Limited test pressings of the album by Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu, Jan Lundgren.Only 3 test pressings are available, making it a rare collector's item!Album: Mare Nostrum IVRelease: 28.03.2025These test pressings were used to ensure the highest audio quality before mass production. Your ACT test pressing package includes:  1 Bio-Vinyl test pressing in its original white sleeve. A beautifully designed card, featuring hand-written key details about the release such as artist names, album title, production year, number of test pressings. Album booklet in PDF format. This sheet provides an in-depth look at the album and includes: The cover artwork, a thoughtfully written text about the album, tracklist, full credits for production and performance,  instrumentation details. Test Pressing Authentication Certificate. This certificate confirms the authenticity of this test pressing, which was produced as part of the quality control process before the final vinyl pressing. Test pressings are made in limited quantities to ensure the highest audio fidelity and manufacturing standards. Each test pressing is carefully inspected and approved by our team before production proceeds. This document serves as verification of its authenticity and uniqueness. For official validation, this certificate bears the company stamp.Please note: A test pressing is a preliminary version of the vinyl record used to evaluate the quality of the pressing before full production. The audio quality may not be identical to the final version and may include some imperfections inherent to the test process. It holds historical significance as part of the production process.

Fresu - Galliano - Lundgren - Mare NostrumCD / Vinyl / digital Paolo Fresu trumpet, fluegelhorn Richard Galliano accordion, bandoneon, accordina Jan Lundgren piano What began in 2005 as an experiment – just three concerts in Sweden bringing together a triumvirate of leading figures from European jazz – has developed in the past 20 years into one of the most distinctive line-ups now defining the ‘Sound of Europe’. Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, French accordionist Richard Galliano and Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren tell musical stories through Mare Nostrum, narratives from the northernmost to southernmost points of the continent. The trio combine their influences, which range from folk, classical and popular music, with the freedom of jazz. Over the course of hundreds of concerts and through three acclaimed albums, not only has this all-star project evolved into a highly empathetic working band, the three musicians have also become close friends whose affinity and chemistry can be heard and felt on Mare Nostrum IV. The mastery of Fresu, Galliano and Lundgren is in the nuances, the way they conspire together to make beautiful and often melancholic melodies flow, in their scintillating textures, and in the music’s subtle twists and turns. There is also delight in the sheer sound, from the intent and purpose behind every single note to the unique sonic identity of the trio as a whole. On Mare Nostrum IV, the twelve pieces that Fresu, Galliano and Lundgren wrote or arranged for each other are enchanting, cinematic miniatures of Nordic melancholy and Mediterranean warmth. This is a sea of sonorities, a utopia of beauty in which people know from deep what binds them together. And that is something more valuable in our uncertain times than it ever has been before. Trumpeter Paolo Fresu is an institution in jazz from Italy of the last three decades. As a leader and sideman he has participated in over 350 recordings, several of them on ACT, starting with his music/film project Sonos ‘E Memoria in 2001, followed by now four albums in the “Mare Nostrum” series, the duo album “Summerwind” with Lars Danielsson (2018) and guest appearances on albums of Adam Bałdych, Nguyên Lê and Jens Thomas. Paolo Fresu is artistic director of the Berchidda Festival Time In Jazz and, as teacher, lead the Jazz Seminars in Nuoro (Sardinia) for 25 years. He lives between Paris, Bologna and Sardinia. Richard Galliano is a unique innovator of the accordion and a singular voice of his instrument. Encouraged by Astor Piazzolla, Galliano created the "New Musette", his version of the traditional music of his French home country, which became one of his trademarks. He has recorded more than 50 albums under his own name - in jazz, classical and various musical styles from around the world. His impressive list of collaborations includes artists such as Chet Baker, Eddy Louiss, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Serge Reggiani, Claude Nougaro, Barbara, Juliette Greco, Nigel Kennedy and various renown orchestras. Among many other prestigious awards Richard Galliano was appointed “Officer” and “Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters” by the French government. Pianist Jan Lundgren is a pioneer of European jazz, combining classical music, folk traditions, American jazz and improvisation. This becomes evident on "Mare Nostrum", his own trio and their view of "European Standards" and "Swedish Standards", fusions of Renaissance choral music and jazz on "Magnum Mysterium" and various recordings together with Nils Landgren, Hans Backenroth, Wolfgang Haffner, Lars Danielsson or Emile Parisien. Jan Lundgren is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, was the first Scandinavian jazz artist to perform at Carnegie Hall and founded the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival in 2010, which quickly became a major European jazz event.Credits Recorded and mixed by Rémi Bourcereau at Studio La Menuiserie, France, on September 30th, October 1st, and October 2nd, 2024, mastered at Studio Sequenza by Thomas Vingtrinier. Cover art by Martin Assig, “Berg” (detail), 2023

Lars Danielsson - Palmer Edititon II: TrioCD / Vinyl / digital Lars Danielsson double bass & cello Verneri Pohjola trumpet John Parricelli guitar Commitment, consistency and a strong forward-thinking spirit. These are the core values which connect ACT, one of Europe’s leading labels "in the spirit of jazz", with Château Palmer, one of the most mythical Grands Crus from Bordeaux’s Left Bank. The partnership between them combines their worlds of music, wine and cutting-edge art. The art form with which winemaking shares by far the most attributes must be jazz. Like Château Palmer, jazz has deep roots, and walks a flirtatious line between rigour and innovation. At its heart, jazz implies respecting a tradition while constantly enriching it. Is winemaking an art or a craft? Aesthetes and academics have been debating this question for several millennia. Like art, don’t we recognize a transcendent wine precisely by its power to transport us to the most unexpected places? To move us to exaltation, evoking sensations, images and aromas wholly unconnected with grapes: truffle, violets, silk, velvet, satin… For ten years between 2010 and 2019, the wines of Château Palmer have not only been tasted but also heard. Vintages have been unveiled live from the estate’s barrel room through the notes of great jazzmen of our time: Michel Portal, Yaron Herman, Dan Tepfer & Thomas Enhco, Émile Parisien or the legendary Archie Shepp and his Quartet, to name a few. Each occasion has further reinforced the intuitive rightness of the idea that jazz and the wines of Château Palmer do indeed share a common essence: in the freedom of harmonies, the energy of contrasts and the vitality of rhythm. Edition Palmer, the collaboration between ACT & Château Palmer, kicked off in 2023 with a major release: DUO was an intimate musical conversation between Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny, two of the unquestioned greats of European jazz piano. The recording received international acclaim: ‘Der Tagesspiegel’, one of Germany's most respected daily newspapers, wrote: "The duo of Michael Wollny and Joachim Kühn is an alchemical miracle. They share a spirit of improvisation that combines introspection and expression, anticipation and perspiration." The leading French publication "Jazz Magazine" praised "a deep connection of extreme sensitivity." Whereas the music for the first Edition Palmer was recorded live at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the second release has been made at Château Palmer itself. A 'salon' in the château itself was the exclusive recording venue for a line-up of top flight, world class musicians. TRIO features the renowned bassist, cellist and composer Lars Danielsson, together with two greats of jazz from the north: Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and British guitarist John Parricelli. The listener will savour the genius loci, the tranquillity and intimacy of the recording location. This album not only brings the original idea of the collaboration between ACT & Château Palmer to life in a palpably exciting and entirely apposite way, it has also vividly captured the magic which arises when unique artists come together in a uniquely beautiful and special setting.Credits: Produced by Andreas Brandis In cooperation with Chateau Palmer The Art in Music: Cover art by Mark Harrington

Bill Laurance & Michael League - Keeping Company CD / Vinyl / digital Bill Laurance piano Michael League oud, fretless bass, vocals “For us to take a common project and drive it forwards together is an affirmation of who we are: we're just good friends and we're celebrating that with this album.” Bill Laurance There are some duos which can seem as if they have been patched together. And there are others which come into being naturally and completely of their own accord. The pairing of pianist Bill Laurance and bassist/oud player Michael League is very much one of the latter; the two musicians have known each other since student days. During a chance meeting in Leeds, England, as sidemen on a one-off project, the two quickly formed a musical bond that would grow through the formation of Snarky Puppy in 2004 and its development over years of touring together, a number of solo albums and collaborations, and finally, in 2020, the birth of their duo. Bill Laurance and Michael League’s new duo album, “Keeping Company,” is at the opposite end of the spectrum from all the extraversion, large scale and sheer oomph of Snarky Puppy; the focus here is on a shared inner perspective. That much is apparent immediately from the choice of instruments. Laurance has cast aside electronic keyboards and concentrates on piano, acoustic in sound although the piano strings have been occasionally and lightly prepared. Michael League chooses a fretless acoustic bass guitar and the oud. An extreme contrast to the pure groove of Snarky Puppy, here he goes for a transparently sparse but atmospherically rich sound. They do just fine without the band, creating a special freedom for both participants. “The oud in itself has a specific associative space,” says Bill Laurance from the orchestral perspective of the piano. “When I compose, my aim is to transport the listener. That works with the sound of the oud. It's not a guitar, it has something exotic about it. It's a canvas on which you can paint a lot of things. On the first album, we discussed whether Michael should play a fretless nylon string guitar. He tried it out, but it didn't produce the same emotion as the oud. Due to the oud being fretless, it can access a whole new world of expression and created new colours for the duo. That fascinated us.” Their curiosity is undimmed. “Keeping Company” is the duo's second album after the internationally acclaimed “Where You Wish You Were,” released in January 2023. The preparation phase was extremely productive. Both musicians wrote numerous sketches and compositions, with Bill Laurance alone writing up to three ideas a day for weeks on end. Finally, the abundance of new material had to be whittled down. “The first album was more about establishing a sound and exploring the dynamics. Now we want to delve deeper. There's even more personality in the music. We also wanted to try out things we hadn't explored before in this format, a touch of soul jazz, for example. We also made it a priority to record practically everything live, without unnecessary overdubbing. We have found a particular beauty in concentrating on what happens organically without too much extraneous thought or effort. The whole idea of broadening horizons by taking excursions into the unknown is second nature in this partnership. Michael League, for example, has never formally studied the oud in a classical context. He knows the instrument largely from his brother, who studied it while living in Greece in the early 2000s, and is mentored by Ara Dinkjian, one of the world’s most respected masters of the instrument. But he himself has explored the short-necked lute largely from his own perspective (as encouraged to do so by Dinkjian) and therefore ornaments differently, intuitively, and with a unique accent. Bill Laurance, on the other hand, dispenses with the expansive and grand-standing aspects of the piano. He prefers cantabile melodies, rhythmically clever, clear accompaniments, and compact improvisations. The pieces themselves seem like miniatures- hints at ideas rather than final or definitive statements. And that, as a duo still making discoveries, is all that they need to do here. “Keeping Company” is a snapshot of an unusual team, catching moments like a collection of Polaroids in sound. Bill Laurance and Michael League are still in the wonderfully inspiring phase of joint exploration. Everything is open. The music sounds spontaneous and intuitive. It has the power of the personal and builds on a friendship in which shared humour is a part of what happens naturally. Perhaps one day other players will join in. But for the time being, this intimate musical dialogue is the ideal form of artistic conversation for Bill Laurance and Michael League.Credits: Produced by Bill Laurance, Michael League & Nic Hard

Limited test pressings of the album by Bill Laurance & Michael League.Only 4 test pressings are available, making it a rare collector's item!Album: Keeping CompanyRelease: 31.10.2024A test pressing is the very first sample disc of an album and is used for quality control before the final pressing. It does not always match the sound of the later release exactly, which makes each copy a distinctive collectible with its own history. Every test pressing is a limited edition: ideal for collectors and for anyone who appreciates jazz vinyl, rarities and exclusive editions. Your ACT test pressing package includes:  1 Bio-Vinyl test pressing in its original white sleeve. A beautifully designed card, featuring hand-written key details about the release such as artist names, album title, production year, number of test pressings. Album booklet in PDF format. This sheet provides an in-depth look at the album and includes: The cover artwork, a thoughtfully written text about the album, tracklist, full credits for production and performance,  instrumentation details. Test Pressing Authentication Certificate. This certificate confirms the authenticity of this test pressing, which was produced as part of the quality control process before the final vinyl pressing. Test pressings are made in limited quantities to ensure the highest audio fidelity and manufacturing standards. Each test pressing is carefully inspected and approved by our team before production proceeds. This document serves as verification of its authenticity and uniqueness. For official validation, this certificate bears the company stamp.Please note: A test pressing is a preliminary version of the vinyl record used to evaluate the quality of the pressing before full production. The audio quality may not be identical to the final version and may include some imperfections inherent to the test process. It holds historical significance as part of the production process.

