Bugge Wesseltoft - It's still snowing on my pianoLiveCD / Vinyl / Limited Sky Blue Vinyl / digital Bugge Wesseltoft pianoBugge Wesseltoft’s solo piano album It's Snowing On My Piano (1997) is one of the most successful albums that the ACT label has ever released. For many people – especially in Germany and Norway – this music, made with such care and love by the affable and generous-spirited Norwegian, has become an essential part of their holiday season. And yet, for a Christmas album, it is anything but typical. From the very first note, the meditative strength of the music is palpable. Wesseltoft creates a locus of peace and tranquillity – a state of being which seems even more precious today than it did when the album first appeared. In the intervening years, Bugge Wesseltoft has played the music from the album many times in concert. Each time, he reinterprets the music afresh, with the compositions and melodies serving as points of departure for musical meditations shaped in the moment. After almost 20 years of these performances, the time is now right to document and indeed to celebrate this aspect of Wesseltoft’s patient but continuing creative evolution through the release of It's still snowing on my piano. This new, live version of the much-loved album was recorded at five concerts in cultural centres and churches in Norway. When Bugge Wesseltoft played the music from Snowing live for the very first time almost 20 years ago at Kalkmølla, an intimate hall in a cultural centre outside Oslo, he had strong doubts as to whether it would be possible to recreate the magical atmosphere of the studio recording. He recalls: “There were about a hundred people seated in a small acoustic space. I started playing quietly and slowly, just like on the album. After a few songs, I started to hear deep breathing coming from somewhere in the audience. ‘Oh God, this must be so boring for them,’ I thought... I was sure they would all leave during the interval.” Of course, his fears were unfounded – not a single person left. In fact, quite the opposite: “After the concert, everyone told me what a great experience it had been. Since then, I have been playing this music every December in Norway in front of large audiences. It's incredible to feel the collective energy that this music and the presence of an audience in a concert hall can create together.” When Siggi Loch, the founder of ACT, originally suggested that Wesseltoft might record a Christmas album in 1997, the pianist was initially less than enthusiastic. He can still remember why: “I'm not a big fan of the frenzy of Christmas shopping, all that enforced happiness...In the early nineties I worked in a psychiatric clinic and was shocked to discover that Christmas was a peak season for depression, nervous breakdowns and family problems. I counted myself lucky, because I grew up in a family where Christmas Eve was a heart-warming, peaceful evening spent with my closest family." This eventually inspired Wesseltoft to record a Christmas album in this spirit — one that his then two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maren might one day come to love: "Calm, slow, with an emphasis on fond childhood memories, on the songs we sang while holding hands around the Christmas tree," as he describes it. There was no particular reason to expect that the recording would do well when it was released before Christmas 1997. And at first, not much happened at all. But in the following year, word spread about this very special Christmas music, people took the album to their hearts, recommended it and gave it as a gift again and again, something which continues right up to the present day. The live recording It's still snowing on my piano feels familiar – but at the same time it is new. The melodies of the compositions, originals but in traditional vein, remain intact. Wesseltoft's approach to the songs is neither of deconstruction nor of recomposition, but rather one of gently wandering and exploring the spaces between the notes. And yet it is precisely in this way that completely new music emerges within the songs. It seems as if each preceding note is paving the way for the next, as if each new twist and turn leads on to another. It can often seem that Wesseltoft himself is both player and listener. During the recording of the original album, his daughter Maren sat on his lap – not a typical artist-audience relationship, but rather one of listening and feeling being shared. And that is the spirit which pervades Snowing whether it is heard in concert or at home. It is the ever-present feeling of connection between musician and listener that makes this evergreen music so completely magical. CreditsMusic arranged and produced by Bugge Wesseltoft Mixed and mastered by Klaus ScheuermannCover art by Ardy Strüwer

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XVII: Gnawa World BluesCD / Vinyl / digitalMajid Bekkas guembri, oud & vocalsNguyên Lê guitar & backing vocalsHamid Drake drums Three continents, three musical world citizens. Morocco-born Majid Bekkas, Franco-Vietnamese Nguyên Lê and American Hamid Drake have combined their astonishing musicality, their origins and their global experiences to create a captivating live concert programme encompassing desert blues, Gnawa trance, Middle Eastern jazz, sixties rock and Far Eastern serenity. Voice, oud and guembri (bass lute)...electric guitar with a wide spectrum of shimmering timbres...a percussion arsenal between subtlety and physicality – these are the tools deployed here by three remarkable, world-class, globe-trotting protagonists... Majid Bekkas's innovations have cast a wholly new light onto the fascinating music and culture of the Gnawa minority in Morocco, and he has also worked with jazz greats such as Joachim Kühn, Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders, and, most recently, with the Magic Spirit Quartet, whose recordings for ACT have built a bridge between Nordic and African sound worlds. Among the very great guitarists of our time, Nguyên Lê stands out as one of the most exciting and individual personalities, having developed a unique style in which Southeast Asian melodies, complex jazz harmonies and highly virtuoso excursions into rock naturally co-exist. Chicago-born Hamid Drake, with his intuitive feel for many of the world’s percussion traditions and his background of varied collaborations from Don Cherry over Peter Brötzmann to Melba Moore, provides an improbably wide range of rhythmic impulses.The repertoire which the three performed so memorably on 10 November 2024 reflects a tremendous wealth of ideas which fuse and coalesce. The opening track ‘Gore Blues has a reflective blues melody played in unison by oud and voice over a strumming guitar... then we hear an animated, five-note ‘trialogue’ between lute, electric guitar and delicate cymbal work. Then, with ‘Mrahba’, the trio enters the realm of traditional Gnawa music: here are Lê and Drake creating a rocky, funky mood, while Bekkas’s powerful incantations over a rearing bass riff create a trance. ‘Boom Boom’ - in tribute to John Lee Hooker - gets going like a heavy, rolling, yet organic blues machine – the way in which Bekkas breaks away from his roots here is utterly astonishing. 'Ascending Dragon' offers a meditative interlude... thumb piano… a melody thoughtfully hummed, Nguyên Lê ornamenting the melodic line brilliantly. Then, as a high-spirited antidote to this, Bekkas, Lê and Drake interpret Jimi Hendrix's ‘Purple Haze’, initially very close to the original, before the new middle section recalls the guitar hero's journey to the Gnawa stronghold of Essaouira in July 1969. ‘Tair’ starts as a free oud improvisation, which then stimulates the interplay of the two string masters. And in the finale “Sidi Bouganga”, the trio ignites the joyful side of the Gnawa language with a hymn-like, exuberant tone.Three stellar musicians have drawn on their musical heritages – and created a celebration of human kinship which is breathtakingly alive. Credits: Recorded live at Philharmonie Berlin on November 10, 2024 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus ScheuermannCover art by Mohamed Melehi © 1969 (untitled), Casablanca Art School © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2025

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

Wolfgang Haffner - Life Rhythm Live2-CD / 2-LP / digitalWolfgang Haffner drums  Sebastian Studnitzky trumpetArto Mäkelä guitarSimon Oslender keyboardsThomas Stieger bassWolfgang Haffner is one of the most in-demand musicians in European jazz and certainly its most successful drummer-bandleader. He has the kind of full-on schedule in which a series of concerts in Japan can segue straight into an extensive European tour... followed by a short stop-off for a meeting in Ingolstadt – where he’s now in his second year in charge of the programming of the Ingolstädter Jazztage festival – and then off again. Wolfgang Haffner has brought about a remarkable transformation in his career. He has emerged from being a figure in the background in bands led by artists such as Al Jarreau, Jan Garbarek and Nils Landgren, into the kind of bandleader who really sets the tone; it is a role to which he is particularly well attuned and suited. Furthermore, whereas his studio albums such as the most recent, ‘Life Rhythm’, put a focus on high production values and the careful creation of deeply relaxed flow, the new album ‘Life Rhythm - Live’ has not only captured all that finesse and deep craft, it also conveys the kicking energy and dynamic buzz of Haffner's live concerts. The album also demonstrates why – uniquely – concerts by Wolfgang Haffner consisting solely of his own music in the largest concert halls are always sold out in advance. For the ‘Life Rhythm’ album recording and tour, Wolfgang Haffner put together a dream team. ‘Both keyboard player Simon Oslender and bassist Thomas Stieger have been in virtually all my musical ventures in recent years,’ he notes. ‘Trumpeter Sebastian Studnitzky was already part of some of my earlier bands. And when I met guitarist Arto Mäkelä about two years ago, his empathetic playing immediately left a very strong impression on me. With him, the band was fully in place as a complete unit, I had put my dream team together’. Haffner wrote the songs for the album “Life Rhythm” with the personalities of these musicians in mind, and the disc was released in the summer of 2024. In the autumn of the same year, the band went on tour, playing many of Germany's finest concert halls. And here, too, Haffner fulfilled a dream: ‘It was a pretty elaborate production, including a five-person crew, sophisticated lighting and sound, a real dramaturgy from start to finish, without any need to compromise or save on costs.’Plans fell into place immediately. As Haffner remembers: ‘The band gelled perfectly from the first second, and just grew day by day. What we did together night after night really was quite an accomplishment. And it was clear to me from the start that we should capture the show on a live album.’ Wolfgang Haffner loves the live situation, all that alchemy of what can happen between the notes. He manages to strike a balance between pre-planning and freedom. Gentle acoustic passages are contrasted with more emphatic moments which are precisely planned, and for which sound and light are in synch. His fellow musicians, all of them experienced in both jazz and pop, follow their leader with an instinctive ease and precision into an in-between world where fusion, electric jazz and rock meet and coalesce. And the audience is with them every step of the way. Standing ovations follow. Everywhere. Naturally.In addition to some tracks from the last studio album, ‘Life Rhythm Live’ also delves into Haffner’s back-catalogue. The bandleader has rearranged some earlier songs: ‘Leo’, ‘Nacho’, ‘Simple Life’, ‘Homerun’ and the frequently requested ‘Keep Going’ for the current line-up. There is a seamless fit with newer, more obviously dramatic repertoire. On the one hand, the album is a statement of where he is now, but it is also a summation, already turning new pages and hinting as to what might happen next. And that is because Wolfgang Haffner – who this year celebrates 50 years since first appearing on stage – still has plenty of plans for the future: ‘I am very grateful to be able to make a living from music. More than ever, I have tremendous fun playing the drums, writing new music and performing new musical ideas with wonderful people on stages all over the world for an audience that I love.’ This simple and candid expression of joy happens to sum up the recipe for Wolfgang Haffner’s remarkable success, for why it has endured so well, and why it will continue. CreditsAlbum produced, arranged & mixed by Wolfgang HaffnerMastered by Marko Schneider at Skywalk MasteringRecorded live by Jochen Etzel during the Life Rhythm tour in Germany, November 2024Tour organized by Karsten Jahnke Konzertdirektion

