Four wins! The debut album of the German-Swedish supergroup "4 Wheel Drive" was the most successful jazz recording in Germany in 2019. And the media were not stingy with praise either. "Four first-league jazz players with pure joy of playing and a desire for good pop music", was the verdict of ZDF's heute-journal on the ingenious and enjoyable collaboration of ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
At the age of just twenty-one Emma Rawicz has already sown many of the important seeds for a major career. She clearly can be considered a part of the wave of Young British Jazz which has been making its mark worldwide. The North Devon-born saxophonist, whose Polish surname comes from her Warsaw-born grandfather, who settled in the UK during World War 2, has already led her band ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Curated by Siggi Loch: Over 70 minutes of the best jazz infotainment: Magic Moments is one of the most successful compilation series of European jazz and shows a cross-section of the current ACT program, compiled by Siggi Loch. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Compilations
"It has always been really important for me," says Fio- na Grond, “not just to be the singer with the melody while the other musicians are doing everything else." So, on her ACT debut album "Poesias", the Swiss-born voca- list's voice functions as one of three instruments acting as equal partners, her singing closely intermeshed with Moritz Stahl's ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
Austrian Syndicate…the phrase immediately brings to mind the best-known and most influential of all Austrians in jazz, Joe Zawinul. And yet David Helbock’s project is much more than just a homage to his compatriot. It is a return to the roots of fusion jazz and how things developed from then on. It is also a new direction stylistically for Helbock, who has harnessed a ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Fusion
One of the most exciting names arising out of the UK jazz scene, the young saxophonist and composer is turning heads with her outstanding talent and original compositions. At the age of 20 she has already recorded and released an eagerly awaited debut album ‘Incantation’ featuring Ant Law, made up entirely of her original compositions. Emma’s second album is being recorded in summer 2022 and will feature an ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Fusion
Berlin might well be considered widely as the creative hub of the German jazz scene, but in the deep south of the country there is another city where talented and promising musicians are finding new pathways in jazz. Among these, for example, are the Jazzrausch Bigband, vocalist Alma Naidu and guitarist Philipp Schiepek. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic - Komeda (Live)
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, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“When I seek another word for ‘music’, I never find any other word than ‘Venice’.” Friedrich Nietzsche. The Italian city built in the water, a metropolis of art and music, a place of myths and yearnings, where renowned artists have created amazing work: Venice. How could its beauty and mystery, its architecture and its centuries of ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
The French jazz scene has a vitality, an originality and a do-it- all and do-it-anyway mentality about it right now. It is French musicians who are blazing the new trails for contemporary European jazz. There is a wonderful open-mindedness towards all musical cultures, genres and tendencies; and yet French musicians also give off the ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“Your Requests”, Laila Biali’s third album on ACT, shows a very different side of the craft of the Canadian pianist/vocalist from its predecessors. Both her self-titled debut album, which won the Canadian Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz album in 2019, and also its successor, “Out of Dust” (nominated for the award in 2021), ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
The 2022 Jazzfest Berlin performance by revered, iconoclastic reedist Peter Brötzmann, Moroccan Gnaoua adept Majid Bekkas playing the two-stringed, camelskin-backed guembri, and Chicago-bred drummer Hamid Drake, documented as Catching Ghosts, is historic. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Ghana has an ancient tradition of story-telling, so the continuance of this great heritage can take many forms... and not just ones that involve the voice or words. Peter Somuah spins tales which come from his instrument: as a young trumpet-player, he embarked on a fascinating search for his identity between the Highlife music of his native country, Miles ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
In “Voices”, Mathieu Saglio, with his quartet and a fascinating roster of guest vocal soloists from many countries, follows a bold dream. “Voices” builds on the success and the momentum of Saglio’s previous ACT album “El Camino de los Vientos'' (2020), a 'varied musical journey through the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia.'(JAZZTHETIK). Both Fono Forum ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
"Jakob Manz will always surprise you," says pianist /keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia, who produced the 21-year-old's new album alongside Siggi Loch. "It is widely known that Jakob can play the saxophone unbelievably well, and also that he can take it in just about every conceivable direction in modern jazz. What is less appreciated is how authentic he ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Swedish bassist/cellist Lars Danielsson is a master improviser, who completely engages listeners by taking them on journeys of both pleasure and wonder, with themes which are always expressive and song-like. He is far too classy and refined a musician to indulge in superficial virtuosic display. Danielsson's well-honed, naturally lyrical ...
Composer: Lars Danielsson
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Classical Crossover
Les Égarés is more than a record. It’s play space, a locus of musical life, a poetic asylum inhabited by two twosomes who for years have excelled in the art of crossfertilising sounds and transcending genres. They are Ballaké Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello) on the one hand and Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (sax) on the other. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
With "Wille", its second album, the Vincent Meissner Trio shows that young, complex, crisp piano trio jazz does not have to come from the USA, England or Scandinavia, like many famous current representatives. Totally contemporary music, with heart and brain, whether in the form of original compositions or re-constructions of Whitney Houston, Louis Cole or The Beatles.
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
After adventures in the most diverse formations and musical styles, World jazz icon Nguyên Lê returns to the trio format with which he once founded his international career. Together with the Canadian Chris Jennings, one of the most sought-after bassists on both sides of the Atlantic. And the Moroccan percussionist Rhani Krija, whose ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Fusion
Snarky Puppy founder, multi-instrumentalist and Grammy winner Michael League and cossover piano icon Bill Laurance take us to an imaginary place full of beauty, peace and energy. Musical escapism, world jazz 2.0 and an invitation to a place where we wish to be. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