Joel Lyssarides - Arcs & RiversCD / Vinyl / digital Joel Lyssarides piano Georgios Prokopiou bouzouki Exactly when and how the long neck lute ‘bouzouki’ first landed in Greece remains a mystery. Its roots go back to the fourth century before Christ. Named after the “Βυζί“, the Greek word for female breast, the current form of the instrument is relatively young and has been all over Athens and the Peloponnese since around 1920. Initially at home in bars, parties and festivals; it certainly played its part in the revival of the ‘rebetiko’, often referred to ‘the Greek blues’ from the 1960s onwards. ‘Back in the early days there was a lot of improvisation, much more than in recent times...’ says Georgios Prokopiou, ‘because from the fifties onwards, the bouzouki was taught. And that's when so many more things about it became tied down and standardised’. Since that time, the metallic sound of the instrument has become almost synonymous with Greek folklore as the accompaniment for songs and dances...notably with composer Mikis Theodorakis, the source of more than a few ear-worms.Until now, the bouzouki has never got out of the starting gates as a jazz instrument. That, however, is about to change, but it needed a detour via Stockholm. ‘The links and connections aren’t obvious’ says pianist Joel Lyssarides, ‘but they stem from my grandfather, a Greek Cypriot, who came to Sweden in the 1940s. I always liked Greek music, but didn't really know it very well. In any case, I have always found the bouzouki fascinating. During the pandemic I bought myself an instrument and started learning it a bit. While browsing the internet I discovered Georgios from a concert on TV in tribute to Theodorakis. So I asked around in Stockholm if anyone knew him, only to discover that he would be playing a concert in a nearby hotel bar just a few days later.’ That happened in the autumn of 2022. Joel Lyssarides went and heard Georgios Prokopiou playing live, spoke to him afterwards, and they arranged to meet for a session. They jammed together, quickly found that they got on well, and in the summer of 2023 got themselves a booking to give their first concert together. ‘It is very unusual for someone to improvise over changes with the bouzouki,’ Joel Lyssarides continues. ‘After all, it is a traditional instrument with a clearly defined role, mostly accompaniment with parallel thirds and sixths. Georgios, however, does much, much more than that. I had no idea how good he really is. His versatility opens many doors musically. We had a lot of fun opening up new possibilities right from the start. And since I had never heard anyone play bouzouki like that before, I knew that I absolutely had to write some music for it’. Lyssarides also told ACT head and producer Andreas Brandis about the idea for the duo, and he was immediately supportive and enthusiastic: ‘ACT's way of thinking is that the term ‘jazz’ primarily stands for a vocabulary that musicians can use to tell their story against their own personal cultural backdrop. It is fascinating that formations keep emerging that never existed before. And the music that Joel Lyssarides and Giorgios Prokopiou create together is, on the one hand, absolutely surprising and new, but at the same time sounds so organic and natural, as if this combination of instruments had existed forever.’ And, of course, it is not just the instruments – piano and bouzouki – which have come together, but also the individual characters and musical histories of each of the duo partners. Joel Lyssarides from Stockholm combines great virtuosity with impressive ease and a strong sense of mood and dynamics. He has performed with artists as diverse as Anne Sofie von Otter, Benny Anderson, Nils Landgren, Viktoria Tolstoy and recently been part of the Esbjörn Svensson tribute "e.s.t. 30". Since its release in 2022, Lyssarides' ACT debut album "Stay Now" has been played an impressive 25 million times on Spotify alone. Georgios Prokopiou, originally from Athens who now makes his home in Stockholm, began playing bouzouki at the age of six and a half, made his concert debut at the age of eight and by the time he was ten was doing music engagements in the bars and “studios” (brothels) of Athens. Since then he has worked in classical contexts as well as in folk and experimental music. In addition to the bouzouki, he also plays the saz or bağlama, plus a range of other stringed instruments. Lyssarides and Prokopiou chose to cast their net as widely as possible for the material in ‘Arcs & Rivers’. After a rehearsal concert at the ACT Art Collection in Berlin – from which one live track, ‘Zafeirious Solo’, was included in the album – the two of them met again at the same location to record the rest with studio equipment in place. ‘For example, we wanted to include quiet parts, miked up close. We also wanted to capture the great sound of the grand piano which was originally selected by Alfred Brendel. Overall, however, there was a lot which was very spontaneous. The whole album was recorded at one session, within four hours, mostly with first takes. I'm usually a perfectionist and spend days reworking and editing music in the studio. This time, however, I wanted it to be as direct and in-the-moment as possible.’ And it has worked. ‘Arcs & Rivers’ is like a sketchbook containing dialogues which – considering it is a first time venture – sets a bar for achievement very high indeed. Both in the new compositions and in the adaptations of traditional material – as in ‘Kamilieriko Road’ – this music has a dazzling, magical sound. And the duo itself radiates a naturalness of cultural fusion that transcends any stylistic constraints. It seems that indeed the time is right for more bouzouki in jazz, and for its unique sound to be heard by the international music world. Credits: Produced by Joel Lyssarides, Georgios Prokopiou and Andreas Brandis Recorded by Thomas Schöttl at the ACT Gallery in Berlin, Germany, on 29 - 30 April 2024 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann The Art in Music: Cover art „Landschaft 1994“ (Detail) created by Manfred Bockelmann

Daniel García - WonderlandCD / Vinyl / digital Daniel García piano, vocals on #10 Reinier “El Negrón” double bass Michael Olivera drums, vocals on #6 special guests Gilad Hekselman guitar on #3 Lau Noah vocals on #7 Verónica Ferreiro vocals on #11 Something very special indeed is happening in the Spanish jazz scene. For a long time, its lively centres of Madrid, Barcelona and Seville tended to stay somewhat detached from the international jazz world. But in recent years a whole generation of Spanish jazz musicians has been rising to international renown: it is more than a cohort, it is starting to feel like a movement. And one key figure in it is pianist Daníel Garcia, born in Salamanca in 1983. With his trio he has made a name for himself as one of the most important representatives of jazz in his home country – playing over 300 concerts throughout Europe and as far away as Japan. The band's line-up demonstrates another important aspect of the Spanish scene: many musicians from Cuba found a second home there due to the common language - and brought their outstanding musical training and influences with them. This is certainly the case for bassist Reinier "El Negron" and drummer Michael Olivera, who form the rhythm section of the Daniel García Trio. Together, they are a tight unit with an instinctive feel, and who after seven years together are completely played-in. "Wonderland" is the Daniel García Trio's third album on ACT. And whereas the previous albums "Travesuras" (2019) and "Vía de la Plata" (2021) were still characterised by clear influences from flamenco and traditional Spanish music, García has now cast his net wider. There are flamenco borrowings on "Wonderland", but they are more subtle and sit alongside a whole range of inspirations from modern jazz, classical music, pop, together with influences from the Caribbean and the Middle East. At the same time, "Wonderland" is also about the inner search: Daníel Garcia quotes Swiss psychologist Carl Jung in the liner notes: "Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” García invites his listeners to explore their own feelings and thoughts - in “this secret haven where our deepest illusions and most fervent hopes reside, guiding us through the labyrinth of life.” In the twelve songs on the album, Daniel García traverses many different places in the soul, and creates a coherent narrative from them. We enter the emotional landscape with the powerful "Gates to the Lands of Wonders". This is followed by the title track, in which the Israeli guitarist Gilad Hekselman, a guest on the album, plays a cheerful melody in unison with the bandleader. "I love his sound and his compositions," says García. "Such a creative force! I like guitarists who speak through their instrument in such a human way". García has dedicated the gentle "Mi Bolita" to his new-born nephew; it represents the importance of family in the pianist's life, while the playfully energetic "Witness the Smile" shows García leaning into empathy and generosity, its catchy melody showing the pianist's Cuban influences - and, of course, those of his bandmates Reinier "El Negron" and Michael Olivera. "They are my brothers," enthuses García. "If I could choose two musicians from anyone in the world, I would still choose these two! Together, we are one unit." "I find it hard to put my music in any one category," says García. "It feels like trying to put the sea in a box - it just overflows! I love classical music, I love Middle Eastern music, I love rock, I love singer/songwriters! Inspiration can come from anywhere. The intro to 'The Gathering', for example, was inspired by a melody I heard on the streets of Salamanca." Two remarkable voices round off the album, the A Coruña- born and Madrid-based singer Verónica Ferreiro and the Catalan singer Lau Noah, who is based in New York. In "You and Me" she sings: "Take my hands/Now, come and dance/Time to forget the wounds/All the scars, the pain". An invitation to forget the pain in dance - and for Daniel a way to make the world a better place, if only for a moment. He says "There are so many tragedies happening around us. There is little we can do except believe in ourselves and be good to others." The power of music to improve the world may sound utopian. But Daníel Garcia, a soft-spoken man, warm-hearted and always smiling, will make you believe it. Take the opportunity to go with him as he travels through his "wonderland". The journey is fulfilling, worthwhile and memorable.Credits: Produced and composed by Daniel García except #11, traditional Cover art (Detail) by Alice Baber (1928 - 1982) Courtesy Berry Campbell Gallery, New York