Stefano Bollani & iiro Rantala - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XVCD / Vinyl / digitalStefano Bollani pianoiiro Rantala pianoSome people are naturally, genuinely funny. They make us smile, and sometimes laugh. It might sound simple to do, but it’s a demanding art, and people who can do it this well are to be admired. For musicians operating at the level of Stefano Bollani or Iiro Rantala, humour has nothing to do with getting cheap laughs through failing, it is rather about how they spring sudden surprises on us – and on each other – by showing us something incongruous or wacky in the music. We’re never laughing at them, always with them. They might be showing us a new perspective, a clever detail that has hardly been spotted before, illuminating some unexpected connection or angle. Out of nowhere, an aria might suddenly be accessorized with a stride piano accompaniment, or the pianists might take a motif and transpose it into some way-out key signature, or use their sparkly, fleet-fingered pianism to comment and illuminate a theme. These two musicians venerate the original, but choose to give it to us in a different guise. It might sometimes turn into a game of hide and seek, but these are humourists who respect their sources and make great use of them. For them to do otherwise would not just leave a bad taste, it would also be completely out of character.Humourists like Stefano Bollani from Milan and Iiro Rantala from Helsinki are masters when it comes to appreciating, valuing, and above all loving the music they play. Each of them also, clearly, holds the artistry of the other in high esteem, venerates the melodic invention of the composers they interpret, and is completely alive to all the possibilities which the instrument can offer. These are musicians with a straightforward love of playing, and, since both are virtuosos, a duo concert by them is an experience of shared creative inspiration. Iiro Rantala says he is happy to celebrate Italian music ‘with the best possible duo partner, il Maestro Bollani.’ And the Italian responds: ‘During a musical career, you meet musicians who are different from you. But how much more fun to share the stage with a guy with a very similar musical taste and approach.’These are two artists, then, who visibly and audibly chime well with each other. They met on the stage of the Berlin Philharmonie on 1 February 2023 to celebrate a shared passion. The basic idea might seem a surprise, but the fact is that both of them have a reverence for Italian opera. ‘I'll go so far as to say that some of the best melodies in the world come from Italy, and in this particular case, from Italian opera,’ Iiro Rantala explains. ‘There is nothing better in music than a good, simple and catchy melody. You can't teach that stuff; there is no melody class in any music school. Verdi, Donizetti, Rossini and Puccini had a talent, a gift for melody! And how magnificently they used it!’During the lifetimes of these composers, this way of making music also went hand in hand with having respect for the audience. The opera composers of the 19th century wanted to offer something to listeners. They wanted to tell stories and entertain, sometimes with a message, but always with a feel for the level of enthusiasm and engagement in the hall. Composers who wrote anthemic and catchy tunes could be sure of being played and sung – and also heard. The concept still works today. ‘La Bohème’ and ‘Nabucco’ are fixtures in the programmes of opera houses, even if the plots and libretti might sometimes seem past their sell-by date. These works are full of melodies that have become ingrained in the collective memory of the cultural world, to the extent that all Stefano Bollani and Iiro Rantala have to do is to suggest the first few notes from Musetta’s waltz (from La Bohème) or hum the Prisoner's Chorus (from Nabucco) and the audience in the Philharmonie is already swaying along.Both players bring a finely-tuned sensitivity to this celebration of Italian opera. And both have such long and deep experience as improvisers, it becomes abundantly clear in this recital that they don’t need to question their first instincts. Their shared enjoyment is palpable: the default mode of communication between them is a smile. They are quite clearly having fun, because on the one hand they are playing repertoire from outside jazz, and yet on the other, there is nothing more 'jazz' than borrowing or stealing a good song. It’s a particularly appealing paradox. Through Italian opera, Bollani and Rantala locate each other's funny-bones. The melodies of Italian opera, may be old, they are certainly important to both musicians, but this album also shows how new and how fresh they can be. Credits:Recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie, Germany on 1st February 2023 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Cover art by Peter Krüll

Michael Wollny Trio - Living Ghosts (Live)CD / Double vinyl / digitalMichael Wollny pianoTim Lefebvre double bassEric Schaefer drums‘The Michael Wollny Trio is a reminder that this is the 21st century – and not the 1960s,’ wrote the UK’s Jazzwise magazine as a reflection on the evolution of the jazz piano trio. And yet, in many respects, Wollny’s new album ‘Living Ghosts’ flies in the face of the Zeitgeist: rather than short single tracks, we find four long ‘sets’. It represents the antithesis to a culture based on channel-hopping or of breaking everything down into bite-size fragments. This music flows across any demarcation lines of category, it demands the full attention of listeners, and also rewards them with complete fulfilment to the senses. As ever, Michael Wollny proves that he is the exception to any rule.For pianist Michael Wollny, his trio with bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Eric Schaefer is the constant in a musical cosmos which is otherwise undergoing constant change. The three players are united by a musical vocabulary which is more or less inexhaustible, an outstanding sensitivity in their interplay and the ability to create new music of tremendous tension and dynamism in the moment. Since the release of their last studio album, “Ghosts” (2020, co-conceived and co-produced with Andreas Brandis, the Michael Wollny Trio has performed the material from the album at a wide range of venues, from clubs to classical concert halls and major open-air festivals. Sometimes the trio has performed completely acoustically, sometimes working with a combination of electronic and acoustic sounds. Michael Wollny says, ‘concerts have become beautiful séances where the ghosts of the trio’s songbook visit us at their will. On some evenings they appear briefly and vanish after just a few bars. On others, single motifs inside a theme don’t just stretch out, they also weave new stories.’The repertoire of ‘Living Ghosts’ consists not only of pieces by ‘Ghosts’, but spans the Wollny/ Schaefer/Lefebvre trio’s decade of collaboration, going back to the release of ‘Weltentraum’ in 2014. That album was a game-changer for Wollny, it was the final step which took him into bigger venues – it’s also one of those jazz albums often to be found in the record collections or playlists of people who don’t tend to listen to much jazz. The trio's repertoire has continued to evolve through the years because of the regular schedule of live performances that they maintain. Time and again, Wollny, Schaerer and Lefebvre will allow new spaces to open up in the pieces, as they search together for new, previously unheard music. There are often subtle nuances which give the music a completely new direction in mid-flow. The original compositions, therefore, often serve as just a starting point for these new, and collectively formed musical explorations.It follows that the running order of the album ‘Living Ghosts’ is not divided into a conventional series of individual tracks. What we have are four long chapters, and within these substantial narrative arcs are formed out of fragments from compositions which are re-told in different ways. Michael Wollny says: As the pieces gradually shed their ties to specific arrangements, questions such as which key, what mood, and even whether to make a setlist, have been consigned to the past. New repertoire mingles freely with old; at any moment, different doors, connections and reinterpretations can open up. When we begin our concerts now, we never know which fragments of which pieces will emerge or the order in which they might unfold.’The album ‘Living Ghosts’ is the recording of a concert from April 2024 at the ‘Illipse’ in Illingen, Germany. The recording shows three distinctive characters forming a unit in which both empathy and in-the-moment responsiveness are to the fore. Their music is so much more than the sum of its parts, impressively diverse as the individual components are: Michael Wollny has long been considered one of the most important European pianists of his generation, notably for the way he crosses genres. He is someone who ‘can turn any kind of music into an experience that takes your breath away’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung). In his playing, influences from jazz, classical, indie pop, new and early music merge into a distinctive personal style. Wollny has been working with drummer Eric Schaefer for more than 20 years. No one plays the drums like Schaefer: from the softest whisper to the most powerful blast, beyond the instrument's conventions, with an almost childlike playfulness and at the same time the deepest penetration of all possible styles from new music to heavy rock. Wollny and Schaefer are united by a deep familiarity that has grown from thousands of encounters, and at the same time by their ability to surprise and challenge each other again and again. The trio is anchored by American bassist Tim Lefebvre, an icon of the instrument who has played with artists as different as David Bowie, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band, Donny McCaslin and Wayne Krantz.Together, Wollny, Schaefer and Lefebvre have created music that has an exuberant dynamism about it, and in which there is a boundless sense of variety, and episodes of irresistible urgency. ‘Living Ghosts’ is like a fast-flowing river; the only way to experience it is to feel its intensity, to revel in its twists and turns, be carried along and to experience its sudden and unexpected depths.Credits:Recorded live on April 19, 2024, at Illipse, Illingen (Germany) by Saarländischer Rundfunk The recording is used with the kind permission of Saarländischer Rundfunk Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Cover art by Sean Scully “Midday Blue 3” © 2020, courtesy of the artist

