Jazzpaña II

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

Gerardo Núñez & Ulf Wakenius - LogosCD / digital Gerardo Núñez flamenco guitar Ulf Wakenius acoustic nylon string guitar Cepillo percussion Cancun flamenco singing Carmen Cortés & Isabel Núñez palmas & jaleos Unfamiliar combinations in music can lead to surprising, captivating results. At the “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” concert in October 2014, series curator Siggi Loch presented Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius in a new and unexpected role: as second guitarist alongside the undisputed master of flamenco nuevo, Gerardo Núñez. The combination of Wakenius and Núñez has succeeded in sending the Jazzpaña project off into a wholly new direction. The Tagesspiegel described the occasion as a “mighty fiesta.” Sparks definitely flew, Núñez had an appetite for more of the same, and he invited his Swedish colleague straight back to Madrid for the re-match. This is the meeting of two superbly gifted virtuosi and absolute masters of their instrument: Gerardo Núñez, originally from Jerez de la Frontera, has been called the crown prince of the flamenco guitar. Núñez is the natural and obvious successor to Paco de Lucía who passed away in 2014. He has not just renewed the centuries-old Spanish art form of flamenco, he has opened its doors, and let the winds of jazz, pop music and classical music blow in. For Núñez, co-operations which can lead to new inspiration have become something of a trademark. He has worked with operatic tenor Placido Domingo, with pop music idol Julio Iglesias and with John Patitucci, the star bassist from the world of jazz. Now, in Ulf Wakenius, he has found his ideal partner, because the Swedish guitarist is a musician unusually receptive to new contacts and new ideas. Wakenius’ playing has always not just been inspired by the American jazz tradition but also by world music. Wakenius can play in just about any style he chooses, and always in a wholly individual way. His openness and versatility are the hallmarks of a quite remarkable career. Wakenius has played alongside two bass icons Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Ray Brown, and for many years was a member of the legendary Oscar Peterson Quartet. He has also made his mark accompanying of singers such as Youn Sun Nah and Viktoria Tolstoy, and given free rein to his vagabond side in a duo with that unstoppable rising star of the accordion, Vincent Peirani. Núñez has explained the name of the album. “Logos”, he says “describes the mystery of our meeting.” The word beckons the listener into the world the two have created through their intense conversation. They combine their musical vocabularies and create rhetoric, dialogue, narrative, discussion, definition and meaning. “Logos” is also the meeting of two of the major guitarists of our time, two very different characters with both respect and curiosity for the other's music. They work so well together because each musician symbiotically extends the ideas of the other, and creates context and validity in the moment. “Logos” might be unexpected, but it has developed its own logic, and that logic is irresistible.Credits:Produced by Gerardo Núñez Executive Producer: Siggi Loch Cover art by Gert & Uwe Tobias

Gerardo Núñez - Jazzpaña LiveCD / Vinyl / digital Gerardo Núñez flamenco guitar Ulf Wakenius jazz guitar Chano Domínguez piano Ramón Valle piano Omar Rodriguez Calvo bass Liber Torriente drums Christof Lauer saxophone Cepillo / percussion“Music for people with open ears and open minds. Far removed from a predefined style. Without any fear of mixing genres.” In 1992, this was the understanding of jazz that producer Siggi Loch based the launch of his ACT adventure on. The label’s very first recording, Jazzpaña, was to become a milestone and synonym for ACT’s philosophy, and became a double Grammy nominee in the process. Jazzpaña brought the stars of the “Nuevo Flamenco” from Spain together with US jazz greats such as Michael Brecker, Peter Erskine and Al Di Meola, backed by the sound of the WDR Big Band. The arrangements came from Vince Mendoza, though a little-known artist at the time, he is now one of the most versatile and prolific composer-arranger-conductors of the last two decades, a multi-Grammy Award winner who has written arrangements for everyone from Joni Mitchell, Sting, Elvis Costello and Bjork to Joe Zawinul, John Scofield and Charlie Haden. 12-time Grammy winner and star producer Arif Mardin, who throughout the course of his career worked with greats such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Norah Jones, completed the set with a suite of his own. Jazzpaña sought to connect the unexpected, in this case Flamenco and Jazz, and one album became two in 2000 with a smaller, but no less prominent line-up. Jazzpaña II was led by Gerardo Núñez and Chano Domínguez and peppered with soloists like Jorge Pardo, Perico Sambeat and again Michael Brecker. Once again, it was a huge success: “Grandiose Musik” proclaimed Germany’s esteemed magazine Der Spiegel. Now, 15 years on from Jazzpaña II, and over two decades since the original idea was conceived, ACT presents Jazzpaña live. This latest chapter in the Jazzpaña story was recorded live from both the Berlin Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal and WDR 3 Jazzfest in Dortmund. For this concert, once again both Jazz and Flamenco combine through Spanish Guitarist Gerardo Núñez, considered the heir apparent to the great Paco de Lucía, and Swedish guitar virtuoso Ulf Wakenius, however this time a third element, Cuba, is added courtesy of Cuban pianist Ramón Valle. His trio explores the close relationship between Hispanic music and the music of Andalusia, with the results particularly impressive on “Siboney”, an homage to the greatest of all Cuban composers, Ernesto Lecuona.  Credits: Recorded live in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie (KMS), October 21, 2014 Recorded and mixed by Klaus Scheuermann And at the WDR 3 Jazzfest 2015, Domicil Dortmund, January 31, 2015 WDR 3 Jazzfest concert producer: Dr. Bernd Hoffmann Sound engineer: Rolf Lingenberg Audio technician: Reiner Kühl Mastered by Christian Schmitt Recording producer: Christoph Terbuyken Album mastering by Klaus Scheuermann

Full of fire, passion but also intimacy, Núñez here combines flamenco with jazz elements, Spanish folklore and inspiration from pop music. Flamenco Nuevo knows no categorisation. Despite all stylistic openness, one can only be sure of one thing on "Travesia", that Gerardo Núñez simply makes "grandiose music" (Der Spiegel).

For the 20th birthday of ACT-Music, the Jubilee Album presents 20 highlights from the moving history of the Munich label. A real treat for connoisseurs, explorers, researchers and the curious, as well as for anyone seeking the Spirit of Jazz.

The ultimate compilation "celebrates highlights from 15 years of high-quality label history from ACT." AUDIOPHILE HIGHLIGHT - STEREO

"Flamenco and jazz? To hear that today, you should start with Gerardo Núñez." - (JAZZTHETIK) Nominated for a LATIN GRAMMY 2005.

"A fantastic record" - STEREO

A fusion of jazz and flamenco featuring legends like Michael Brecker and Esperanza Fernandez. Award-winning album with brilliant rhythms and melodies.