Wolfgang Haffner - Life RhythmCD / Vinyl / digital Wolfgang Haffner drums Simon Oslender piano & keyboards Thomas Stieger bass, sitar guitar (#07) Sebastian Studnitzky trumpet Arto Mäkelä guitar Nils Landgren trombone (#01) Thomas Konstantinou oud (#05) Shantel additional production, electronics & mix (#05) Dominic Miller acoustic guitar (#06) Bruno Müller rhythm guitar (#06) Nicolas Fiszman bass (#06) Bill Evans soprano saxophone (#08) ‘I keep thinking about how to lead a band from the drums in a way that gives the instrument a central role, but one which is more about shaping the music than displaying virtuosity,’ says Wolfgang Haffner. This way of working, a common thread throughout his career, is a key factor in ‘Life Rhythm’, his tenth album for ACT. Haffner may shun the virtuoso drummer/bandleader stereotype – and do so intentionally – but ‘Life Rhythm’ nonetheless has the drums at its very heart. Back in 2022, it was Wolfgang Haffner's very first solo concert at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps which set the process in motion that has led to this album. He remembers: ‘That was an insane challenge. I had a decision to make: was I really going to play a drum solo … for a full hour? Of course not! So what I did was to add a lot of percussion instruments that I could use melodically, looped passages played live, I worked with reverb and delays – basically it was as if I was in the studio, but on stage.’ This has led to Haffner taking the drum kit, the instrument which has been his close companion throughout his life… and re-thinking his relationship with it: whereas Haffner’s tunes normally originate from the piano, all of the tracks on ‘Life Rhythm’ have the drums as their source.The consequences of this approach can be experienced right from the start of ‘Life Rhythm’: the title track has a driving groove in which drums rather than cymbals set the pulse. It is no coincidence that this groove has a clear echo of Phil Collins and his track ‘Take Me Home’. Collins, and the way he turns a drum part into a building block for his songwriting has always been one of Haffner's greatest inspirations. Each of the eleven highly concentrated, song-like pieces on ‘Life Rhythm’ opens up its own world of particularly musical drumming: ‘Balance’ has some gentle brushwork, in ‘Joy of Life’ it is a cymbal groove, for ‘Eternity’ there is the subtle use of electronics, and in ‘Silence and Sound’ less is definitely more. There is a reason why Haffner is able to transform this wide range of styles into a coherent whole, and that is because of quite how much of his career has been spent playing directly alongside the shapers of the music, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Pat Metheny, Jan Garbarek, Esbjörn Svensson, Albert Mangelsdorff...and many, many more. All of these collaborations have shaped Wolfgang Haffner's vocabulary on the instrument and his personality and individuality as a composer.A versatile approach and the highest level of musicianship are also factors which Wolfgang Haffner has in common with his fellow musicians on ‘Life Rhythm’. At the core is his regular, completely ‘played-in’ trio with keyboard player Simon Oslender, also a drummer and a band leader in his own right, and Thomas Stieger, one of the most sought-after bassists on the German pop and jazz scenes. They are joined by trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky, Haffner's regular collaborator since his ACT debut ‘Shapes’, and Finnish guitarist Arto Mikälä, a real discovery with remarkable variety in his sound.Haffner also welcomes some unique musical personalities to bring their own highly individual colours to the band: Nils Landgren has been a good friend and touring colleague for more than 20 years. Also appearing are saxophone icon Bill Evans, Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller, Balkan beat star Shantel, the refined bassist Nicolas Fiszman, oud virtuoso Thomas Konstantinou and Bruno Müller, one of the finest of German jazz guitarists. ‘Life Rhythm’, says Wolfgang Haffner, ‘is not a repetition for me, but a continuation.’ With its warmth, power and clarity, the music has the distinctive hallmark which makes Haffner probably the most popular drummer/bandleader in Europe, known from his albums and from thousands of concerts in more than 100 countries. And at the same time it marks an evolution in his music. Indeed, perhaps one of the key factors behind Haffner's success is that his music will always contain elements of the familiar alongside the new, and that Haffner always brings the audience along with him to participate in the flow of his ideas – and also in the ‘life rhythm’ which he communicates so brilliantly, and instils in everyone around him. Credits: All music composed, produced and arranged by Wolfgang Haffner Cover art created by Peter Krüll

Jan Lundgren - Inner SpiritsCD / Vinyl / digital Jan Lundgren piano Yamandu Costa guitar Pianist Jan Lundgren from Ystad in Sweden and guitarist Yamandu Costa, from Brazil’s southernmost province Rio Grande del Sur might seem an unlikely pairing, and the combination of guitar and piano is well known to be fraught with difficulty. But the collaborative affinity of this duo, the chemistry which they have found through playing together, first in a handful of concerts, and now on this fine album, are something truly exceptional. Lundgren and Costa are internationally outstanding representatives of their craft. “For Yamandu Costa, the guitar is a natural extension of his body and soul,” a critic has observed. Costa has six Latin Grammy nominations and one win to his name, and plays with an elegance, harmonic fluidity and a deep knowledge of Latin American music across a whole range of contexts from solo to working with symphony orchestras. Jan Lundgren has made a major contribution to the European jazz of the past two decades, not least through his role in the Mare Nostrum trio with Paolo Fresu and Richard Galliano. As Dave Gelly has written in The Observer (UK), what Mare Nostrum’s members have in common is“ a flair for melody and a similar lightness of touch, which makes their combined sound both delicate and irresistible.” Such are the virtues which Costa and Lundgren bring to their new endeavour together. The pair first met in Malmö in Southern Sweden in 2019, had dinner together and found an instant affinity. Lundgren invited the guitarist to be a guest at the festival which he directs in Ystad. As they got to know each other they listened to each other’s music, both finding a genuine enthusiasm for the music of the other, which eventually led Lundgren to ask “shall we do something together?” “It made me very happy when the Stockholm Konserthuset joined in on the idea,” the pianist remembers. The duo’s first concert took place on 17 February 2023, was captured on video, and the good experience led them to arrange more concerts and then to book dates for a recording. After a few days of working on the new repertoire at the ACT Art Gallery, the duo headed to Emil Berliner studios for just a day and a half of recording in February 2024, with Andreas Brandis producing and the watchful and experienced ear of Rainer Maillard as engineer. Brandis says: "It's amazing to hear how closely their playing interlocks, how they constantly switch the roles of lead and secondary voice. Both are masters of harmony and melody, each with their own cultural background." Lundgren agrees: “That is where we find each other and why we like each other,” and Costa ads: “We play original music. I believe that in this way we can have something sincere and really true to our purposes.” That interest in giving to a collective endeavour is astonishingly palpable from the very first seconds of the album. The rhythm of “Para Aprender A Amar” (to learn to love) is Ecuadorian, a pasilo and the first strong melodic voice that we hear is of the lowest string of Costa’s “violão de sete cordas“ (seven-string Brazilian guitar), a signature model from Cuenca in Spain. There are also delightful explorations of Brazilian music, such as the lively choro “Diplomata”, and a little-known gem from Jobim, “Garoto”. The titles of Lundgren’s compositions point clearly to how personal and how authentic this album is. He has devoted one track each to his Mare Nostrum partners Paolo Fresu and Richard Galliano, and also one to his wife, singer Hannah Svensson. The variety of style, pace and mood of “Inner Spirits” as a whole is addictive. Jan Lundgren and Yamandu Costa’s winning combination of empathy, mutual respect and jaw-dropping musicianship has produced a beautiful-sounding set which is certainly about to earn its place as one of the very great piano-and-guitar recordings.Credits: Produced by Andreas Brandis Cover art created by Olafur Eliasson “Friend from the ecotone, 2020 (detail) , ACT Art Collection, Courtesy neugerriemschneider Berlin

Bernd Lhotzky - The Gallery Concerts III: Rag BagCD / Vinyl / digitalBernd Lhotzky pianoBernd Lhotzky has been Germany’s most important exponent of classic jazz piano for the past three decades. However, his approach to music from the early days of jazz on his new solo album ‘Rag Bag’ is anything but museum-like. He says: ‘What fascinates me in music, art and life in general are the contradictions and contrasts, the syncopations, the cracks in time.’ ‘Rag Bag’ is a journey between times and worlds, a patchwork of the most diverse motifs, styles and associations. The nucleus of the album's music is Ragtime, one of the earliest forms of jazz. Lhotzky says: ‘To this day, what I love about this music is that it is so warm, life-affirming and undisguised and simply bursts with vitality and honest joy.Lhotzky’s contribution to the rediscovery of jazz from the twenties to the fifties has been immeasurable, in particular his role as the artistic director and creative fountainhead of the internationally celebrated band ‘Echoes of Swing’, but also as an organizer and promoter of concerts and festivals. And it all started with Ragtime. Lhotzky says: ‘This music was my route into jazz. And what still fascinates me today is how warm, life-affirming and unpretentious about this music is. I love the jazz of the early days because it is bursting with such vitality and honest joy.’ And when Lhotzky looks back at the decisive events which fired his enthusiasm for early jazz, Ragtime was there first. He has previously spoken of the time when as an eleven year old, an uncle gave him a Fats Waller record, the moment which sparked off his love of Harlem Stride piano. But already at the age of nine he was taken to a concert of music by Scott Joplin, and that was his very first introduction to this music. Over the years, his enthusiasm for the roots of jazz, which are also his own musical roots, fuelled Lhotzky's desire as composer and pianist to focus his activity on working at the intersection between contemporary jazz and Ragtime. When he told ACT founder Siggi Loch about his idea, the latter invited the pianist to a concert in the intimate surroundings of his ACT Art Collection in Berlin - and made sure that the performance was recorded. The resulting album ‘Rag Bag’ is the third in the ACT series ‘The Gallery Concerts’. These are live chamber music recordings in a special and exclusive setting, and ‘Rag Bag’ follows on from two duo recordings: one with pianist Johanna Summer and saxophonist Jakob Manz, two of the greatest rising stars of German jazz, and the other with the Swedish jazz greats Jan Lundgren and Hans Backenroth. Bernd Lhotzky’s journey to the origins of jazz also reflects on the present day. ‘Rag Bag‘ has been a real liberation,’ says Lhotzky. ‘The solo format allows me to be completely uncompromising. This is me, just me, all the time.‘ His journey to the origins of jazz is therefore also a reflection on Lhotzky’s own career until the present day: ‘My improvisations are a patchwork of different motifs and styles that have shaped my musical personality since I started playing jazz at the age of nine.‘ One of Lhotzky's strongest influences is the pianist Scott Joplin, a pioneer of crossing boundaries and blending genres in his time - whose compositions between jazz and classical music, with all their subtlety, grace, beauty and artistry, form a stark contrast to the tragic life of their creator. In many respects, ‘Rag Bag’ is a minor musical miracle. Firstly, because Lhotzky had only eight weeks to prepare this complex programme. But above all, paradoxically because ‘Rag Bag’ sounds so modern. Yes, Lhotzky may be playing music whose melodies, procedures and rules are over a hundred years old - ‘The ‘Linden Tree Rag’, for example,’ he says, ‘is based on a piece from 1850, and is more like French salon music.’ What makes Lhotzky's take on this kind of music feel so modern is his incredible instinct for improvisatory freedom. His compositions - from ‘Synkope schlüpft’ (the syncopation slips) to ‘Yara's Lazy Strut’ to ‘Maple Syrup’ or ‘The Host's Request’ - take beautiful structures and simple melodies and transform them into self-contained mind games where intuition rules. Without ever departing from the Ragtime framework, he manages to be completely free within it. ‘Out Of Bondage’ may serve as a prime example. It briefly echoes Scott Joplin's best-known piece ‘The Entertainer’ as if in a dream, only to immediately lead into a dramatic prelude, almost reminiscent of Grieg or Debussy in its impressionism and its fractured line, leading to a sudden explosion at the end. The result is a very special and exciting jazz album with the accessibility and cheerfulness of the early jazz entertainers, but we see them in a completely new light, both because of his original concept, and because of his deep knowledge of the history of the music which reaches right up to the present day. ‘Rag Bag’ has immediacy, the tingle of a live performance and the inspiration of the moment. A minor miracle!Credits: Recorded at the ACT Art Gallery, Berlin Cover art “Welle” (detail) von Manfred Bockelmann

