In the decade since it was founded, the German “Jazzrausch Bigband” has made a habit of combining things which are normally considered to be opposites: techno and jazz; classical and underground electronica; the concert hall and the club; the young and the old. A permanent awareness of dichotomy seems completely ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Big Band
Pianist Jan Lundgren from Ystad in Sweden and guitarist Yamandu Costa, from Brazil’s southernmost province Rio Grande del Sur might seem an unlikely pairing, and the combination of guitar and piano is well known to be fraught with difficulty. But the collaborative affinity of this duo, the chemistry which they have found through playing together, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
‘I keep thinking about how to lead a band from the drums in a way that gives the instrument a central role, but one which is more about shaping the music than displaying virtuosity,’ says Wolfgang Haffner. This way of working, a common thread throughout his career, is a key factor in ‘Life Rhythm’, his tenth album for ACT. Haffner may shun the virtuoso ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Now here’s a challenge: to take the fugue, possibly the most complex compositional procedure in Western classical music, and to transform it to reflect the modern age. The ‘New Piano Trio’ - violinist Florian Willeitner, cellist Ivan Turkalj and pianist Alexander Wienand – has taken this task to heart. Rather than being in any way daunted by the ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
Das Jahr 1994 war das Gründungsjahr der Nils Landgren Funk Unit. Als ich von Siggi Loch das Angebot bekam, Teil seines neuen Labels ACT werden, änderte er als erstes den ursprünglichen Bandnamen Unit zu Funk Unit. Als ich fragte, warum, antwortete er knapp: "Weil ihr Funk spielt" - und damit hatte er recht. Der Rest ist Geschichte. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Mainstream Jazz
The Gallery Concerts III (Rag Bag)
„Mich faszinieren in der Musik, der Kunst und überhaupt im Leben die Widersprüche und Kontraste, die Synkopen, die Risse in der Zeit“, sagt der Pianist Bernd Lhotzky. Und so ist sein Soloalbum „Rag Bag“ eine Reise zwischen Zeiten und Welten, ein Flickenteppich aus unterschiedlichsten Motiven, Stilen und Assoziationen. Keimzelle der Musik des ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The Iiro Rantala HEL Trio is capable of incredible contrasts, and therein lies its appeal. As a pianist, Rantala can take the breath away both with his lightness of touch and the grace of his melodic lines. But then he can transform himself into other, very different characters: there is one who inspires laughter with ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
In 1993, three musicians from Sweden, Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström formed the band e.s.t.. Svensson and Öström had known each other ever since their first steps into music as children. Neither of them could have anticipated that e.s.t. would become the most influential band in European jazz of the noughties. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Bloom, the ACT debut of pianist and composer Bill Laurance as leader, marks the transition from the smallest possible form of musical interaction to a large-scale, broadband format: Following the internationally acclaimed ACT release Where You Wish You Were in duo with multi-instrumentalist and Snarky Puppy bandmate Michael League, Laurance now teams up with Manchester-based 18-piece string orchestra ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
How do you follow up a successful album like “Americana”? Released in April 2020, it not only received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, it has also registered streaming statistics approaching ten million. It brought together harmonica player Grégoire Maret and pianist Romain Collin, performing in a trio ...
Composer: Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Kleiner Impuls, große Wirkung - dafür steht der Begriff „Butterfly Effect“. Schon der Flügelschlag eines Schmetterlings an einem Punkt der Erde kann eine Kette von Ereignissen auslösen, die an einem weit entfernten Ort gewaltige Veränderungen zur Folge haben. Im Falle des Duos von Saxofonist, Flötist und Klarinettist Magnus Lindgren und Pianist ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
"I love the music of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan," says Icelandic guitarist Mikael Máni. "I think that's the main reason why I often write songs for the guitar that could just as easily be sung." Those words bring us to the core of what "Guitar Poetry", Máni’s debut release on ACT, is all about. This album introduces an instrumentalist who brings ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Anna Gréta goes gentle...into her second album on ACT, “Star of Spring”. The Reykjavik-born pianist, singer and a songwriter, who has lived in Stockholm since 2014, has her own way of approaching the art of quiet, artful, deeply personal songs, often drawing inspiration from the beauty and power of Iceland’s natural ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
Any conversation about the piano trio in the European jazz of recent decades will inevitably touch on the topic of the "Nordic sound". The leading exponents of it – Jan Johansson, Bobo Stenson, Bugge Wesseltoft, Esbjörn Svensson… – have not just drawn on the vast palette of American jazz, they are also musicians steeped in the ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Viktoria Tolstoy's ACT debut album, "Shining On You" from 2004, can now be seen as a defining moment, marking the beginning of the continuing success story of popular jazz voices from Scandinavia. The music was written by Esbjörn Svensson, who also formed the core band together with Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström and was soon to become world-famous ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
When accidents happen, they are normally over in seconds, sometimes minutes; this one has been going on for 20 years. It is two decades since the members of Emile Parisien’s quartet played a jam session together. At the end, they looked at each other in disbelief. They had not just been hit by a collective musical ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Live at Cello Biënnale Amsterdam
Nesrine is a very versatile singer and cellist. In keeping with the current zeitgeist, she combines influences from pop, rock, minimalism, and North African music. Originally trained as a classical cellist, she played in Daniel Barenboim's East Western Divan Orchestra and in the Orquestra de la ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
Passacaglia is a multi-coloured musical dialogue between two unique characters who are leading figures in European jazz and contemporary music, Adam Bałdych and Leszek Możdżer. The repertoire ranges from free improvisations over works co-written by the musicians themselves to their ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The duo recording by pianists Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny marks the start of a collaboration between two extraordinary partners: the ACT label and Château Palmer, one of the most important Grand Cru wine estates in Bordeaux - and a constant companion of jazz. And it unites the worlds of music, wine and fine art in a unique way. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
"Groove jazz, that’s what we grew up with,“ says alto saxophonist Jakob Manz. "Marcus Miller, David Sanborn and the Brecker Brothers - they’re all in our DNA. But for The Jakob Manz Project’s second album, we also wanted new inspirations which would push us further". The main catalyst for this was a performance at the ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