Vincent Peirani - Jokers (Live at Bimhuis)CD / digital Vincent Peirani accordion, accordina Frederico Casagrande guitar Ziv Ravitz drums Vincent Peirani, a pivotal figure in contemporary jazz, takes on the role of the Joker. Deriving inspiration from the jester — an archetype since medieval times — Peirani has put together a group of “wild cards”: Ziv Ravitz on drums and Federico Casagrande on guitar, musicians with a total readiness to throw themselves into any musical challenge. Not only do Jokers transcend genres as they blend jazz, rock and improvisation with disconcerting ease, each of them can also shapeshift as the music requires from a dazzling soloist into an ideally supportive ensemble player. “Live at Bimhuis” is more than just an album; it’s a plunge in Peirani’s world of playfulness and derring-do. Every track is an adventure, a game of perspectives in which the accordion, often thought of as an instrument on the fringes, is revealed as a many-levelled threat. Peirani's music is both joyful and mischievous. He may give a sly smile to the spirit of the Joker, but he also delivers musical reflection of real depth.Recorded in the intimacy and buzziness of Amsterdam’s iconic Bimhuis, the album captures the very essence of great improvised music. It is as if every note that resounds gives cause to celebrate — the wonderful creativity and artistic freedom of this extraordinary trio.Credits: Produced by Amélie Salembier & Vincent Peirani/ Yes les Guy´zz Recorded live at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, on October 13th 2023 Cover Art by Alice Thibault Design by Siggi Loch

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

Esbjörn Svensson Trio e.s.t. - e.s.t. Live 95CD / Vinyl / digital Esbjörn Svensson piano Dan Berglund bass Magnus Öström drums They have been lauded as the "New sound in the Old World", and as "high voltage out of Sweden"; the group has been called "possibly the best jazz trio in the world". The Esbjörn Svensson Trio's - known as EST - rise to the heights has been almost frightening. After their first major success in Sweden, their international breakthrough came in 1999 during the ACT World Jazz Night at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In the following years EST was a sensation throughout Europe, and they are now on the path to continuing their success story in the USA. It's no wonder that, especially when playing "live", EST lets loose an almost unbelievable energy - and this energy appears to grow from tour to tour - a rising star that shines ever brighter. Stars sometimes shine much longer than one would think. And here are recordings that demonstrate this is true for EST. The band, which was first formed in 1993, quickly found their very special sound. However, at first, no one outside EST's homeland was aware of them. Six years ago, in 1995, when Esbjörn Svensson still had long hair, and wore a headband, a record titled "Mr. And Mrs. Handkerchief", which consisted of live air shots from various towns in Sweden, was released. A year later, EST recorded the album "Esbjörn Svensson Trio Plays Monk" (recently re-released as ACT.). It reached the undreamed of sales of 10,000 CD's nationwide. Those who have heard how the trio played back then can attest that it was breathtaking music (for a quick listen: track 5).Much of what characterizes EST's play today was already well-defined in 1995: the unity and riveting strength of the inter-play, the compelling themes - themes that immediately jump out at the listener, and yet are never burdened with cliches. Then there are the musical influences of the likes of Thelonious Monk and Kieth Jarrett, which are fused into a unique style that is again and again infected by the forward-thrust of rock. Magic moments are preserved for posterity in these live takes. In tracks three and seven, Svensson plays on an upright piano that doesn't even come close to the brilliance and clarity of a concert grand - and yet, these recordings are pearls. The trio had by this time mastered the ability to react spontaneously to the inspiration of the moment.Absolutely no difference from today? On their latest tours EST sounded tighter, less raw, with the impetuosity of wilder times more under control. Comparison with the masterpiece "Dodge the Dodo" from the 1999 Montreux concert (bonus CD) shows that the trio's development has not been by leaps and bounds, but has been a continual process. Esbjörn Svensson himself has stated most clearly how much the music from past periods influences the band; "Obviously we develop all the time, both as individuals and as a group. But development isn't only about blind process. So instead of just going forward, in places we've chosen to refer back to our earlier sound, to what we had on our first two albums." That's already reason enough to pay new attention to "EST LIVE '95". Roland Spiegel, translated by Marty Cook Credits: Recorded by Åke Linton in March 1995, except # 11 recorded by Manu Guiot at Montreux Jazz Festival July 16, 1999, # 5 by Per Åke Hermansson, Radio Dalama and # 6 by Verner Kjersgaag, DR Östjüllands Radio Mixed by Åke Linton at Bohus Studio Produced by e.s.t.

Joachim Kühn - Komeda - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XIVCD / digital Joachim Kühn piano Chris Jennings bass Eric Schaefer drums Atom String Quartet Dawid Lubowicz violin Mateusz Smoczyński violin, baritone violin Michał Zaborski  viola Krzysztof Lenczowski cello Krzysztof Komeda has legendary status in Polish jazz, and was also one of the pioneers of European jazz. His wider fame resides largely in his work as a film composer – he wrote the soundtracks for all of Roman Polanski’s early films, notably "Dance of the Vampires" and "Rosemary's Baby". Komeda died in 1969, tragically early, at the age of just 37, but left a hugely influential body of work. Joachim Kühn, now a jazz piano icon in his own right, is a great admirer of Komeda, whom he met in person in Warsaw in 1965. As part of the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic concert series, curated by Siggi Loch, he performed a major tribute concert to him on 14 October 2022, at which he played in three formats: solo piano, with his New Trio, and alongside Poland’s Atom String Quartet. Komeda may not be particularly well-known outside Poland, but in his native country his renown is at a similar level to Chopin’s. He is seen as an integral part of the rise of Polish jazz from its first underground stirrings to becoming one of the beacons of Polish culture. This was a movement forged by composers whose work went most of the way to being seen as a new kind of national music. Komeda’s influence extended beyond his native country in that he became a key figure in the emancipation of European jazz from the American tradition. At the same time as Lars Gullin and Jan Johansson in Sweden were taking similar approaches, Komeda fused Polish folk music and its tradition of melismatic singing with the characteristics of jazz. He thus became one of the great lyrical and melodic voices of mid-twentieth century music. His early death in an accident made him a cult figure in his native country. In his latter years, Komeda concentrated mainly on film music; Roman Polanski brought him to Hollywood in 1967. A highlight of his jazz work was undoubtedly the album "Astigmatic", recorded in 1965 in one single overnight session with the trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, among others. To this day, it regularly receives the accolade of being the most important jazz recording in Poland; the magazine Jazzwise listed it as one of their "jazz albums that shook the world." For a tribute to Komeda, there could be no better guide than Joachim Kühn, the German pianist and jazz icon. The two men knew each other, indeed Kühn was in the studio and listened to the "Astigmatic" recording session in December 1965. The previous day, Komeda and Kühn had both played with their bands at the Warsaw Philharmonic: "For me, he was one of the great visionaries of European jazz, even then," Kühn recalls. Komeda's compositions have been part of the repertoire of the equally visionary Joachim Kühn ever since. Kühn leads the very small cohort of German jazz musicians who have achieved a genuinely international profile – something which has been the case for almost 60 years. The Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic concert begins with the three tracks of the legendary album "Astigmatic": the title track plus "Kattorna" and "Svantetic". The line-up for this celebration evening is phenomenal with Kühn as very much the first among equals. He plays as part of his "New Trio" with Eric Schaefer on drums and Chris Jennings on bass, and also with the Atom String Quartet, whom Jazzwise called a "world class quartet” with a “forceful mix of classical and jazz improvisation": violinists Dawid Lubowicz and Mateusz Smoczyński, Michał Zaborski on viola and cellist Krzysztof Lenczowski. The seven extraordinarily fine musicians on stage create a heady mix from Komeda’s era-defining work: compelling free improvisations and superb soloing alternate with Komeda’s powerful melodies. The composer always thinks pictorially, but here we are treated to individual music-making at the highest level, and yet with an astonishing sixth sense of anticipation. The results are compelling, modern and timelessly beautiful. Next follow a series of single arrangements from Komeda's other works, and these also draw the listener in with their seemingly perfect dramaturgy: Kühn's plays a quasi- romantic, wonderfully gentle solo on "After the Catastrophe"; next we hear his emotionally affecting duo with Mateusz Smoczyński on "Moja Ballada" from 1961; then, the Atom String Quartet version of "Crazy Girl" from Komeda's soundtrack to Polanski's "Knife in the Water"; thereafter comes a stunningly good trio arrangement of the well-known lullaby "Sleep Safe and Warm" from "Rosemary's Baby". After that, all the musicians re-assemble for an energetic finale, "Roman II". Several things are coming full circle here, not just musically but also in terms of Komeda’s and Kühn’s personal histories. What they have in common - almost tangibly so - is that jazz was quite literally the window which gave them their freedom. For a time, Krzysztof Trzciński (his real birth-name) was able to hide his musical identity behind his profession as an ear, nose and throat doctor, using the pseudonym Komeda for his music. But there came a point when the Polish state could no longer keep his popularity under wraps. Joachim Kühn’s story, on the other hand, is that he escaped from the paternalism of the GDR regime at the age of 22 when he fled to the West. Joachim’s brother Rolf gave him some initial help to establish his international career, and that led Joachim to work in the USA, France and Spain, but, most importantly, it was the escape through music which gave him his artistic freedom. Another, very personal circle closes at the end of the “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” Komeda concert. Joachim Kühn plays as an encore "My Brother Rolf" in memory of his brother who had died shortly before. Credits: Recorded live in concert by Thomas Schöttl at Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic, Kammermusiksaal, October 14, 2022 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Joachim Kühn Curated by Siggi Loch Cover art by Shoshu