Anna Gréta - Star of SpringCD / Vinyl / digital Anna Gréta piano, vocals, backing vocals & all keyboards Einar Scheving drums and percussion Skúli Sverrisson electric bass Þorleifur Gaukur Davíðsson guitar & pedal steel Birgir Steinn Theodórsson double bass Magnús Trygvason Eliassen drums Sigurður Flosason bass clarinet Albert Finnbogason synthesizer Anna Gréta goes gentle...into her second album on ACT, “Star of Spring”. The Reykjavik-born pianist, singer and a songwriter, who has lived in Stockholm since 2014, has her own way of approaching the art of quiet, artful, deeply personal songs, often drawing inspiration from the beauty and power of Iceland’s natural landscape. Her 2021 ACT debut "Nightjar in the Northern Sky" was named after a bird, and this follow-up album lands gracefully on a flower, the “glory of the snow”, also known as the "star of spring", which symbolises the ending of winter and the arrival of spring. But look closer, and there are always other levels of meaning. Her "Nightjar”, the rare bird she once saw in front of the northern sky, was a metaphor for the search for the things which are special and essential. In fact, almost all of Anna Gréta's lyrics have more than one significance, and her storytelling has now taken a leap forward on "Star of Spring". She says of the little flower on the title track: "I wasn't just inspired by the way it takes over the meadows in spring and turns them from green to blue, but also by the fact that it blooms because it is compelled to do so. It cannot do anything else."Anna Gréta's starting point to creating music was and is the piano. She first studied classical music, then switched to jazz. She only started singing later, when she was writing the songs for Nightjar and wanted to express herself in words. Anna Gréta's debut as a singer, pianist and songwriter earned her international acclaim: Downbeat Magazine called it „an album with the metamophoric diversity of a year’s seasons and a voice like the everchanging colours of the Northern lights“, France Musique “a remarkably immersive experience” and Jazzwise “starkly beautiful”. On "Star Of Spring" Anna Gréta has further developed her individual style. Her vocal lines can resemble piano motifs, often doubling them and resonating with an impressively quiet vibrato, sometimes quirkily reminiscent of Björk, at other times with the brooding ease of Norah Jones. The album also bears a very distinctive production style. For each of the songs, Anna Gréta has created her own little world of choirs, rhythmic textures and various smartly used keyboard instruments. The album ranges from the hymnal and elegiac - in "She Moves" or in the title track - to the playful and cheerful "Space Time" or the extremely pared-down melancholic ballad "Denouement". And even if the general mood of the music exudes above all warmth and comfort, Anna Gréta also deals with serious topics, such as the forced birth control of women in Greenland during the 60s and 70s in the song "The Body Remembers". There is a directness of expression and emotionality, even sensuousness about the new album, and that is not least because Anna Gréta’s band has developed and become a properly played-in unit with the experience to take this album’s more complex arrangements in its stride. The sheen and brightness of her piano playing is contrasted with a deeper voice, that of her father Sigurður Flosason's bass clarinet, on three tracks. "This album is more playful and experimental," she says. "A lot of things were easier for me than on the first album. And while I was still completely focussed on my own world then, now I was even more conscious and aware of what was going on around me." The result is music that is rooted in jazz, but at the same time goes far beyond it in a very subtle and deeply touching way.Credits:Produced by Anna Gréta

Mikael Máni - Guitar PoetryCD / Vinyl / digital Mikael Máni Ásmundsson guitar "I love the music of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan," says Icelandic guitarist Mikael Máni. "I think that's the main reason why I often write songs for the guitar that could just as easily be sung." Those words bring us to the core of what "Guitar Poetry", Máni’s debut release on ACT, is all about. This album introduces an instrumentalist who brings passion and expertise not just to his refined and subtle compositions but also to his vivid and fluent improvisation, and who combines all this with a highly skilled singer-songwriter’s clarity and directness. His multilayered music functions well, and on many levels. Mikáel Mani calls it a mixture of jazz, rock and impressionism. Yet he never loses the idea of being both accessible and sophisticated. He doesn’t just stimulate listeners intellectually, he also knows how to cut straight through to the emotions.From the very first song of "Guitar Poetry", "She'll Arrive Between 10 & 11", Mani gives a pointer to the expressive range which listeners can expect throughout the album. The guitarist makes a strong initial impression with the warmth of his acoustic sound: fine, brilliant, spacious. From this, a simple folkloristic melody emerges, a few sparse harmonies - a musical idyll. And then, in the middle of the song, everything turns into noise, becomes gloomy, threatening, almost despairing... and finally finds reconciliation by returning to the calm of the original theme. Mikael Máni’s mastery of presenting contrasts and of springing musical surprises is exceptional for one so young. And he is also a guitarist with his very own signature style, one which does not lend itself to categorisation within the usual spectrum of the instrument in jazz. His jazz leanings are more evident in his approach to playing than in any obvious affiliation with the genre or the canon. In fact, folk-derived techniques such as finger-picking, or echoes of the blues, Americana and Nordic songs and a unique, cinematic quality are more in evidence. But perhaps most importantly, whereas Máni plays purely instrumentally, his music - always and unmistakably - sings. Here is an artist for whom the shallowness of competitive virtuosity or instrumental vanity are completely alien. Mikael Máni lets his music flow and creates intensity, sometimes through calm and relaxation, sometimes through energy and small outbursts that can explode briefly from any tonality into noise, only to either find their way back or discover completely new ways out. And sometimes you imagine that there must surely be two or more guitarists playing, such is his skill in creating parallel layers of sound. But, with the exception of two numbers recorded in multi-track, it is always and only Mikael solo: he has the talent to play harmonies, melodies and fragments that then live on and grow in the listener's mind as essential parts of the fascinating tapestry which he weaves. The concept of storytelling in music may have been desperately over-worked and become a cliché, but that, quite simply, is what Máni does: all the songs on "Guitar Poetry" tell stories, open up spaces and land-scapes, draw pictures. And they are the reflection of a guitarist who is as unconventional as he is musically approachable, an extroverted introvert whose whole way of being is to assert the primacy of expression and emotion.Credits:Produced by  Mikael Máni Ásmundsson Cover art "untitled" von Guðjón Ketilsson

Viktoria Tolstoy - Stealing MomentsCD / Vinyl / digital Viktoria Tolstoy vocals Joel Lyssarides piano & keys Krister Jonsson guitar Mattias Svensson bass Rasmus Kihlberg drums & percussion Viktoria Tolstoy's ACT debut album, "Shining On You" from 2004, can now be seen as a defining moment, marking the beginning of the continuing success story of popular jazz voices from Scandinavia. The music was written by Esbjörn Svensson, who also formed the core band together with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström and was soon to become world-famous as "e.s.t.". The album, produced by Nils Landgren, was also a gath-ering of the ACT family of artists - also in its infancy back then - who joined the session as guests.Exactly 20 years later, in "Stealing Moments", Viktoria Tolstoy has once again taken up the idea of “the family" making music together. The compositions are by a whole host of current ACT artists, many of whom had an involvement in "Shining on You". It includes "Hands Off", originally an instrumental composition by the late Esbjörn Svensson; Svensson's widow Eva has written a very fine new lyric for it. Long-time friends and companions - Nils Landgren, Ida Sand, Wolfgang Haffner, Cæcilie Norby, Lars Danielsson, Iiro Rantala and Jan Lundgren - have all written new music specifically with Tolstoy and her voice in mind. "When you sing, the sun rises," Pat Metheny once told Viktoria Tolstoy. The thread which unifies all the tracks on "Stealing Moments" is her strong, crystal clear voice, together with her temperament, in which lightness and coruscating energy always irresistibly co-exist. Listeners are going to enjoy this music as much as she does...and she knows it. Or as she says, subtly re-forming the words of the album title into an implicit invitation: "Let me steal a little bit of time to listen." Credits: Produced by the artist

Esbjörn Svensson - HOME.SCD / Vinyl / Colored Vinyl / digitalEsbjörn Svensson pianoThere are only a few figures in music whose work influences and shapes a genre as a whole. This is undoubtedly true of the Swede Esbjörn Svensson. With his trio e.s.t., the pianist and composer wowed audiences beyond age and genre affiliations. And his influence on jazz as a whole reverberates to this day and already within the second and third generation of musicians worldwide. HOME.S. is Esbjörn Svensson's only solo album and the sheer existence of such a recording and its completely unexpected discovery over a decade after its creation are nothing less than a sensation: Since the early 1990s, Svensson focused almost his entire creative energy and recording activities on his work with e.s.t.. Thus, these new recordings are not only the first, but practically the only ones that show Svensson in a setting other than that of the trio: Intimate, concentrated and completely one with himself. The recordings for HOME.S. were made only a few weeks before Esbjörn Svensson's sudden death on June 14, 2008. Svensson recorded the music in his Swedish home. For almost ten years afterwards, the album rested untouched in his wife Eva's personal archive. In this interview, she tells the story behind the discovery of the album and the music: How exactly did you find this music? After Esbjörn’s passing, I made sure all the contents of his computer were saved to backup hard drives. And then I basically left them untouched for the next ten years. At the point where I eventually felt ready to look into the material, I soon realised that there was something I wanted to look into. I took the hard drive and went to Gothenburg to meet with Åke Linton, the sound engineer who had worked on all e.s.t. albums as well as on their live shows. He was also the one who had helped me to save the material from Esbjörn’s computer in the first place. So he probably already knew that there was something hidden in there. But nobody had listened to it. We went to his studio. And we pressed the start button. Then there was a total silence and we couldn't speak for the entire time the music was playing. After it finished, at first we were not able to say anything, because we were both so touched and surprised that it was all there, and that it was so beautiful. The tracks seemed to follow one another like pearls on a string. After we just had sat there for a while we agreed: This is really good. Musically, but also from a sound perspective. At first Åke wasn't sure if Esbjörn had recorded everything at home and just by himself. So he called different studios in Stockholm that he knew Esbjörn was in contact with and asked them whether he had been there, recording anything. But no, he hadn't been anywhere. I know he had bought some very nice microphones and in the course of touring had learned from Åke how to use them. So it became clear that this music had to have been played and recorded in the basement of our house. So there was nobody with him? He was all alone doing that? He was all alone. In retrospect I have been thinking about it because the few people who know that this exists were asking me if I knew about it. What I did know was that Esbjörn was constantly working, as he always did. He was in the basement, and I could hear him play. But to me, this didn’t raise any questions. Is he doing something? Yes, of course he's doing something. That's what he always did. Rehearsing, practicing, composing. But for me it wasn’t clear that something new was happening. I did know that he was longing to have time to compose and play in different kinds of constellations, but I had no idea that it might be piano solo. Just weeks after making these solo recordings, Esbjörn died. Everything suddenly took on another perspective. There was no way for me to focus on music. All I could do at that time was to make sure all the material he was working on was kept safe.When did you hear the music for the first time? I think it was in 2017 or 18, maybe. This was really the first time? Yes, the first time. After almost ten years. And you kept everything safe and untouched until then? Technically, yes… Well, I don’t know about safety, because it was in the cupboard. *laughs* But safe enough to be released now anyway. Life changed so dramatically after Esbjörn’s passing. For me and for us, it was not just Esbjörn, the musician, it was my husband and the children's father who was gone. That was what we had to deal with and find a way to live without. What made you choose that the time was right to share this with the public? It was really not about choosing the right time. At the time when I heard the music, I simply understood that it was important for me that it happened. To be able to hear it and to have it physically in my hands. And when I realized this, I also wanted to share it with more people. By making an album and having it released, but also, just as importantly, by creating some spaces for myself and for others, to meet and to listen together and to hear the voice of Esbjörn.Do you know where the repertoire of the record comes from? Has any of this been previously written or do you think it’s fully improvised? I think individual tracks and compositions were prepared. At least I am sure there were some kind of sketches. I don't think Esbjörn was just sitting down improvising from start to end. It was not how I remember that he worked. There is actually a lot of sheet music around and I am sure some of it is connected with this recording, but I wasn’t able to go through all of it. Yet. You decided to have the tracks to be named after the letters of the Greek alphabet, and one reason to do so is Esbjörn’s passion for astronomy. Something that also inspired one of e.s.t.’s most popular pieces “From Gagarin’s Point of View”. There is this feeling of being far away from everything, in zero-g with a totally different perspective. And at the same time at great risk. Yes, I could imagine that Gagarin’s adventure and his urge to go to new places must have been so much more thrilling to him than his fear of death. To take that leap out into the universe and taking as opposed to just staying home. I don't think that was an option. In a musical way, Esbjörn was just like that. This is probably why the stars and space were such a big deal for him and what fascinated him about astronomy. At the same time I remember that he said that he in some way regretted that he learned more about it because then some amount of the mystery was gone. He was always keen to look into things that he didn't know that much about. And then in a way try to find out how they work and how they’re connected to other things. In life and in music. He heard something, but he didn't know how to connect it. And then he, and also Dan and Magnus of e.s.t. would explore things together, without any outside guidance. From their childhood days they would just meet at Esbjörn’s house, play around, explore and to find things out. Esbjörn knew the Greek alphabet by heart and also all of the Greek Zodiac signs. So along with this being a metaphor for the desire to explore and discover new spaces, by naming the pieces on the album just by Greek letters, we are not explaining something that we don't want to explain, and we leave space for the listeners to find their own associations with the music. Any closing thoughts? When the solo piano recordings were found at our home it felt like “getting a message smuggled over the border. This music is like having Esbjörn’s voice in the room. It couldn't be anybody else that played. Never. It is his voice. And he still has something to say. And I'm having the chance to let people hear that. My feeling is that we’re doing this together. …Thank you Esbjörn. This is beautiful. Credits: Music composed, recorded, mixed and produced by Esbjörn Svensson in spring 2008 Executive Producer: Eva Svensson Mastered by Åke Linton, Eva Svensson and Classe Persson at CRP Recording AB

