Philipp Schiepek
who recently won the 2020 BMW Young Artist Jazz Award, made a big splash in 2019 with the release of his assured debut album “Golem Dance”, where saxophonist Seamus Blake, bassist Henning Sieverts, flanked him and drummer Bastian Jütte. The album’s original tunes highlight his investment in deep harmonic exploration, revealed both through his imaginative comping and tricky passages where his complex lines are seamlessly interwoven with the playing of Blake. His own solos are meticulously structured, unfolding with fluid grace while simultaneously surprising the listener with pulse-quickening detours. The programme explores varied moods, including funked-up boogaloos, smolderingly pretty balladry, brisk swingers and Second Line groovers, but regardless of style Schiepek injects a thoroughly contemporary vibe, recalling the deep modernism of Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Walter Lang
was born 1961 in Germany. He studied piano and composition at Berklee School of Music in Boston and continued his studies at the Amsterdam School of the Arts. Along with drummer Gerwin Eisenhauer and bassist Sven Faller he founded TRIO ELF in 2005. They recorded 6 very succesful albums for the prestigous jazz Label Enja Records. His recent groups are, besides Trio ELF and the Walter Lang Trio, his world music project „World Percussion Ensemble“ and his duo „PWL“ with the the charismatic jazz singer Philipp Weiss. In February 2016 he recorded his first CD with the Shinya Fukumori Trio for ECM. Walter Lang has also played with Lee Konitz, James Moody, Chico Freeman, Don Menza, Roy Hargrove, Paula Morelenbaum, Dusko Goykovich, Lisa Wahlandt, Jenny Evans and many others.