Jan Lundgren - The Gallery Concerts II: Jazz PoetryCD / digital Jan Lundgren piano Hans Backenroth bass "In every beginning magic dwells. [...] Only those who are ready for a departure and a journey can escape the stultification of habit," wrote Hermann Hesse in one of his most famous poems. "Jazz Poetry" is alive with the particular excitement that a first-time experience brings, and also with the courage to surrender to the moment. The programme for this concert by Jan Lundgren and Hans Backenroth, their first ever as a duo, was conceived as a one-off and includes brand-new compositions. The setting is inspiring, to say the least: at these "Gallery Concerts", exclusive music evenings in Siggi Loch's ACT Art Gallery, the performers and the invited audience are surrounded by fine contemporary art, works by Philip Taaffe, Gerhard Richter, Martin Noël and Martin Assig...Front and centre is the Alfred Brendel Steinway, the grand piano on which the classical piano legend would perform as soloist at Berlin’s Philharmonie. Jan Lundgren has often proved during his career that he is a true jazz poet, especially with the Mare Nostrum Trio, but also more recently with Emile Parisien and Lars Danielsson on "Into the Night". "Jazz Poetry” as the strapline for this concert could not be more fitting: "Like a poem, music stimulates your imagination. A sound can be as abstract as a metaphor,” says the pianist. “Like writers, we musicians tell stories and create images in our minds. What we have in common is that we want to touch people's hearts." "Jazz Poetry" meets these idealistic aims: there is wonderful lyricism in Lundgren’s and Backenroth’s lively dialogue between jazz and classical music, folk melody and song.Two Swedes, a duo of piano and bass. They inevitably bring to mind the 1964 album "Jazz på svenska" by Jan Johansson and Georg Riedel of jazz arrangements of Swedish folk songs, an album which is still a reference for the Scandinavian jazz today. The "Gallery Concert" makes allusions to this historic recording, especially with the two adaptations of Scandinavian folk melodies, "Polska No.1" and "Gårdsjänta", but the range of inspiration is much broader here, because what is special about Lundgren's art is his ability to forge the most diverse musical styles into a fascinating whole. It is true that the sonic language of his homeland permeates his playing, but he also has roots in the American jazz piano tradition, as well as an obvious grounding in Western classical music.  Thus, Leonard Cohen leads to Mozart; a Beatles classic sits alongside the jazz standard "Stella by Starlight". Swing, what Nordic people call ‘vemod’ (melancholy), Mozartian playfulness and impressionistic ‘esprit’ all co-exist with Lundgren in a way that is as natural as it is inevitable. In his own compositions he shows himself to have a beguiling gift for melody. There is a particularly impressive lightness about the way this duo performs at its premiere. The pair develop a sense of flow which makes the unexpected sound completely natural. The astonishing thing here is the fact that Lundgren and Backenroth have never worked as a duo prior to this. They have known each other from early years of their careers. Since then, their paths have crossed again and again, also on recordings where both were engaged as sidemen. "We were always in contact, but until then it never happened that we would start our own project. So when Siggi Loch invited me to do a gallery concert and to try a new programme, Hans was my first choice. He is a great bass player with amazing technique and a warm, full tone, and a sensitive accompanist with a great ear for melody." These qualities are well appreciated by others too, most notably by the top flight of Swedish jazz musicians. Saxophone legend Arne Domnerus once called Backenroth the best bass player his country had produced. Putte Wickman, Monica Zetterlund, Svante Thuresson and Ulf Wakenius also secured Backenroth's services...and, what many don't know is that he was the original bassist of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio. Internationally he has played with Scott Hamilton, James Moody, Kenny Barron and many more. Backenroth, born in Karlstad in 1966, can be heard on over 150 albums to date.  This duo is not going to remain as a ‘one-evening wonder’, far from it. The "Gallery Concert" marks a beginning and will pave the way for an ongoing collaboration: further concerts are in the diary for winter 2022. The duo give a captivating performance; their poetry in sound is chamber jazz at its finest.Credits: Recorded live in concert at the ACT Art Collection Gallery, Berlin Curated by Siggi Loch Cover art by Manfred Bockelmann

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XIII: Celebrating Mingus 100CD / digital Magnus Lindgren baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, leader & arranger Georg Breinschmid double bass, leader & arranger Tony Lakatos tenor saxophone Jakob Manz alto saxophone Matthias Schriefl trumpet Shannon Barnett trombone Gregory Hutchinson drums Danny Grissett piano Camille Bertault vocals The centenary of the birth of Charles Mingus, in April 2022, has served to reinforce his importance in twentieth century music. His “achievements surpass in historic and stylistic breadth those of any other major figure in jazz.” (New Grove Dictionary). Mingus could be angry, even violent, but also loving and tender, and all of these aspects of his complex character are reflected in his music. As he once said, “I'm trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it's difficult is because I am changing all the time.” Extremes of emotion are the very truth and core of Mingus’s music, and they are reflected in the six compositions by him heard here, on “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic – Mingus 100”. The concert was one of the main events marking the centenary and took place on 13 April 2022 in the concert series curated by Siggi Loch. This album is a live recording from that concert. At one level, it was ‘just’ a concert. There were no protests. No basses or chairs were deliberately broken. Nobody took a shotgun and aimed it at a lightbulb. And yet, as is clear from this recording, the nine musicians who appeared on stage at this concert – and who mostly did not know each other before this project – each threw her or his whole musical essence into this project, while staying true to Mingus’s spirit and to his unique way of expressing defiance and dissent. The first musical sounds to be heard on the album come from Austrian bassist Georg Breinschmid (b.1973). One of the co-leaders of the project, he juxtaposes forthright attack and caressing tenderness in the Mingus manner as his bass introduces Mingus’s “Jelly Roll”. “Georg is a wonderful communicator and one heck of a bassist,” says the other co-leader, Swedish reedsman Magnus Lindgren (b.1974). Breinschmid’s story is remarkable. Until the age of 25, he had follo-wed a traditional path. As a young, top-flight classical double bassist, he had already become a full member of the Vienna Philharmonic, a role carrying lifetime tenure. He then turned his back on that world, and has pursued his own way as a musician rooted in jazz and Viennese popular music ever since. His passion for Mingus came early, and has remained with him. “As a fourteen year-old just starting on the bass, I remember loving the sound, the compositions, the whole package. It comes at you from so many sides,” he says. Breinschmid and Magnus Lindgren had not worked together before, but their mutual understanding and respect grew as they did. “Magnus is a great musician!” says Breinschmid. “An amazing virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, an expert arranger – simply a great artist. He always keeps a sense of the whole ensemble in his eye, and of how it’s going to work best.” Lindgren, better known on higher winds and flute, is to be heard here mainly on his vintage Selmer baritone saxophone, and also on bass clarinet. Lindgren was also drawn to Mingus’s compositions early on, his involvement strengthened by a close collaboration with Steve Slagle, a guiding light of the Mingus Big Band in the 1990’s. As regards the Swede’s instrumentalist role here, he simply says: “I love Pepper Adams – and it’s fun to play baritone.” “When Charlie speaks of Lester...” It was Joni Mitchell who put English words to Mingus’s beautiful lament on the death of Lester Young, “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” on her “Mingus” album. The context here is different, as is the language. Out of some Mingus-ian polyphonic chaos emerges the authoritative singing voice of French vocal star Camille Bertault. The words she has written evoke Charles Mingus’s feelings of loss. Then, magically, wordlessly her voice ascends, and when she holds her final note (E natural) for a full fifteen seconds, it is a jaw-dropping tour de force of poise and control. She is also responsible for new and teasingly enigmatic words for “Self-Portrait in Three Colours”. There are other strong voices here. Two Americans are at the strong beating heart of the band: pianist Danny Grissett has had nearly two decades at the top level of the New York scene and has been a member of the Mingus Big Band. Drummer Gregory Hutchinson has worked in countless contexts, not least the classic second Joshua Redman Quartet from 1998-2001; he is one of the greats of our time. There are also two musicians who have made Germany their home. Since moving from Hungary to Germany in 1980, tenor saxophonist Tony Lakatos has appeared on over 300 albums and was a major presence in the Frankfurt Radio Big Band until 2021. The strong tone and improvising fluency of Australian-born trombonist Shannon Barnett, now based in Cologne, also prove ideal in this context. The home team from Germany, trumpeter Matthias Schriefl and young star saxophonist Jakob Manz both play as if their very lives depend on it, and in such a way that all stereotypes about German order and discipline need to be promptly thrown out of the nearest window. This is utterly passionate music-making at a very high level. There can be few sounds as joyous as the performance of “Better Git It In Your Soul” which brings this recording to a close. The 2022 Mingus Centenary has resonated deeply: just as injustice, fear and uncertainty and the need to grieve surround us, so do instances of super-human kindness and visions of beauty. All these human emotions are there in Mingus’s music. Whereas Mingus’s ashes were entrusted to the River Ganges, his indomitable spirit truly came to life in an unforgettable concert in Berlin. Credits: All music composed by Charles Mingus arranged by Magnus Lindgren (02, 03, 05 & 06) and Georg Breinschmid (01 & 04) French lyrics for Goodbye Pork Pie Hat and Self-Portrait in Three Colors written by Camille Bertault Live at Philharmonie Berlin, Kammermusiksaal, 13.04.2022 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Soshu