Emile Parisien - Les ÉgarésCD / Vinyl / digital Ballaké Sissoko kora Vincent Segal cello Emile Parisien soprano saxophone Vincent Peirani accordion, accordina Les Égarés is more than a record. It’s play space, a locus of musical life, a poetic asylum inhabited by two twosomes who for years have excelled in the art of crossfertilising sounds and transcending genres. They are Ballaké Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello) on the one hand and Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (sax) on the other. In the case of these magicians, 2 + 2 no longer makes 4, it makes 1. Because what they concoct is most definitely a unity of spirit, a single and fluid sound that disdains all forms of egotistical competitiveness and puts each participant at the service of a common musical good. Neither jazz, nor trad, nor chamber, nor avant-garde, but a bit of all of them, all at once, Les Egarés is the kind of album that makes the ear the king of all instruments, an album where virtuosity expresses itself in the art of complicity, where the simple and grandiose idea of listening to one another results in the birth of a splendid song with four parts. It all started with a summit meeting – high on a hill overlooking Lyon. That night in June 2019, at Les Nuits de Fourvière Festival, everyone was preparing to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the NØ FØRMAT label in a beautiful setting of Roman stones under an open sky. Vincent Segal played the role of master of ceremonies and held a kind of musical salon, gathering together guests of choice, among whom were Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Peirani and Émile Parisien. The participants signed a pact: rehearsing must never take precedence over anything that showed signs of being a moment of spontaneous creation. But how to reign in such inspired musicians, all of them enlivened by this desire to converse in music? That afternoon, in an arbour that shielded them from the hot sun, they started to jam, just for the beauty and pleasure of it, and the music just flowed like a spring, fresh and limpid. It was the memory of this spontaneous outpouring that gave rise to the idea of forming a quartet of Egarés (‘those who have gone astray’). And that’s what the recording of the album felt like too: a spontaneous sharing of impulse and know-how. Only one promise couldn’t be fulfilled, one long held dear by Vincent Segal, and that was to record in Bamako with his accomplice Ballaké Sissoko, as the pair had previously done for their debut Chamber Music. The extreme tension that currently holds sway in Mali scuppered this dream and, in the end, the four musicians set up their creative workshop in the alpine town of Gap. Outside, the weather was unpredictable; in the studio, the sun came out almost immediately. But it wasn’t a bland unchanging beauty: from the first notes, everything was volatile, in motion, vibrating. No surprises there: none of these four free stylers likes to be imprisoned, whether it’s in a particular role, or in a particular style or sound to which their instrument could so easily be confined. Each bought a few rough diamonds along in their knapsack and submitted them to the group. Tempered by that common fire, in the natural crucible of a live acoustic setting, those gems took on a new form, sublimating themselves and soon providing the material for an authentic and communal trove of music–musical gold in fact, melted down into a singular alloy of tones, touches, breaths and phrasings, that starts with a motif in unison that straightway spells out the basic alchemical formula. Take ‘Ta Nye’ and ‘Banja’, marvels of the Manding canon that act like markers for the start and finish lines of the course taken by Les Egarés: two kora tunes that the counterpoint and echoes of the other instruments enrobe and subtly displace, with that commitment to softness, that care to accompany as closely and precisely as possibly that’s the prerogative of experienced musicians. Just listen to Emile Parisien’s madly airborne introduction to ‘Banja’. A scent of Armenia clothes the first few measures of ‘Izao’, a piece that slips and slides in the direction of Transylvania via Turkey, seemingly orchestrating a disconcerting marriage of kora and Bartok in certain passages, all underpinned by a throbbing bass. ‘Amenhotep’ sets off a slow but sure ascending spiral, a Coltrane-like trance that elevates the interlocking breath of accordion and sax. Around the melody of ‘Dou’, as if guarding a fire, each of the four men take it in turn to preserve the memory of an ancestral blues, giving it the heady swaying feeling of a lullaby. ‘Nomad’s Sky’ opens with majesty and mystery, like a plant with intoxicating scents, everything required to overwhelm the senses present in the obstinate veins of the bass, played on a cello, and the progressive deployment of the instrumental motifs. ‘La Chanson des Égarés’ derives from those irresistibly cadenced melodies that buzz inside you when, according to Vincent Segal, ‘you walk without knowing where you’re going, letting yourself drift and giving into the pleasure of being lost,’ – a pleasure that, all on its own, aptly sums up the philosophy of this record. Credits: Produced by Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Emile Parisien and Vincent Peirani

Wolfgang Haffner - Silent WorldCD / Vinyl / digital Wolfgang Haffner drums Simon Oslender piano & keyboards Thomas Stieger bass (except 05 & 10) Sebastian Studnitzky / trumpet Bill Evans soprano sax (01) Till Brönner flugelhorn (04) Nils Landgren trombone (08) Dominic Miller guitar (05) Mitchel Forman lead synth (02) Eythor Gunnarsson rhodes & synth (10) Alma Naidu vocals (01 - 03 & 08) Rhani Krija percussion (04 & 05) Bruno Müller e-guitar (01 & 10) Nicolas Fiszman bass (05 & 10) Norbert Nagel & Marc Wyand tenor sax, flute & clarinet (05 & 10) It is scarcely two years since everything suddenly went quiet, and we all found ourselves living in a "Silent World". For Wolfgang Haffner, the most prominent German drummer of our time, things came to a particularly abrupt halt, not least because his regular schedule is so packed and his habitual work-rate is so prolific. He is normally travelling across all five continents, playing with stellar artists from all kinds of genres; his own exceptional craft as a drummer is to be heard on no fewer than 400 albums. Fortunately, however, Haffner has always considered himself to be at least as much a composer as he is a drummer, so once he had absorbed the initial shock of being grounded at home…taken long walks...watched a lot of TV...it was completely natural that he should devote himself to writing music. And, for once, he wasn’t having to fit it in between other commitments, but could set about it in a concentrated way. "In the normal course of things, everything I do comes with a built-in sense of urgency to get it done and over with. But now, thrown entirely onto my own resources, and without any background noise to distract me, I was able to ask myself what I actually wanted to do. What my own personal imprint looks like." It is logical, therefore, that the album which has resulted from this unique time should be called "Silent World". It will especially delight fans who love to hear Haffner on his own terms. This dreamer in sound is able to combine groove and bounce with an extravagant sound palette, plus the power of simple melodies, and to bring it all together in a way which is unmistakably his. And he always creates a special kind of tension. In recent times, Haffner has drawn inspiration from external sources: In his "Kind of" trilogy, he dealt with cool jazz, the tango and the music of the country he adopted for a time as his home, Spain; in his "Dream Band", his guests contributed many pieces and influences. Now, however, he has concentrated on his own sound world once more. This excursion into it is even more radical than "Shapes", "Round Silence" or "Heart of the Matter", albums which put down the markers to define his highly individual sound. "Silent World" is about the essentials of being human, a message which Haffner signals clearly with concise track titles such as "The Peace Inside", "Hope" or "Belief". Sometimes we’re in the world of hymns, sometimes of dreams, but there is always a melody to be grasped and a pulse to be felt, and those points of reference give a basis for the listener to focus and to enjoy the music thoroughly. Less is often more here, and it was precisely this sense of clarity and simplicity that Haffner knew he could achieve in the studio. To this purpose he gathered a nucleus of kindred spirits around him: his long-time companion on the bass, Thomas Stieger; his closest confidant from recent years, Simon Oslender, whose total mastery of grand piano, keyboards and organ is something very rare. His newest discovery is Alma Naidu: she deploys her naturally angelic timbre like an instrumental voice, and she is to be heard on four tracks. Finally there is the innovative trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky; he has been a regular feature of Haffner's most deeply personal music. Together with Haffner, these musicians give us the foundations over which some of the drummer’s more illustrious friends are able to make their star quality shine. The opening number "Here and Now" builds inexorably, with saxophonist Bill Evans playing some jubilant soprano. On "The Peace Inside", an ethereal flugelhorn meditation by Till Brönner takes centre stage. On "Rise and Fall" Nils Landgren gives us his uniquely lyrical trombone sound. For the gently wafting "Faro", Sting guitarist Dominic Miller contributes a filigree acoustic guitar solo. All of the tracks except "Belief" and "Faro" come from Haffner's most recent burst of compositional activity. "Faro" is from the sessions for "Heart of the Matter". “Whereas it felt unfinished to me at that time," Haffner explains, "it now fits perfectly into this project." What started as a labour of love has ended up as a concept album with a thread running through it. Haffner elaborates: "I wanted to have a continuous flow. I wrote a total of eighteen pieces, and these nine are the ones which fit together the best, without any repeats or breaks in the mood." In other words, "Silent World" has a special strength about it which comes from calm. And an irresistible progression from "Here and Now" all the way through to "Forever and Ever", the latter a minimalist finale with just piano and bass, a lovely moment avoiding any portentous heaviness. Rather than choosing to respond to challenging times by burying his head in the sand, Wolfgang Haffner has continued to create and to develop. "The album is about having a commitment to life," he says, "and a return to the origins." "Silent World" is the antidote for a world which is in the process of speeding up again, and is doing so far too fast. Credits: Produced by Wolfgang Haffner Cover art by Manfred Bockelmann

