dave Brubeck live in Carnegie Hall". Immediately after that I went out and bought the Jazz Messengers and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That is how I began to occupy myself with jazz," Haffner recalls. So even if this ECHO Jazz-winning drummer, who is one of Germany's most successful jazz-band leaders, has played with the crème de la crème of the international music scene since then, in nearly all styles all the way through to rock and pop, and even if he has been involved in a good 400 albums, the source of it all were the heroes of modern jazz between 1950 and 1960. "I wouldn't call myself a cool, swing or bebop drummer," says Haffner. "I try to find the essence of the music. But the timing, melody and compositional structure of the cool jazz, that is in the nature of my music. The sound is the focus, and I think that is the important thing." Three main pillars define "Kind of Cool": First of all, "cool“ jazz tunes had to be on it. "So What" for example, the opener of "Kind of Blue", and "Django", the perhaps best-known composition by John Lewis, from the first album of his Modern Jazz Quartet. Secondly, standards were chosen from different styles that lent themselves to a "cool" interpretation. The most logical choice was "Autumn Leaves", made famous by the versions crafted by Cannonball Adderley with Miles Davis in 1958 and by Bill Evans in 1959. The Broadway ballad "My Funny Valentine" from 1937 also became a modern jazz standard thanks to the recordings made by Chet Baker and Miles Davis. And Billy Eckstine's "Piano Man" can be considered one of the "coolest" numbers made with the Kansas City sound of Count Basie; the two recorded it in 1959. Finally, Wolfgang Haffner contributed three of his own compositions that fit into the programme. "If you try to copy what they played back then, you can only lose," Haffner explains. "Nobody needs a second "Kind of Blue". What makes "Kind of Cool" so special is confronting the disparate fathers of the "cool“ tradition with the other feature, and to take the resulting number down to a common denominator: Davis' "So What", for instance, is dipped in the Modern Jazz Quartet sound by means of the vibraphone, while contrastingly the strict quartet piece "Django" gains the dynamic and ethereal splendour of the brass. Haffner's normally opulent compositions, that work with the dynamics and various sounds and rhythms, appear here in a sober, classic light. "Kind of Cool" is permeated by the typical Haffner feel that flows organically and naturally through the music. Haffner has a veritable all-star band at his side for "Kind of Cool". No other could have met the requirements better than Dusko Goykovich. The 83 year-old trumpeter with an ECHO Jazz for his life's work actually played together with the fathers of cool and modern jazz like Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Chet Baker. Pianist Jan Lundgren could also be considered as being ideal for the project, thanks in part to his profound mastery of the Great American Songbook and classical music; but also to his clear touch, intelligent phrasing and extraordinary timing. The vibraphone has a very special role on "Kind of Cool", having been one of the characteristic sounds of the Modern Jazz Quartet under the mallets of Milt Jackson. Christopher Dell, the virtuoso, avant-garde all-rounder among vibraphonists meets the challenge with aplomb. Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko takes on the role of Paul Desmond, while e.s.t. bassist Dan Berglund helps Haffner provide the relaxed groove. Max Mutzke, a true soul man, takes over the vocal part on "Piano Man": "He'd never even heard of the piece, but in the end we used the very first take – it was perfect right off the bat," Haffner recalls. Jazz is just as "cool" today as it was then. Credits: Recorded by Arne Schumann on August 14 & 15, 2014 at Hansa Studio, Berlin. Recording Assistant: Jonas Zadow “Piano Man“ recorded by Philip Krause on July 15, 2014 at Emil-Berliner-Studio, Berlin Mixed by Arne Schumann @ Schumann & Bach Mastered by Peter Heider at Purecuts Cover art (detail) by Gert & Uwe Tobias, by permission of the artists