Wolfgang Haffner - Dream Band live in ConcertCD / Vinyl / digital Wolfgang Haffner drums, table tubes & log drum Randy Brecker trumpet Nils Landgren trombone & vocals (Get Here) Bill Evans saxohone, vocals & piano (Bones from the Ground) Christopher Dell vibraphone Simon Oslender keyboards & piano Thomas Stieger bass Stars, Drive und Herz: Brecker, Landgren, Evans und mehr - Die „Dream Band“ des Schlagzeugers Wolfgang Haffner auf einem Live-Doppelalbum.Credits: Recorded during the Karsten Jahnke JazzNights Tour in Germany, November 2021 Mixed and produced by Wolfgang Haffner Recording engineer: Jochen Etzel Mastering: Peter Heider at Purecuts Cover art by Peter Krüll

Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer - The Gallery Concerts ICD / digital Jakob Manz alto saxophone & recorder (on 5) Johanna Summer piano The Art in Music – Siggi Loch has had the clear objective to foster creative interaction between jazz and visual art ever since he founded ACT in 1992. As a producer who is also an art collector, he loves to bring not only topflight musicians together around him, but visual artists as well. Works by Philip Taaffe, Gerhard Richter, Martin Noël, Martin Assig and many more don’t just adorn album covers, they are also on display at the ACT Gallery in Berlin. And it is there, in the gallery, before a small and select audience, that private musical evenings known as the Gallery Concerts take place. The works of art provide an inspiring visual backdrop for artists to try out new things. The house concerts are special, up close and personal; these extraordinary musical experiences are now being made available for a wider public to enjoy. On 27 October 2021 Jakob Manz and Johanna Summer were performing... Manz and Summer are two of the most outstanding talents to emerge from the young German jazz scene in recent years. As a duo, their dialogue is intimate, open and scintil-lating. The saxophonist (b. 2001) has shown above all through his band the Jakob Manz Project that he is a passionate exponent of contemporary jazz-rock, playing “amazingly sophisticated, powerful, soulful-funky music with groove” (Jazzthing). In partnership with Johanna Summer (b. 1995), he also shows his mastery of the quiet and the lyrical. German jazz icon Joachim Kühn admires his young pianist colleague, and is full of praise for her “music, so full of fantasy and beyond category”. With Summer, nothing is ever done for the sake of surface effect; it is all about the storytelling, and her fully-formed instincts for dramaturgy, dynamics and harmony. From the very first note, it is evident how perfectly matched Manz and Summer are. A magic and freedom emerge in the way they play together.  Inspired by the spirit of discovery, they have the courage to surrender to the moment and be totally spontaneous, fresh and carefree in their musicmaking. Any flaws just become part of the charm. Manz and Summer's “Gallery Concert” is a musical prologue: one can still only guess where and how this artistic relationship, still in its early stages, might develop.Credits: Live in concert at ACT Art Collection Gallery Berlin, 27.10.2021 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated by Siggi Loch Cover art "Das Sterben der Blätter" by Manfred Bockelmann / ACT Art Collection

Philip Catherine - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic XI: The Last CallCD / Vinyl / digital Larry Coryell guitar Philip Catherine guitar Jan Lundgren piano Lars Danielsson bass Paolo Fresu trumpet The two guitar icons Larry Coryell and Philipp Catherine share a long history and, despite their different musical backgrounds on both sides of the Atlantic, a close musical kinship. Recorded on January 27, 2017, as part of the "Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic" series, "The Last Call" is the final recording of Larry Coryell, who passed away four weeks later on February 19, 2017. It serves as an echo of a very special relationship between two highly accomplished guitarists, filled with creative compatibility, enthusiasm, and deep mutual understanding.Credits:In memory of Larry Coryell (1943-2017), his last concert Recorded live in concert by Klaus Scheuermann at the Philharmonie Berlin (KMS), January 24, 2017 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Cover art based and inspired by a work of Alain Biltereyst (Original: ACT Art Collection)

Nils Landgren - Live in StockholmCD / Vinyl / digital Nils Landgren Funk Unit: Nils Landgren Trombone and Lead Vocals Henrik Janson Guitar Jesper Mejlvang Keyboards and Vocals Lars DK Danielsson Fender Bass Per Lindvall Drums, Percussion and Trumpet Åke Sundqvist Drums, Percussion and Trumpet Jan Ugand Sound Wiz Special Guests: Maceo Parker alto sax, vocals Magnum Coltrane Price rap & vocals Nils Landgren Funk Unit's album "Live in Stockholm" delivers energetic funk-jazz with Maceo Parker. Virtuoso trombone, soulful grooves, and unforgettable live performances!Credits:Recorded live at the Jazz and Bluesfestival in Stockholm on July 4, 1994 and at Jazzclub Fasching on July 5 - 6, 1994 Recording Engineers: Jan Ugand and Erik Olhester Assistant engineer: Pavel Lucki Mixed and Mastered by Bernhard Lööhr at Polar Studios Produced by Henrik Janson, Jan Ugand and Nils Landgren for Tromben Productions AB 1994 in cooperation with the Jazz Baltica Organisation, Kiel, Germany Photos by Axel Nickol

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic X - East - WestCD / digital Majid Bekkas guembri & vocals Nguyên Lê e-guitar NES Nesrine vocals & cello Matthieu Saglio cello & vocals David Gadea percussion Black String Yoon Jeong Heo e-guitarGeomungo Jean Oh e-guitar Aram Lee / daegeum & yanggeum Min Wang Hwang ajaeng & janggu ‘East meets West’ was the central theme in the life of Nesuhi Ertegün (1917-1989). He grew up as the son of the Turkish Ambassador in Washington, and Nesuhi himself was to become an ambassador too: one of the most important producers and advocates that jazz has ever had. On the 30th anniversary of his death, Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic curator Siggi Loch dedicated an evening to commemorating this friend and mentor who had been like a father to him. For Nesuhi, jazz had no borders; this concert was a posthumous validation of the farsightedness of that vision. On the cultural world map, East-West today is synonymous with the tense relationship between Europe and Asia, between Occident and Orient. From the Renaissance to the present day, there have been repeated waves of enthusiasm for Eastern culture in the West. And for the hundred years or so that jazz has existed, it too has always tended to absorb elements from other cultures into its stylistic vocabulary. Conversely, artists from Eastern cultures have embraced jazz, fused it with their own traditions, revealing new and fascinating expressive possibilities. Black String, the South Korean quartet led by geomungo player Yoon Jeong Heo, takes a 1500-year old Korean musical tradition and brings it into the modern era and into jazz in way which is totally compelling artistically. NES Trio with charismatic singer/cellist Nesrine Belmokh has a distinctive sound drawn from the musical melting pot of the Mediterranean region. A special guest is the Moroccan oud and guembri player Majid Bekkas, who has often brought the Gnawa blues of his homeland into projects ranging from “folklore imaginaire” to avantgarde jazz. And providing the perfect East-West link is French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, whose go-between role combin-ing the worlds of jazz, rock and Asian folk music has been pio-neering. Together they celebrate a meeting of East and West. Nesui Ertegün would have been overjoyed. Credits: Recorded live in concert by Klaus Scheuermann at the Berlin Philharmonie (KMS), November 20, 2019 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Cover art by Philip Taaffe, Isfahan (2009), by courtesy of Jablonka Galerie Cologne