Bill Laurance & Michael League - Where You Wish You WereCD / Vinyl / digital Bill Laurance acoustic piano and voice Michael League oud, fretless acoustic guitar bass, fret-less baritone electric guitar, ngoni and voice A mere mention of the names of Michael League and Bill Laurance makes one think of Snarky Puppy. It is now nearly twenty years since Southern California-born bassist/multi-instrumentalist Michael League founded the globally acclaimed, four-time GRAMMY award-winning collective. As for keyboardist Bill Laurance, originally from London, he has been a part of the globe-trotting adventure for nearly as long as League has. So the fact that League and Laurance are now releasing "Where you Wish you Were", their first duo album together, does feel at the same time like a logical development...and also a surprise. Michael League takes a very different role here from the one he does in Snarky Puppy. On "Where you Wish you Were", he is to be heard mainly playing the oud and other acoustic stringed instruments. He takes the view that “we are so much more than the roles we play in the most popular band that we're a part of.” And Bill Laurance adds: "It was only a matter of time before we'd make a record by ourselves. We've been close friends for 20 years now and we've worked together in so many different capacities - with Snarky Puppy, my own band, and in collaboration with other artists. So it just felt like it was a natural thing to do." Laurance and League became completely taken by the idea of doing something totally different from Snarky Puppy, which is a project on such a large scale, it recently filled London's 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena. The pair kept the idea in mind to reduce the music down to a scale where it could be played by their duo. The recording offered a long-awaited opportunity to explore the intimacy, fragility and clarity which exist within the relationship between two musicians; it was something which they were both keen to achieve. "I think both Michael and I are driven by the idea to push boundaries, which is important. But this album is different," Laurance recalls. “Every single compositional idea has a lot of weight to it, and everything has very specific purpose. There was no rhythm section to hide behind, it was really just about melody and chords. And we were instinctively trying to create a place where people want to go to, that felt comforting. We feel that now, maybe more than ever, there is a need for such places.” What is particularly surprising, apart from the duo format with its reduced, concentrated approach, is the particular sonic and stylistic character of the music. Bill Laurance, who with his own projects and also with Snarky Puppy, often relies on a mixture of piano and a variety of synthesizers, orchestral arrangements and digital soundscapes, focuses here entirely on the possibilities of an acoustic grand piano, which has been ‘prepared’ with extra felt to dampen the strings. And Michael League, known elsewhere primarily as an electric bassist fired up by jazz and groove, plays a number of mostly fretless stringed instruments of Mediterranean and Oriental origin here – first and foremost the oud, but also a specially constructed acoustic and electric guitar and a West African lute, the ngoni. All these instruments have the quality of being able to imitate the voice, and also offer microtonal possibilities which go way beyond the norms of western music. These kinds of musical influences have accompanied Michael League since his childhood, and particularly now because his adopted home country, Spain is part of the Mediterranean region: “My family is of Greek ancestry and my brother specializes in Greek folk music, so my first time playing an oud was when I snuck into his room as a 14 year-old. We always had Greek and Turkish music in the house, and over the last almost ten years I've visited Turkey frequently to study. I just love playing the oud but because I've never really taken any lessons, my relationship with the instrument is a bit unrefined. Yet, my oud mentor, the great Armenian-American musician Ara Dinkjian, has been very insistent that I continue to develop my voice on the instrument without formal, traditional studies. He likes the unconventional way in which I approach the instrument. I treat it almost more like a blues slide guitar, and he wants to see what happens if I stay on this course.” "Where you Wish you Were" has nothing of a world jazz fusion album about it, and was never intended be one. "Bill and I are very clear about not pretending that this project has anything to do with replicating any regional styles with deep roots," emphasises League. "We're committed to creating something that is uniquely ours, even if it retains certain elements of established genres of music." And so it is, as is so often the case in the musical world which is now called "jazz": the universe of personal, musical and sonic influences of the two musicians do not serve to set limits or to categorise, but rather as a vocabulary which allows the two musicians’ own distinctive mode of expression to shine through. With compositions focused entirely on melody, harmony and space, a warm sound and the soulful playing of the two players, League and Laurance have created a place which is not just conducive to dreams; it is a place to which the listener will want to return to again and again.Credits: Produced by Bill Laurance and Michael League Cover art "Opus 18" by Nadia Attura

Nils Landgren - Sentimental JourneyCD / Vinyl / digital Nils Landgren vocals and trombone Anders Widmark piano Lars Danielsson bass Wolfgang Haffner drumsNils Landgren Sings Ballads Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Natalie Cole - these are the stars that have caused a worldwide furore with their full-blown movement back to the "standards". It comes as no surprise that the interpretation of the well-known ballads that make up a large portion of "The Great American Songbook" has always been considered one of the highest disciplines in jazz. At first glance Nils Landgren might seem a bit out of place in the midst of this illustrious group of women. Landgren - isn't that the guy with the fiery red trombone who continually brings the concert halls to the boiling point? Yah - that's him. But God knows the Swedish jazz trombonist has more to offer than rock-hard, groovy funk. When it comes to ballads, Nils Landgren is an old hand. And Nils could sing practically from when he could talk. Nils remembers with amusement that, "In school we had to sing a psalm every day, which definitely didn't arouse my enthusiasm for singing." It was a convincing performance in the best James Brown manner that got the 18-year old Landgren his first recording contract. Since then Nils Landgren has never completely stopped singing, regardless of all the success of his formidable band Funk Unit.  To the great surprise of those who know the music industry, Landgren's 1992 "Ballads" album (ACT 9268-2), which was brought onto the market without a lot of publicity, evolved into a real word-of-mouth hit. Almost 20,000 copies were sold - that speaks for itself - such a turnover is a more than respectful success in the jazz world. And so "Mr. Redhorn" once again gives way to his sensitive side and undertakes a trip to the land of emotions. "Sentimental Journey" - could there be a more appropriate title for an album from someone who is almost always speeding from one gig to the next, but who would like to shift down a gear? Nils declared that, "After all the hectic tours in this last period, it was simply the right time to do this album. I've always liked quiet songs that tell a story. It doesn't make much difference to me whether I tell that story with words or with my instrument." And there is a whole list of such stories: "In a Sentimental Mood", breathed in the characteristic style of the greatest jazz musician of them all, Duke Ellington. Kurt Weill's "Speak Low", referring to the intimate moment of trusting togetherness. "Nature Boy", "My Foolish Heart", and the title song, "Sentimental Journey"; these are songs that belong to the standard repertoire of virtually every vocal interpreter in jazz. But Nils Landgren has also covered pop artists such as Sting, and it is clear that he has no reservations about tackling such country greats as Allison Krauss: "Fragile" and "Ghost in this House" are seamlessly added to the phalanx of song classics as if they had always belonged there. A lot of heart went into the making of "Sentimental Journey"; it is a project that is worked down to the smallest detail. What is more boring than a record on which every piece sounds pretty much the same? That's not the case here. Every song has its own individual arrangement and stands alone in its beauty. Landgren is no friend of simple solutions - he's not content with getting his ideas ready-made. Instead of using the usual string ensemble for an adequate background, he opted for the original FleshQuartet out of his Swedish homeland. Landgren intoned, "It's damned hard to translate the ideas you have perpetually running around in your head into sounds, but I never thought it was possible that they could sound better in reality than the way I had painted them in my fantasy. I'll always be indebted to the Fleshquartet for their contribution to this recording." Certainly not a bad choice. The Swedish pianist Anders Widmark is one of the most versatile of his profession. A while ago he made a recording of "Carmen" which caused quite a stir. Bassist Lars Danielsson is one of the most sought-after players on the European jazz scene, as is indicated by the many albums he has recorded, both as bandleader and accomplished accompanist. And drummer Wolfgang Haffner's biography could hardly be more colourful: alongside his work with his own formations, he is one of the most sought-after session drummers on the international scene. Besides this, the "special guests" include singers Rigmor Gustafsson and Viktoria Tolstoy, along with Nils' labelmate and friend, pianist Esbjörn Svensson. On the title song "Sentimental Journey" we also hear Nils Landgren with two of his students, trombonists Karin and Mimmi Hammar.  46-year-old Nils Landgren has travelled a long way before he could begin his "Sentimental Journey". He has been involved with more than 500 recording sessions (including ABBA), jazz workshops with some of the world's most renowned big bands, successful international tours with the Funk Unit, artistic director of the 2001 Berlin Jazz Festival - the list could go on and on. One thing that makes "Sentimental Journey" so convincing is that it resists the hectic hustle and bustle that can overwhelm the music. Nils says adamantly that, "This is my baby, at least for a while." And what a beautiful, sweet, sentimental baby it is.Credits: Produced by Siegfried Loch and Nils Landgren

Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr - MosaicCD / Vinyl / digital Julian Wasserfuhr trumpet  Roman Wasserfuhr piano & keys with Tim Lefebvre bass Keith Carlock drums Harry Mack vocals Markus Schieferdecker bass Oliver Rehmann drums Tony Lakatos tenor sax Paul Heller tenor sax Martin Scales guitar Vitaliy Zolotov guitar Jörg Brinkmann cello Axel Lindner violin & viola Sebastiaan Cornelissen drums “Mosaic”. The Wasserfuhr brothers, Julian (trumpet) and Roman (piano) explain the title: “It fits in with our musical processes of the past two years. Despite a huge variety in the individual pieces - and also in the emotions associated with them - and even though we have chosen a wide range of musicians and friends to record this music with, the whole album nevertheless forms a coherent picture. It has emerged from our experiences, conversations and encounters with people during this time." "Mosaic" has also been pieced together from places a long way apart: from the Wasserfuhrs’ studio in peaceful Hückeswagen, the small town to the North-East of Cologne where the two brothers, who have always stayed close, grew up and still have their base, to Nashville where they worked (virtually) alongside a dozen other musicians. There is a kaleidoscope of different moods here, including a rap song and a homage to Kurt Cobain... The Corona pandemic gave the Wasserfuhrs the space and the time for good things to happen. The Colombian philosopher Nicolás Gómez Dávila has said that “if we want something to endure, we strive for beauty, not for efficiency." and the idea of taking the time to explore new things was very much on the brothers' minds during this time. They made sure they took the time "to reflect on the world, society, authenticity, friendship and family", as they say. It proved fruitful: "In the past two years we have written 42 compositions," Julian still marvels, and "Mosaic" is the distillation of all this creative activity – a time in which they have also found new and invigorating stylistic directions... There is luxury casting in the rhythm section which is to be heard on four of the tracks here – a fact that no shortage of rock stars would gladly corroborate: bassist Tim Lefebvre, whom fans of the Wasserfuhr brothers will already know from the album "Landed in Brooklyn", has played with David Bowie, Elvis Costello and the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He is here alongside his fellow American, drummer Keith Carlock, a Nashville resident who has played with Steely Dan and Toto. Contact and travelling restrictions made it impossible for most of the musicians to be present in the same studio, so a lot of the music came to the Wasserfuhrs’ home studio via remote recording. From there, a remarkable process of creation got under way: "First we recorded most of the songs ourselves with all the instruments. The musicians could then mute their tracks and make their own contribution. This input, in turn, had an effect on the other parts, which we then adapted and re-recorded," says Roman. This was ‘call and response’ in the best jazz sense, and that is the reason why "Mosaic" sounds quite so organic and so full of life, that it sounds like a recording session where everyone is together in the same space. There were exceptional cases where this did prove possible: cellist Jörg Brinkmann, was able to drop by and record at the Wasserfuhrs’ studio.  There are pieces on “Mosaic” written with specific musicians in mind. "Forward" is inspired by Pat Metheny's album "From This Place". Thinking about who might have the sound they wanted, the brothers remembered guitarist Vitaliy Zolotov with whom they had studied in Cologne, but had had no contact with for 10 years. "Hymnus Varus" with Jörg Brinkmann as soloist revisits their collaboration in "Relaxin' in Ireland; here it is in an XL version for sextet. The driving groove number "Target II", on the other hand, is based on a beat by Keith Carlock, which the Wasserfuhr brothers discovered in a YouTube video. Social media such as YouTube were a focus for the brothers during the long domestic isolation of the pandemic: "That's how we came across the rapper Harry Mack from LA, an incredible freestyle rapper. So we just asked him and he agreed to do "Never Hold Back". Later it emerged that he had originally been a jazz drummer. "It’s just right, isn't it?" asks Roman. The two tenor saxophonists on "Mosaic", Paul Heller and Tony Lakatos, are also right for the Wasserfuhr sound. Martin Scales, the guitarist from Doldingers Passport is also an old acquaintance, appearing here for the first time on an album with the Wasserfuhrs. Finally, there are two tracks that honour heroes who have passed away: "Hank", derived from the name of Charles Bukowski's literary alter ego, comes with a breezy New Orleans groove, setting the dissolute German-American cult writer’s love of life to music. And quite a few Nirvana fans are going to be surprised by this slowed-down version of the grunge classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit". “Mosaic”, then, in place of a single unvarying concept, represents a cleverly conceived sequence of varying timbres and vistas, and yet the individual and authentic voices of the Wasserfuhr brothers are never absent for a moment. The compositions give room for manoeuvre, musical ideas develop in a way which makes time flow naturally, the pieces are akin to the entries in a diary. There are meetings with acquaintances old and new, near and far. Whereas the production process was both elaborate and unusual, "Mosaic", considered together, is a remarkably coherent entity. It is an album to celebrate the joy of making music together.Credits: Cover art by Tomás Saraceno

