Stars, drive, and heart: Brecker, Landgren, Evans and more – the “Dream Band” of drummer Wolfgang Haffner on a live double album. One can hear it within the first few seconds: this music project has been done for the sheer love of it. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
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 scintillating. 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. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Once again, accordionist Vincent Peirani reshuffles the cards. As a good jazz musician, he likes to venture into unexplored territories. As a good music fan and a very good musician in general, he is curious, enthusiastic, and eager to make new discoveries and find new things to listen to or play. ....
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Iiro Rantala plays the piano with “emotional magnetism and musical intelligence”; he has a “virtuosic prowess as an improviser capable of enormous idiomatic and emotional range.” (Downbeat) This praise from the American magazine’s review of the Finnish pianist’s third and recent studio-recorded solo album for ACT, “My Finnish ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“Since 1992, ACT has been building its own European union of musicians,” wrote The Times (UK) in 2020, “fostering a freedom of movement between nationalities and genres, and has given us an authentic impression of what the continent is about.” This statement becomes particularly resonant and relevant again with the signing ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Latin Jazz
“The best new thing that has happened in European jazz for a long time” (Le Monde), Emile Parisien has formed a top-flight American-European sextet for this album, his seventh as leader or co-leader on ACT. The band will be touring in 2022, the year which also marks the tenth anniversary of Parisien’s first appearance on an ACT album. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Joel Lyssarides is Sweden’s rising piano star of the moment. And whereas awareness of him beyond Sweden’s borders may still be restricted to assiduous followers of the scene, his listening figures speak for themselves. Recordings by the pianist, born in 1992, are already among the most listened-to in European jazz; on Spotify alone he has reached ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
"Dedication" finds Germany's renowned double bassist alone in the studio. For this recording, Dieter Ilg preferred not to pre-plan or pre-determine anything, but rather to create music in the moment in an intimate dialogue with his instrument. The idea might seem challenging but the results are totally compelling: Dieter ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Free Jazz
On the occasion of Charlie Parker's 100th birthday in 2020, “Bird Lives” opens, produces and records a new, orchestral view of his music. Played by one of the best big bands in Europe, arranged by Magnus Lindgren and John Beasley and with a squad of top-class guests, some of whom have received Grammy Awards, such as Joe Lovano, Chris ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Big Band
Polish violinist Adam Bałdych is a unique virtuoso of his instrument in jazz. However, he puts his virtuosity entirely at the service of the music - with a cultivated tone, a strong sense for sound and space and a talent for haunting melodies. All qualities that link him to the Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, one of Italy's most successful ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Modern Jazz
The dubbing spokesman Christian Brückner (among others for Robert De Niro) and Michael Wollny prove to be the perfect couple to let Heinrich Heine sound again. With aesthetic flair and imagination, Michael picks up the mood and gesture of the poems and prepares the musical breeding ground for Brückner's haunting performance ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
On her debut album, the Icelandic pianist and singer Anna Gréta, who lives in Sweden, enchants with subtle songs, her nuanced voice and expressive piano playing between jazz, indie and folk. A remarkable new player in the "Nordic Sound". ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The Man with the Red Horn. Nils Landgren’s nickname is apt. It brings to mind the fiery, coruscating energy with which the charismatic, soulful trombonist leads his Funk Unit. And yet there are many other facets to this hugely popular Swedish musician. In the course of a 40-year career, he has taken on many roles, producing ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre:
Madrid-based pianist Daniel Garcia carries within him a deep sense of the history that has made him. This is not least because he was born and grew up in Salamanca, a city steeped in history, with several important archaeological sites. In the centuries ever since the middle ages, student priests have walked in their ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
"More than any other art form, music touches people directly," is ACT founder Siggi Loch's credo. For nearly 30 years, the core of what the label does has been to find and to promote the artists who can inspire the mind, reach the heart and touch the soul, and who do so in ways that have a lasting impact. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Compilations
The trio format has always been something of an ideal for Jan Lundgren. That particular buzz when communication between the musicians in a trio is direct, immediate and ever-present...when the trio keeps a constant sense of forward motion and development...when the players collectively remain open to the inspiration of every millisecond. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The widespread positive response to “Lampedusa Lullaby”, KUU!’s 2018 label debut on ACT also gave rise to enthusiastic, imaginative and telling descriptions of the band’s music: “An alchemically complex jazz punk alloy. […] Really rather wonderful.”( PROG magazine). ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
It is hard to believe it as one listens to this album: pianist Vincent Meissner is just twenty years old. The drummer in the trio, incidentally, is even younger. Recognition for this major talent has started to grow, however, and the prizes are rolling in. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Modern Jazz
As an Unperfect Actor (Nine Shakespeare Sonnets)
Austrian actor Birgit Minichmayr captures the imagination and holds centre-stage on “As An Unperfect Actor – Nine Sonnets by William Shakespeare”. Composer/ pianist Bernd Lhotzky and Quadro Nuevo have provided her with a wonderful array of musical contexts. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Vocal
Beauty of sound, melodic elegance, dream-like interplay and atmospherically dense jazz compositions: Lars Danielsson's Liberetto has built up a reputation as one of the finest jazz ensembles in Europe and this new release merely enhances that point of view. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