Esbjörn Svensso Trio e.s.t. - e.s.t. live in GothenburgCD / Vinyl / digitalEsbjörn Svensson pianoDan Berglund bassMagnus Östsöm drums“...and finally evening comes. We usually meet in the dressing room. Magnus’ drumsticks are pattering against his legs. Åke is talking—saying something about different sound systems or complaining about the US and Bush. Dan and I are jumping up and down to get our energy going. Then we go on stage, meet the audience, the music. Timeless, without a program, without a set list. We want to be open to what fits just then. Sometimes nothing comes to mind and it’s frustrating, but things always work out and it is definitely worth it [...] because when it does we can just go with the flow. Then it’s the music that carries us and we just make ourselves available. It’s fantastic, near religious I suppose. All of a sudden we can hear ourselves playing things we’ve never played before. And suddenly colour returns to life. When that happens I think the audience feels it too. They and we get to be in on something that will never happen again, that’s impossible to recreate. Sometimes you fall into that trap anyway, wanting to recreate, to repeat what was good. It’s almost always doomed to fail. The present cannot be recreated. We have to be content to be in it while it’s happening. And every evening there’s a present that’s waiting for us. We know that it’s going to be different from what made it good yesterday, but what is fantastic is if we can forget the past and just be. Now.” - Esbjörn Svensson (from Swedish radio programme "Sommar") On 10 October 2001 the Esbjörn Svensson Trio e.s.t. played a concert at Gothenburg Concert Hall in Sweden. Thereafter, Svensson would always refer to it as one of the very best that the trio ever played. The recording of that performance is now appearing for the first time as the album "e.s.t live in Gothenburg", and it was indeed, as Svensson described it, one of those very fortunate moments. Everything just flows naturally, the energies of the musicians and the listeners inspire each other, boundaries between composition and improvisation become blurred, melodies follow through seamlessly from the tunes and into the solos. At this point in its development, e.s.t. as a band has coalesced and found a genuine sense of unity. The tunes serve as mere starting points for the musicians to head off without any fixed ideas as to where they will end up. What is clear is that each of them is fully enjoying every step of the journey.On "e.s.t. live in Gothenburg", Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström explore and expand the repertoire from their albums from that time, "From Gagarin´s Point of View" and "Good Morning Susie Soho". This was a period in which the foundations were laid for what would mark a glorious, and ultimately a tragic episode in the history of European jazz. E.s.t. was well on the way to becoming probably the most important European jazz band of the noughties. As the band got to play in larger halls and at bigger festivals, e.s.t.’s music became more ecstatic, rockier and more hook-based. "e.s.t. live in Gothenburg", documented by sound engineer Åke Linton who was the hidden fourth member of the band, has compellingly caught the point of transition of the acoustic jazz trio e.s.t. into the one-off phenomenon that they were to become, setting jazz off in new directions and bringing it to new and younger audiences for most of the following decade. Whereas the two previous live albums "e.s.t. live in Hamburg" and "e.s.t. live in London" have a tendency to to show the band’s bigger, concert hall sound, "e.s.t. live in Gothenburg" documents the trio at an earlier stage – with more emphasis on fine craftsmanship, a sound-world that is acoustic and in places almost weightless, influenced both by jazz and classical music. There are also some early pointers to the future in rock and electronica, especially in the second half of the concert.On "e.s.t. live in Gothenburg" one can hear what Svensson means by the ‘being in the moment while it happens’. The live versions of the pieces depart significantly from their studio counterparts. In extended collective improvisations and unaccompanied solo passages, music which is completely new and unimagined emerges, seemingly without any effort or interruption. The range of dynamics is wide, there is a genuine band sound and a sense of groove that remain unmatched to this day. A music in which jazz becomes audible more than just an attitude, a specific aesthetic or vocabulary. And jazz itself is just one of the many elements that make up a big picture which includes European classical music, rock, drum'n'bass, minimal music, indie rock and much else besides. The shot in the arm that e.s.t. gave to jazz, and especially to European jazz, and to the format of the piano trio continues to this day. Widespread enthusiasm for the band's music is undimmed. It may sound like a truism, but Esbjörn Svensson really has become immortal through his music... and through his recordings, which have such a freshness and an excitement about them, it is as if they have just been made... and through the influence that he continues to exert on jazz and especially on the jazz piano trio, both directly and indirectly. "e.s.t. live in Gothenburg" shows why this is true – and does so compellingly: with originality, power, refinement, fantasy, and playfulness.

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic IX - PannonicaCD / digital Iiro Rantala piano & leader Dan Berglund bass Anton Eger drums Angelika Niescier alto saxophone Ernie Watts tenor saxophone Charenée Wade vocals A single moment can change a life forever. That happened to the Jewish baroness and heiress Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter (1913-1988), née Rothschild. On hearing Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’ on a trip to New York at the beginning of the 1950s, she was so totally captivated by the music, she turned her back on her native Europe and on all the glamour of her previous existence, and became one of the great supporters of American jazz. Siggi Loch experienced a similarly decisive moment in his life when, at the age of just 15, he heard a concert by Sidney Bechet and decided that his life from then on would be dedicated to jazz. This decision had a profound effect not just on him, but also on the way this music has developed in Europe, most notably in the years since he founded ACT in 1992. So it was above all a feeling of affinity with Pannonica which inspired Siggi Loch to dedicate an entire evening to her in the “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” concert series which he has curated since 2012. The concert, on 6 February 2019, thirty years after her death, focused on pieces by the musicians whom the “Jazz Baroness” supported over many years with money, accommodation, advice and friendship, and who often dedicated compositions to her to express their gratitude: Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Bud Powell and Sonny Rollins. Musicians from five countries took part in the concert: Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala, a habitual unifier of the traditional and the modern, was directing. Alongside Swedish bassist Dan Berglund and Norwegian-born drummer Anton Eger, he formed the musical foundation. In addition, there were three outstanding soloists: American saxophonist Ernie Watts, who shared the stage with Thelonious Monk back in the pianist’s lifetime, German saxophonist Angelika Niescier and New York singer Charenée Wade. Together they do not only demonstrate magnificently that a single moment can indeed transform an individual life story, but also that such occurrences have the power to shine beyond the confines of continents, cultures and epochs.Credits: Recorded live in concert by Klaus Scheuermann, at the Berlin Philharmonie (KMS), February 6, 2019 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Produced by Siggi Loch

Emile Parisien Quintet - Sfumato live in MarciacCD / DVD / digital Emile Parisien soprano saxophone Joachim Kühn piano Manu Codjia guitar Simon Tailleu double bass Mário Costa drums Guests: Wynton Marsalis trumpet Vincent Peirani accordion Michel Portal clarinet French soprano saxophonist Emile Parisien is one of the most highly regarded European jazz musicians of our time. The three albums he made in just three years – “Belle Epoque” in 2014, “Spezial Snack” in 2015 and “Sfumato” in 2016 – have propelled him, at the age of just 35, to the top of the worldwide rankings on his instrument. One thing is abundantly clear: Europe has a new jazz star. 2017 was the year for Emile Parisien. No jazz artist received more prominent acclaim in his home country France, and beyond. Very few European jazz artists can have appeared at so many big jazz festivals and classical concert halls. Emile Parisien today is regarded the most important innovator on the soprano saxophone. Right at the beginning of 2017, Jazzthing magazine (DE) set the tone with their CD review: “It is amazing how quickly Emile Parisien has become one of France’s most influential musicians. “Sfumato” is the title of the new album from the 34-year-old soprano saxophonist, who has nothing to fear from the competition of anyone of his own generation anywhere in the world. And this album is going to amplify the buzz about him which is starting to echo around Europe.” And that was exactly what happened: not long after the release, the French “Jazz Magazine” and German music magazine “Stereo” both voted “Sfumato” as their album of the year. Shortly after that, Emile Parisien received the “Victoires Du Jazz”, the jazz prize for album of the year at the most important French music awards. In Germany Parisien also received the most important music award, the ECHO Jazz, for “best international saxophonist” of the year. Topping out an outstanding year, French “Jazz Magazine” chose Émile Parisien as its artist of the year for 2017.Deutschlandfunk Kultur (Germany) called Parisien a “superstar of the jazz scene in France”, Fono Forum (Germany) stated: “Emile Parisien is taking the magical sound of the soprano saxophone onwards – following in the footsteps of Sidney Bechet, Johnny Hodges, Steve Lacy, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Evan Parker.” The Guardian in the UK gave “Sfumato” a rare 5-star rating and called it “an exhilarating genre-hop bubbling with captivating remakes of US and European jazz traditions. An exuberant album”. And the widely-read French magazine “Télérama” wrote: “Parisien’s inventiveness and energy are nothing short of breathtaking.” The year of 2017 also marked a new high-point for Emile Parisien’s career as a live performer. In that one year he played at festivals such as Jazz Sous Les Pommiers, Bergen Jazz Festival, Elbjazz, Jazz Baltica, Montreux Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, Umbria Jazz, the London Jazz Festival and the Rheingau Musik Festival. He also appeared in the some of Europe’s finest classical concert halls: the Philharmonie in Essen, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Hamburg’s new Elbphilharmonie and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. A special highlight was Parisien’s residency at Jazz in Marciac, the place where Parisien’s enthusiasm for jazz had been originally been awakened as a young audience-member, and where he was invited to be Artist in Residence for 2017. Parisien’s “Sfumato” concert on 8 August 2017 was unforgettable and has been captured for ever on both CD & DVD. His quintet was augmented at this concert by illustrious guests: US trumpet star Wynton Marsalis, French jazz legend Michel Portal and Parisien’s alter ego and long-established duo partner Vincent Peirani. Parisien’s “Sfumato” concert on 8 August 2017 was unforgettable and has been captured for ever on both CD & DVD. His quintet was augmented at this concert by illustrious guests: US trumpet star Wynton Marsalis, French jazz legend Michel Portal and Parisien’s alter ego and long-established duo partner Vincent Peirani. Multi-layered, innovative and experimental, “Sfumato live in Marciac” is packed full of tension, excitement and turbulence. And yet is firmly grounded in jazz, brimming over with playfulness and adventures of improvisation; it is a testament to the intensity and to the magic of live jazz. And yet is firmly grounded in jazz, brimming over with playfulness and adventures of improvisation; it is a testament to the intensity and to the magic of live jazz.Credits: Recorded live in concert by Nicolas Djemane at Jazz in Marciac on August 8th, 2017 Mixed by Boris Darley in April 2017 Mastering by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by Emile Parisien Video editing by Alice Fave & Nicolas Lecart Cameras: Florence Pradalier, Cedric Alliot, Ugo Gillino & Mathias Touzeris Audiovisual director: Jean Marc Birraux DVD authoring by Platin Media Productions Cover art by Chen Ruo Bing, untitled, 2016, ACT Art Collection