Joel Lyssarides - Stay NowCD / Vinyl / digital Joel Lyssarides piano Niklas Fernqvist bass Rasmus Blixt drums Joel Lyssarides is Sweden’s rising piano star of the moment. And whereas awareness of him beyond Sweden’s borders may still be restricted to assiduous followers of the scene, his listening figures speak for themselves. Recordings by the pianist, born in 1992, are already among the most listened to in European jazz; on Spotify alone he has reached well over 50 million plays. And yet these huge numbers are not the result of any calculation, audience targeting or 'crowd-pleasing' on the pianist's part. He explains: “As happy as I am that a lot of people obviously like my music a lot and want to listen to it again and again, the creative impulse always comes from within me. Me and my piano, they’re at the centre of my musical world.” His ACT debut “Stay Now”, Joel Lyssarides’ third album, is a dazzling and vivid insight into that world. One thing is abundantly clear: the time has arrived for Lyssarides to step out onto the international stage. Joel Lyssarides is not yet thirty, and so the things he has already achieved musically are quite staggering: he has played countless concerts either solo or with his trio; he has collaborated with jazz, classical, blues and pop artists such as trombonist Nils Landgren and singer Viktoria Tolstoy, including her current album “Stations”... But he has also worked with YouTube phenomenon “Dirty Loops”, and with the great Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. And despite Joel Lyssarides’ evident and impressive versatility and adaptability, jazz is at the very core of his work. The initial spark came from records by Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk and others which were played in his Swedish-Greek parents' home. Thereafter came the music of Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Lyssarides studied music in Stockholm and Rome, and it was not long before recognition came in the form of numerous national and international jazz prizes. In just under ten years, Joel Lyssarides has received almost twenty of them, notably the Swedish Society of Composers’ Prize, the Bengt Säve-Söderbergh Award, the “Jan Wallander Award” and, in 2019 at only 26 years of age, Musician of the Year from Swedish Radio.  For Joel Lyssarides jazz is above all a language, a tool for uniquely personal expression. He composed the pieces for “Stay Now” in a remote house in the forest, a good half-hour outside Stockholm. And by preference at night, in silence, darkness and deep concentration. The atmosphere of this place is audibly reflected in the music, which is strongly influenced by space, sound and mood - reinforced by the highly concentrated, differentiated, subtle interplay of pianist Lyssarides with bassist Niklas Fernqvist and drummer Rasmus Blixt. The Swedish magazine “Lira” states: “Even though the concept of jazz is a very extensive one, it is too narrow of a description for the music of this trio.” What these three young musicians have in common is their capacity for great sensitivity and expressiveness. Their music is based on a vocabulary that draws equally from European classical music, jazz from both sides of the Atlantic and great songwriting, with all its depth and accessibility. And yet this has nothing to do with crossover. Everything flows and swings, nothing seems deliberate or contrived, one can hear a natural understanding for the infinite possibilities of every note. This trio has the self-confidence to put the entirety of their efforts into enhancing the expressiveness of the music.  And it is in the most intimate, quiet, focused and concentrated moments that the most spectacular things happen. The album title “Stay Now”, therefore, is above all an acknowledgement of quite how precious the here and now is. These are the moments when we start to understand the true value of present and past encounters. As we listen, we can let the moment linger… and allow ourselves to sink blissfully and unforgettably into it. Credits: Produced by Joel Lyssarides Recorded by Joar Hallgren at Nilento Studio, Gothenburg, September 7-8, 2021 Sound design, mix and mastering by Lars Nilsson Cover art by Manfred Bockelmann

Júlio Resende - Fado JazzCD / digital Júlio Resende piano Bruno Chaveiro portuguese guitar André Rosinha double bass Alexandre Frazão drums Lina vocals (on Profecia) “Since 1992, ACT has been building its own European union of musicians,” wrote The Times (UK) in 2020, “fostering a freedom of movement between nationalities and genres, and has given us an authentic impression of what the continent is about.” This statement becomes particularly resonant and relevant again with the signing of an artist new to ACT, Portuguese pianist Júlio Resende. "Fado Jazz" marks his debut on the label, revealing another fascinating dimension to European jazz, and one which has been relatively little heard: Resende’s art is not just to translate the bittersweet melancholy of fado into the language of jazz, but its lighter side as well. Resende is a genuine pioneer whose profile within Portugal is already substantial. He fills classical concert halls, he has been high up in the Portuguese pop charts, the tribute he made in 2013 to the “Queen of Fado”, Amália Rodrigues, was particularly well received, and he has also performed in a duo with classical piano legend Maria João Pires. His music has also been heard accompanying series on both HBO and Netflix. The leading Spanish broadsheet newspaper "El Pais" says of him: "Júlio Resende's approach to fado is reminiscent of what Keith Jarrett does with jazz standards"; and Alex Dutilh, one of the most renowned and influential jazz journalists in France, says: "Júlio Resende, the latest discovery on the Portuguese scene, is also the most promising. His playing is on a par with pianists such as Stefano Bollani or Yaron Herman."  For the Portuguese, fado is anything but a museum-piece, it is music which represents an attitude to life. On the one hand it is history which is being lived through, while on the other it is constantly in a state of flux. It carries with it a whole sweep of history, from stories about the anguish of girls and women as their sailors and menfolk leave them for the high seas, it takes in the oppression of the Salazar regime, then the hopes of the Carnation Revolution in the 1970s, right through to the lively, cosmopolitan Portugal of today. And just as society has metamorphosed, so the varieties of fado and the ways it is perceived have changed too. The icons of this music are national heroes, while the younger performers connect with an audience of their generation as a matter of course, and this in its turn inevitably opens fado up to other influences, such as pop music and the musical traditions of other cultures. Júlio Resende's view of fado from the perspective of jazz is something new, but it has developed organically and naturally from what had gone before. His intentions have nothing to do with crossover. As he says: "I really don't know if what I do is fado or jazz. Maybe it is both. I don't want to commit myself, because if you commit yourself, you stop developing. I prefer to move freely, like the sounds themselves." Almost all the tracks on "Fado Jazz" are original compositions by Júlio Resende, which gives another clear signal that he is not concerned with either adapting and reconfiguring the past, but rather with developing the music further. The opener "Vira Mais Cinco" is an example of this. Here we find an irresistible melody, the unique sound of the Guitarra Portuguesa, the lute-like instrument that is part of the traditional fado line-up and that creates a unique timbre from the influences of North Africa and Southern Europe that are so characteristic of this music. But there are also piano, percussion and double bass, by no means classic fado characters, but which nonetheless sound as if they had always and naturally belonged to it. And finally, the piece dances in 5/4, which gives it a twist that is as unusual as it is organic. It is these connections that make Resende's music sound so new and interesting, and yet at the same time accessible and natural. Fado, in both its traditional and modern forms, has become popular way beyond the borders of Portugal, and that is at least in part because of the wonderful voices associated with its main exponents, and their ability to convey feelings so immediately and vividly. But there is more to Fado’s appeal, namely the melodies which speak so directly to the heart and bring audiences to the brink of tears. And there are plenty of those on the album "Fado Jazz": ballads like "Lira", "Este Piano Não Te Esquece", "All The Things - Alfama - Are" or the gyrating "Fado Blues" and the simply stunningly beautiful "Tiro No Escuro" play with the feeling of "Saudade" (longing and melancholy) so typical of fado. But there are also pieces with a much lighter step, such as like "Vira Mais Cinco", "Fado Das 7 Cotovias" (in 7/4), the lively "Fado Maior Improvisado" or the bolero-inspired "Tiro No Escuro". And at the very end, we hear a voice, that of the young yet massively popular “fadista” Lina, who, in Júlio Resende's composition "Profecia" finds a magical yet completely unsenti-mental way to express every luminous nuance. Credits: Recorded by André Tavares at Atlantico Blue Studios, July 2020 Mixed by André Tavares and Júlio Resende Mastering by André Tavares Produced by Júlio Resende