Tonbruket - Live SalvationCD / digital Dan Berglund double bass Johan Lindström guitar, pedal steel Martin Hederos piano, synthesizers, violin Andreas Werliin drums Tonbruket live on stage is an experience you will never forget: The superb concert recording „Live Salvation" captures the band’s fluidity as it moves from lulling and sensitive folk through playful and hip jazz, and onwards and outwards to ferocious full-on rock, casting the Swedish quartet in a different light from its award-winning studio recordings. The dovetailing and the interaction between the musicians are immaculate. If no single band member appears to stand out as a soloist, it is because they have a way of all soloing together at the same time. "The team is the star," wrote the Esslinger Zeitung's critic in a highly enthusiastic review of the Tonbruket concert at Jazzclub Bix in Stuttgart which is now presented on this CD. . "The team is the star," wrote the Esslinger Zeitung's critic in a highly enthusiastic review of the Tonbruket concert at Jazzclub Bix in Stuttgart which is now presented on this CD. After nearly a full decade together, it is now apposite to look back and consider all that Tonbruket have achieved. They have made four highly acclaimed studio albums on ACT, each of which received a Swedish Grammy. They have also performed countless tours, and always with the same line-up, which is never something that should be taken for granted. It means that Dan Berglund, Johan Lindström, Martin Hederos and Andreas Werliin have grown together into a unit that can groove like a perfectly-oiled machine (Tonbruket in English means ‘sound factory’) and yet can also defy expectations with their poetic lightness. “Salvation”. The album title evokes spiritual healing. These four Swedes don't just play because they always have, not just because they lived it large as teenagers in punk bands, nor because they studied music. They perform because it is their be-all and end-all, because their physical and mental health depends on it. The formation of the band in 2009 by Dan Berglund and Johan Lindström was preceded by a traumatic experience: the sudden death of the man who had been Berglund's closest musical colleague, pianist Esbjörn Svensson. That tragic event on June 14, 2008 brought his trio e.s.t.’s spectacular success story to an abrupt halt. Anyone who has ever experienced a Tonbruket concert will have an idea of what this album has in store. The songs tend to be much longer than the precisely worked studio versions. There is time for solos – but they serve the tune in a way that they never feel like solos. The listener at a Tonbruket concert can relax, close their eyes, surrender completely to wondrously dreamy sounds...only to be subjected to a merciless onslaught. Is it “progressive?” It’s more than that: avant-garde folk meeting psychedelic jazz and progressive rock. "The way the musicians interweave acoustic and electrical instruments is a particularly fine craft," wrote the German magazine Stern. Tonbruket played music from their last three albums in Stuttgart, and all eight songs on the album have a special, added, live dimension about them. "Dig It To The End" has a deep, earthy groove, to which Martin Hederos’ swinging honky-tonk piano lends an unexpected lightness. "Nightmusic", at twelve minutes, is almost twice as long as before. In its long keyboard passages Tonbruket show a Pink Floyd-like playfulness, which then in turn leads to bass solos by band founder Dan Berglund, shadowed by the ghostly rustling percussion of Andreas Werliins. To end the album, the 14-minute “Vinegar Heart” offers a fabulous trip, leading from the abyss up into the light and the heights – and back down again. What begins with dub noise moments, turns into a gentle journey through the Appalachians with the howling pedal steel guitar of Johan Lindström. The Kölnischer Rundschau’s reviewer once summed it all up rather neatly :"An adventure trip through the past, present and future. It fits in no category – and it’s fun."Credits: Recorded live in concert by Åke Linton at Bix Jazzclub Stuttgart, November 17, 2016 Mixed by Tonbruket and Anton Sundell at Studio Bruket Mastered by Henrik Jonsson at Masters of audio * from the album Forevergreens, ACT 9811-2 ** from the album Nubium Swimtrip, ACT 9558-2 *** from the album Dig it to the end, ACT 9026-2 Produced by Tonbruket Cover art by Jesper Waldersten: Salvation, 2017 with the kind permission of the artist

Richie Beirach & Gregor Huebner - Live at Birdland New YorkCD / digital Richie Beirach piano Gregor Huebner violin Randy Brecker trumpet George Mraz bass Billy Hart drums Happy Birthday Richie Beirach and Gregor Huebner! When it comes to jazz musicians improving with age, the pianist Richie Beirach is a perfect example. With the release of “Live at Birdland New York” the pianist-composer is celebrating his 70th birthday, and demonstrates he’s still at the top of his game alongside his congenial partner of two decades, the Stuttgart-born, New York based violinist Gregor Huebner. Another birthday boy, Huebner is also celebrating a milestone, reaching half a century on May 23, the exact same day as Beirach. As a tribute, the leading Munich-based jazz label ACT releases a CD featuring highlights recorded in 2012 from their decade long annual week’s ‘live’ residence at the illustrious Birdland in New York, in which they are joined by the high calibre lineup of bassist George Mraz, trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Billy Hart. Big birthdays are though not the only thing the esteemed pair have in common. Both musicians studied independently of each other with the same classical composition teacher, Ludmilla Uhlela at Manhattan School of Music, and both have an eastern European background. Huebner reflects on their enduring creative partnership over 21 years: “Richie always says we still play in the same way today like we played in the first minute in 1996 in his little apartment on Spring Street in NYC and I feel the same way, even though we have incredibly developed our music together. The spirit and the bond between us was already there in the first minute.” It’s through the development of their own uniquely imaginative version of ‘third stream’, the absorption of elements of the European ‘classical’ music tradition into New York’s postbop idioms that they’ve found so much common ground. They recorded together a triology of CDs for ACT in the early noughties: “Round About Bártok” (2000), “Round About Federico Mompou” (2001) and “Round About Monteverdi” (2003). A couple of the tracks from these albums are revisited on the CD. “Around Bartók Bagatelle #4” at first reflects the elegant classicism of Beirach’s mesmerizing solo piano recordings then later his restless, harmonically adventurous artistry that has glimpses of the early influence of McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans among other piano modernist giants. As does his solo on Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Siciliana” with Huebner’s violin adding a bewitching yearning, jazz-inflected mediterranean quality. “I think the music of certain composers is more approachable for improvisation then others,” observes Huebner. “For example Bach was a great improviser and you hear that in his music. In some of the romantic composers you find similar harmonic structures which were used later in jazz and with Bártok and other composers from the 20th century the rhythmic part is very interesting. The mix of the music on the CD is very typical for us, you find classical pieces, our own compositions, a typical jazz standard and a composition by John Coltrane [“Transition”]. Each piece brings something totally new but everything is connected through improvisation.” Of his originals, one of Beirach’s most popular, a classical-influenced, hauntingly melancholic version of “Elm” is a standout piece. Beirach’s infectious latin vamp on the standard “You Don’t Know What Love Is” is associated with Chet Baker and a reminder of Beirach’s tenure in his band early on in his career. Approaching the ripe old age of 70, it’s a moment to consider Richie Beirach’s high level achievements as one of America’s greatest living modernist jazz piano stylists. Originally a sideman of both Stan Getz and the aforementioned Baker, Beirach among others has enjoyed a memorably intimate association with the saxophonist Dave Liebman since the 1970s, in bands (Quest, Lookout Farm) that included the legendary Billy Hart whose explosive presence at times on the recording eclipses entirely his 76 years on the planet. “For Richie,” Huebner explains, “these are his oldest friends, these are the people he grew up with and these are the people he developed his music together.” In jazz that development doesn’t come to an end. It’s testament to the exploratory ‘young at heart’ spirit of the grand jazz masters on “Live at Birdland New York” that not for a second does anyone rest on their considerable laurels.Credits: Recorded by Tyler McDiarmid live at Birdland New York, August 25 & 26, 2012 Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Produced by the artists Cover art by Philip Taaffe Flowers, 1995, ACT Art Collection