Anna Gréta - Nightjar in the Northern SkyCD / Vinyl / digital Anna Gréta piano, keyboards, vocals, backing vocals Skúli Sverrisson bass Einar Scheving drums Hilmar Jensson guitar Sigurður Flosason saxophone Johan Tengholm double bass Ragnheiður Gröndal backing vocals Nightjar in the Northern Sky. An iconic, almost familiar image that instantly sets up a scenery, a temperature, a state of mind. Why? Probably because it has such a strong effect describing a place of longing that many people are only too happy to imagine themselves in. The album of the same name by pianist and singer Anna Gréta creates such a setting, implying vast spaces, diffused Nordic light and comforting intimacy. Her music is shaped by these familiar yet surreal Nordic sounds, which her native Iceland has instilled in her since birth. Growing up near the capital of Reykjavík, her father (who also guests on the album) is a jazz saxophonist – so it’s evident that music surrounded her throughout her childhood. The first formative influence that Anna Gréta remembers was The Beatles’ Let It Be: “This song, its simplicity and power, and the harmony between voice and piano, touch me to this day”. But jazz, also, was a constant companion throughout her youth - among many others, the music of Bill Evans opened up a whole musical world. Indeed, her talent for the piano came to light early on, as did her affinity with jazz; and, as a youngster, she played her first steady jazz gig in Reykjavik. In 2014, Anna Gréta eventually moved to Stockholm - where she still lives today - to study music at the Royal College of Music.  Anna Gréta quickly caused a stir in Sweden. She began to work with the country’s prominent jazz musicians such as Joakim Milder, Magnus Lindgren, or the Norrbotten Big Band, receiving numerous prizes, including the ‘Monica Zetterlund Scholarship’, a nomination for ‘Jazzkatten’ from Swedish Radio, the Icelandic Music Award as ‘Newcomer of the Year’ and the ‘Jazzclub Fasching Society Award’. She made prominent live appearances such as at the Nobel Prize in 2020 and a concert at Stockholm Concert Hall. In 2019, Brighter, her first album as co-leader with Swedish guitarist Max Schultz, was released. Hearing Anna Gréta at the piano, one witnesses an astonishingly mature artist, with profound technique, a deep understanding of style and harmony and a vast range of expression. So as a pianist she has already made a real name for herself. But her songwriting affinity for vocal expression was calling for something else: “I always had the greatest respect for female singer-instrumentalists, like the wonderful Norah Jones. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be forced into this stereotype, that a woman in a jazz band automatically needed to be the singer. So it was important for me to dive deeper into the piano to grow as a musician as a whole, until I could finally introduce my own voice when it felt right, rather than meeting any kind of expectation.” Eventually, over a period of two years, and partly influenced by the isolation of the global pandemic, the twelve compositions of Nightjar in the Northern Sky emerged – with Anna Gréta now as both pianist and vocalist. Together with pop-experienced producer Albert Finnbogason, she chose the perfect, hand-picked line-up and sound for each of her refined, harmonious compositions. And, although created within a cohesive framework, she draws elements from a diverse range of musical styles – especially blending elements of jazz, pop, classical and folk. The recording’s title sets the tone for the imagery created by Anna Gréta’s songs – a metaphor for Scandinavian expanses, tranquillity and the close connection to nature. As she says, “Nature is just so much bigger than most of the other things that otherwise seem so significant to us. And it is, in its infinite facets, perhaps the greatest inspiration for my music. A place where the noise falls silent and you can feel and hear yourself again. Recently, I have been introduced to birdwatching – something that I reflect on in the title track. When you observe nature carefully, you can experience something unique – a little like searching for love. The nightjar is a bird that is rarely seen flying across the sky in Sweden and has been seen in Iceland less than five times. I feel that everyone is looking for something unique in their lives; and nature can offer that to those who are open to it.” And so, with each of the tracks on this album, she creates self-contained worlds that are part of a bigger picture, light-footed, relaxed, reduced, concentrated. And a remarkably multilayered, immersive and beautiful experience.

Various Artists - Fahrt ins Blaue III - dreamin in the spirit of jazzCD / digital Esbjörn Svensson E.S.T. Symphony Youn Sun Nah, Ulf Wakenius & Lars Danielsson Wolfgang Haffner Quartet feat. Dusko Goykovich Nils Landgren Quartet Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano &Jan Lundgren Julian & Roman Wasserfuhr, Tim Lefebvre & Nate Wood Viktoria Tolstoy Cæcilie Norby & Lars Danielsson Matthieu Saglio &Vincent Peirani Ulf Wakenius Norah Jones, Joel Harrison & David Binney Jan Lundgren Quartet Michael Wollny & Vincent Peirani Natalia Mateo Jens Thomas & Christof Lauer Daydreams and soothing stories...in the Spirit of Jazz "There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us. Peace and quiet and open air wait for us. Somewhere…". These words from the classic song from Leonard Bernstein's “West Side Story” set the tone for "Fahrt ins Blaue III - dreamin' in the Spirit of Jazz": this is uplifting music, to take the mind and the soul to a place of safety. The kind of quiet interlude in a day which is always restorative. Switch off and then switch back on – better focused. We find calm, intimacy, thoughtfulness here; the sixteen tracks in this compilation have a sense of flow, while also allowing the listener to wander off into all kinds of musical dream worlds....From the very first spacious piano tones of Esbjörn Svensson’s "Ajar", one feels time standing blissfully still. This little gem, and the "e.s.t. Prelude" which follows it, is our entry point into the dreamy universe which will open itself up to us over the next 67 minutes. Youn Sun Nah's bittersweet "Lento", based on the music of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, gently emerges, seamlessly followed by Dusko Goykovich’s wonderfully warm and sad muted trumpet as he contemplates the falling of "Autumn Leaves" with Wolfgang Haffner's "Kind of Cool" ensemble. Then we hear singer/trombonist Nils Landgren, gentle almost to the point of weightlessness in "Somewhere". There is poetry and the originality in Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundg-ren’s Mare Nostrum Trio: we hear Swedish pianist Lundg-ren’s earwormish ballad “Aurore”. Lundgren also appears with his own quartet, with some hushed lyrical magic from Finnish saxophonist Jukka Perko in "No.9". On "Fahrt ins Blaue III", Michael Wollny and Vincent Peirani show their astonishing kinship of spirit and their serendipitous ability to move together in their duetting on "The Kiss". Accordionist Peirani is also to be heard with Ricardo Esteve’s heart-rendingly lovely flamenco guitar and cellist Matthieu Saglio on the poignantly sad but uplifting and warmly Mediterranean "Bolero triste". We then hear the Wasserfuhr brothers transport us to New York's Brooklyn Bridge with a sweeping view of the shimmering Manhattan skyline at dusk with their relaxed grooving jazz ballad "Carlo". For peace and inspiration, there’s a man and his guitar: Ulf Wakenius plays Keith Jarrett's "My Song". That is followed by the duo of Caecilie Norby and Lars Danielsson enchanting us with an intimate version of Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah”. Two more singers take us to the world of cinema: Natalia Mateo sings Wojciech Młynarski's gorgeous lyrics to Krzysztof Komeda’s “Lullaby” from "Rosemary's Baby", starting in her native Polish, and drifting into utterly beautiful wordlessness; and Viktoria Tolstoy offers that most pensive and gentle of breakup songs, "Why Should I Care". from the Clint Eastwood film "True Crime", with some stupendous guitar work from Krister Jonsson. And then there is an appearance by inimitable Norah Jones alongside guitarist Joel Harrison and saxophonist David Binney. She recorded a languid version of the country song "Tennessee Waltz" on ACT, on the album "Free Country", from the same era as her 27 million-seller "Come Away With Me". Pianist Jens Thomas and saxophonist Christof Lauer give us the quiet poise of “Green Dance”. This epilogue sums up the aesthetic of "Fahrt ins Blaue III": dreamlike music of beauty, tranquillity and calm – that it is well worth spending some time with. Credits:Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Matthieu Saglio - El camino de los vientosCD / digital Matthieu Saglio cello & vocals Nguyên Lê guitar Nils Petter Molvær trumpet Carles Benavent bass Vincent Peirani accordion Steve Shehan percussion, piano, bass Bijan Chemirani percussion Léo Ullmann violin Ricardo Esteve flamenco guitar Isabel Julve voice Abdoulaye N’Diaye voice Camille Saglio voice Teo, Marco & Gael Saglio Pérez vocals In “El camino de los vientos” (the way of the winds) Matthieu Saglio has not just had a bold plan for an album, he has also carried it through and made a genuine success of it. The French-born, Valencia-based cellist has followed his instinct for open-mindedness in music and welcomed in some very different musi-cal cultures, with his own contribution as composer, cellist and producer as the strong linking thread running through the album.Saglio’s most recent association with ACT was as the co-founder and main composer behind NES, the trio which had a runaway success with the 2018 album “Ahlam”. But whereas that album set about exploring French and North African sonorities, Saglio casts his net considerably wider here. While composing the pieces for it, he imagined and dreamed how the composi-tions might sound with particular guests playing along with him. His plan was that some of the guests on the album would be people he has a long history of playing regularly with over sever-al years, such as the singer Isabel Julve, the French-Iranian per-cussionist Bijan Chemirani, flamenco guitarist Ricardo Esteve... Others were simply “people whose music I have just listened to for a long time, and where I imagined their particular sound, their universe…” Some of them were people he had met maybe just once, people for whom he had what one might call a “musical crush”. The guests he wanted to invite were Nguyên Lê, Nils Petter Molvaer, Vincent Peirani, percussionist Steve Shehan, electric bassist Carles Benavent... The plan was as follows: the guests would be invited to play over cello tracks he sent them. They would record their contributions when and where they wanted: “I recorded all of the cello tracks here in a little studio near Valencia. I sent the guests deliberately minimal instructions as to what or how they would play.”But would Matthieu Saglio’s bold plan for each track and for the album as a whole actually work? Would all the proposed guests would accept to take part?. One by one, they did, starting with Nguyên Lê. And then the next stage: when he received the recordings back from his guests, having given them such free rein, would the reality match up to his dream? In fact, those turned out to be the very moments when Saglio knew that the project was taking its true shape, as he had hoped. “Each time it was a magnificent surprise!”, he remembers.One reason why “El camino de los vientos” works so well is that the listener instantly knows in each track exactly where they are – and not just geographically but emotionally too. The titles of the tracks, often in the form of just a single word, land us in a different world. “L’appel du muezzin” places us directly in a square somewhere in the Arab world. The cello’s voice carries the call to prayer from a minaret that has echoed through the centuries. The sound of a zarb played by Bijan Chemirani then brings more of a sense of urgency. “Bolero triste” is a poignantly melodic Spanish number introduced by guitar, then lifted by the accordion. “Metit” means suffering or pain in the West African Wolof language, and introduces us to the irresistibly affecting voice of Senegalese singer Abdoulaye N’Diaye. “Amanecer” is the Spanish for sunrise. Percussionist Steve Shehan makes the fast 5/8 groove seem effortlessly natural, allowing the richly communicative trumpet sound of Nils Petter Molvær to float over it. “Atman” is the Hindu word for the soul and introduces the voice of Mathieu’s brother Camille. “Caravelle” gives us the unique musical voice of Nguyên Lê in a memory of Ravel’s “Bole-ro”. Then two tracks with violinist Léo Ullmann give us a con-trasting, higher string voice: first the orchestral arrangement of “El Abrazo” (the embrace) with a lot of multi-tracked voicing, and then the simpler slow waltz of “Sur le chemin”. “Tiempo para soñar” is a catchy, sunny song about life, love, trust and above all optimism from Isabel Julve. “Las sirenas” is an evocative track with eerie cello harmonics which will almost certainly end up in a film soundtrack. And finally “Les cathédrales” takes us into the reflective world of the Bach cello suites – with occasional excursions into fast string-crossing virtuosity à la David Popper.In “El camino de los vientos” Matthieu Saglio takes us on a fascinating journey. But this album has been made without any of the normal rushing from airport to airport, and without the pressure tightness of time in the studio on anyone involved. Each participant has had the space and the time to be authentically themselves in their natural habitat – and without the carbon footprint of travelling. Technology allied to creative artistry was always supposed to bring us benefits and joys; there is plenty of both to be thoroughly enjoyed on this remarkable album.Credits: Mixed by Juan Carlos Tomás at La Seta Azul Studio, Benicas-sim (Spain), April 2019 Mastered by Pieter De Wagter at EQuuS Studio, Vlezenbeek (Belgium), September 2019 Produced by Matthieu Saglio