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic VII - Piano NightCD / Vinyl / digital Leszek Możdżer piano, Fender Rhodes on Summertime Iiro Rantala piano Michael Wollny piano All three play Fender Rhodes, in turn, on La Fiesta “Three men, three pianos, one emotion – jazz”. These were the words with which German national TV news succinctly summed up the piano summit on 31st May 2016 in a sold-out main hall of the Berlin Philharmonie – a concert which can now be experienced exclusively on vinyl. And the TV news reporter continued: “Iiro Rantala, Leszek Możdżer, Michael Wollny. Each in a class of his own. Together, they’re a miracle”. Is there perhaps an element of déjà vu in this story? Yes, certainly. Because these were the same three jazz piano greats who had performed at the very first ‘Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic’ in December 2012, the event which triumphantly set in motion the concert series curated by Siggi Loch at the German capital city’s classical music shrine.Making this second appearance together were three of the most outstanding and established representatives of European jazz, each with a host of awards to their name. Możdżer, Rantala and Wollny are from a generation which mostly went through the rigours of classical study and therefore have a knowledge of that canon and tradition. Each of them has ventured from there into the freedom of jazz, and have not just loved it, but also thrived on it. They also grew up, almost inevitably, living and breathing rock and pop music. In other words, these are musicians who have garnered experiences in all genres and style, and who simply ‘make music’ that transcends technical barriers, and do it “in the spirit of jazz”, which puts them at one with the basic tenet of the ACT label. After more than a dozen ‘Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic‘ concerts – all of them completely sold out, with all three pianists returning, individually, from other formations – it was exciting to listen out for how the three had developed in the interim since that first concert together. Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala has been integrating completely new colours into his playing – “melodies full of clarity and beauty”, as the Stern, one of Germany’s leading magazines, described them, have become a focus for his artistry. The two solo albums ‘Lost Heroes’ (from 2011) and ‘My Working Class Hero’ (a tribute for what would have been the 75th birthday of John Lennon in 2015) finally gave him a major international profile. Artistic integrity, a respect for the power of melody and the freedom he has when soloing – Rantala brings all of these elements to the fore with total conviction in his composition ‘Freedom’.Michael Wollny has also found his artistic freedom – something he has worked towards for ten years. It was with ‘Weltentraum’ (2014) and ‘Nachtfahrten’ (2015), however, that word really started to get round that there was a quite exceptional pianist in Germany, a “complete master of the piano” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FAZ), a musician who seems to be able to find his own surprising solution to every kind of musical or aesthetic proposition. He certainly does that on this album in a duo with Iiro Rantala – ‘White Moon’, a composition by his most important early teacher Chris Beier, who was also the first to spot Wollny’s potential. There remains the Polish “phenomenon” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) Leszek Możdżer, who is the great romantic among European jazz pianists. His “filigree virtuosity with its light and shade is fascinating, hugely entertaining and nobody gets even close to what he can do as a craftsman of the contemporary piano” was the verdict of the German broadsheet FAZ. Możdżer’s ability to combine the simple with the difficult is something he demonstrates incomparably in the pictorial, almost filmic composition ‘She Said She Was A Painter’. The piano summit concert has its shape, its dramaturgy, building inexorably towards a grand finale with all three pianists on the stage together. First there is the soulful heat of Gershwin's ‘Summertime’, and then a wild ride through Chick Corea’s ‘La Fiesta’. It is in moments like these, as the pianists play their multi-dimensional games of pursuit and avoidance, that the true spirit of this concert series emerges. The thrill, the tingle and the danger of these exceptional live encounters are part of the jazz tradition, but have been updated to send a buzz of excitement around today’s technology-fixated audience. Iiro Rantala’s ‘Olé!’ at the end of this concert didn’t just resonate in the hall in Berlin at the moment of triumph. It is a powerful and durable expression of the effect of live music at its absolute best.Credits: Recorded live in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie May 31, 2016 Curated and produced by Siggi Loch Recorded and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Mixed by Klaus Scheuermann & Bartek Kapłoński

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic - Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic V: Lost Hero - Tears for EsbjörnCD / digital Iiro Rantala piano Viktoria Tolstoy vocals Ulf Wakenius guitar Lars Danielsson bass Morten Lund drums The Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson, who died in a tragic accident in 2008, changed the course of jazz in Europe in this century. He breathed new life into the most classic of all jazz formations, the piano trio, because he had a compelling vision of how he could make it function like a rock band. That concept ran right through what he did: from the group's outward appearance to way they cohered and kept their sights firmly fixed on their shared musical concept. The trio e.s.t. always drew the listener in quite brilliantly with their catchy melodic hooks, their particular way of circling and repeating, insistent and completely mesmeric. The result was that Svensson became the pop star of jazz. Countless bands have followed his example and adopted the basic design of e.s.t. Svensson's concept of crossing genres has also been a major influence on a whole host of the leading European jazz pianists of our time. The Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala, who has without question developed a style which is entirely his own, nevertheless includes Svensson among the musicians who have inspired him. Rantala has been developing and refining his own ways to pay homage to his musical heroes. The most recent example is an album devoted to John Lennon, “My Working Class Hero,” but he first embarked on this kind of very personal venture earlier, in 2011, with “Lost Heroes”, an album for solo piano which also marked his debut on the ACT label. That album garnered the prestigious “Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” and was honoured in the ECHO Jazz awards. Rantala pays tribute on it to his personal musical icons, from Jean Sibelius to Bill Evans and Michel Petrucciani – and even Luciano Pavarotti. There is also a nod on this album to fellow pianist Esbjörn Svensson with Rantala's emotionally affecting composition “Tears For Esbjörn.” That one piece, that germ of an idea was to grow into a full-length concert in the series "Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic". When it took place, on 1st October 2015, Iiro Rantala was able to draw on the support of several prominent musicians, all of them artists who have chosen to follow in Svensson's footsteps as far as the crossing of genres is concerned. That major event in remembrance of the "lost hero" Svensson was not just a triumph, it was also a deeply moving occasion. The concert also included one musician whose working relationship with Svensson had been particularly close, the singer Viktoria Tolstoy. She has been called - and with good reason - 'Esbjörn Svensson's voice'. She was the one artist for whom the pianist had been prepared to depart from the discipline he imposed on himself of concentrating all of his considerable energies on e.s.t. As early as 1997, Svensson took the then 22-year old singer under his wing for her first album "White Russian". He co-wrote the highly melodic pop-jazz songs which feature on it, and produced the album too. e.s.t. became Tolstoy's backing band on that album, and also accompanied her on the road around Germany for her first tour. Later, in 2004, Svensson wrote and arranged all of the material for her ACT debut album „Shining On You,“ and played piano on the album - under the pseudonym Bror Falk. Guitarist Ulf Wakenius is another musician with a special connection with Svensson. He was a huge admirer of his compatriot and in 2008 became the first musician to devote an entire album to pay homage by playing Svensson's music. The remaining two members of the all-star band at the Berliner Philharmonie were musicians who had already worked with Rantala on "My History of Jazz," and who share a multiplicity of connnections with all of the others involved in the concert. In the first instance there is Swedish bassist and cellist Lars Danielsson, a pivotal figure in European jazz, and also the Danish drummer Morten Lund, who has participated on at least 60 albums by major international stars, and is regularly to be heard alongside members of the ACT label family such as Cæcilie Norby and Adam Bałdych, and indeed with Rantala himself. Rantala and his co-protagonists, in various formations, evoking different moods and adopting any number of interpretative strategies, have turned their attention to a number of the best known of Svemsson's compositions, which now form an intrinsic part of the Great European Songbook. The sequence of tracks takes in the mysterious slow motion Nordic atmospherics of “From Gagarins Point Of View.” which was the first hit for e.s.t., the drama of “Seven Days of Falling,” presented here as a piece for a guitar trio to improvise over, and the “Dodge the Dodo,” which was e.s.t's signature tune in their concerts. The title track of the album, “Tears For Esbjörn,” performed by the trio of Iiro Rantala, Lars Danielsson and Ulf Wakenius serves as a kind of prologue to the album. As the album's epilogue, John Lennon's “Imagine” brings an optimistic, Utopian vision, and creates an atmosphere which is consistent with Svensson's work and its wonderful power to connect. “Love is Real” is there too, as is to be expected. Svensson's most emotionally charged composition, and now a jazz standard, is movingly sung by Tolstoy and seems to justifies the album title “Tears for Esbjörn.” Tears for the loss of an irreplaceable artist such as Svensson are justifiable, even inevitable. The man was taken from us, and cruelly early, but there can be no doubting the durability of his musical legacy.Credits:Curated, produced by Siggi Loch Recorded live in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie, (KMS), October 1, 2015 Recorded, mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann Presented by Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker