Now focusing on original compositions (along with some Indian chants and a piece by Claude Debussy), this album also distinguishes itself from the previous two albums by presenting a new sonic landscape.� Blending the rich timbres and textures of both the acoustic and electric sonic worlds of the musicians, we were looking to get a strong, direct, full sound that still retains enough detail and acoustic warmth.

The magic of art needs a frame, a somewhat solid container to hold the freedom that can only be found once we integrate some form of structure. And that also holds in every other area of life. We all need a frame, a structure, a rhythm, or else, we fall apart. This human form needs the body, and yet it transcends the limitations of the body - through art.

This live album brings together two legendary Parisian concerts, recorded in 1956 and 1961, that capture all the explosive energy and contagious enthusiasm of a "Lion" at the peak of his glory. These dynamite performances are a testament to the boundless generosity of one of the most formidable entertainers in jazz history, an artist capable of transforming a simple concert into a true show. The listener is carried away by Hampton's infectious enthusiasm and the powerful swing of his big band. It's dance jazz at it's zenith. - Patrick Fr�meaux The Live in Paris collection by Michel Brilli� allows listeners to hear previously unreleased recordings (made at concerts, private-, or radio-sessions) by the great 20th century stars in jazz, rock & roll and song. These "live" takes, and the artists' rapport with their audiences, give these performances an additional soul and sensibility in counterpoint to the rigorous demands of studio recordings. Particular care was taken when restoring the sound of these tapes in order to meet CD standards while preserving the original colours of the period. - Patrick Fr�meaux & Gilles P�tard

Stephane Gallande: A few years ago, the musicians in this band and I began a specific practice on unusual mixes of rhythmic ideas, inspired by traditions from various parts of the world, with the intention of integrating them until they became a personal vocabulary and means of expression. The result is on this album.

Jazz trio with�Bram de Looze on Piano,�Sylvain Debaisieux on Saxophone and�Samuel Ber on Drums. What do we like in music? Flow, playfulness, melody, mystery, rhythm, imaginary spaces, counterpoint, the act of folding and unfolding sounds and ideas, fun, dance, trust, patience, multidimensional time and structures, calling on the subconscious

Norwegian pianist/composer Jan Gunnar Hoff, Dutch bass player/composer Jasper Somsen and Danish drummer/composer Carsten Lindholm made this step in 2023 and brought their individual voices together for some concerts that year. Quickly it turned out that this was more than just three musicians performing together; the trio very quickly became an ensemble playing jazz with a bit of US jazz tradition mixed with a European classical sensibility; immediately their individual sounds became one voice.

The musical universe we present on this album is, in some form, our dream of Brazil.�The Brazil of our masters: Pixinguinha, Moacir Santos, Baden Powell and Egberto Gismonti. A country that continues to innovate and reinvent itself.�With Sonho de la, the fruit of our daydreams, musings and musical experiments, we offer another contribution to highlight the piano-violin duo and it's vast possibilities within the rich repertoire of Brazilian music.�The combination of piano and violin has already been widely explored in the realm of classical music.�Yet in popular music, the specific combination of piano and violin has rarely been explored.

Flo� og Fjara is Gulli Gudmundsson's new project. The Icelandic bassist has been a cornerstone of the Dutch jazz scene for many years. His new trio has a chamber music-inspired setup. With pianist Jeroen van Vliet and trumpeter Koen Smits, he has found two musicians who share his pursuit of similar sound ideals.

In Being Human, Lynne’s compositions celebrate the ways our lives are enriched by passion, courage, love, persistence, heart, soul, curiosity, faith, and joy. Responding to the negative effects of polarization in society and culture, Lynne created this album as an affirmation of love, hope, and unity. It is a musical inspiration to fully appreciate the incredible potential in each of us, and to live our lives individually and collectively as the best expression of what it means to be human.

El Trio is a dream threesome of some of my favorite musicians, all whom have been in my various bands: Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernández, one of the most versatile and in-demand drummers in the history of Cuban music and jazz; José Armando Gola, a great double bass player, composer, and an expert in every sense of the word who can adapt to any style; and John Beasley, a genius pianist, keyboardist, orchestrator, innovator, whose imagination takes me to another galaxy. El Trio’s sound is organic, contemporary, and supernova.- Chucho Valdés

De l'implacable Fingertips aux furieuses reprises de l'oncle Ray, cette anthologie regroupe entre autres les deux premiers albums de Stevie Wonder. Appele alors Little Stevie, ce genie precoce de 12 ans, egerie de la Tamla Motown, tape fort et pose les premieres pierres de la revolution soul ! Patrick FReMEAUX From his relentless "Fingertips" to the frenzied reruns of Uncle Ray's music, this anthology brings together (among others!) the contents of Stevie Wonder's first two albums, made when he was known as "Little Stevie". At the time, he was already a genius (at the age of twelve) and he became Tamla Motown's muse, a hard-hitting keyboardist who laid the foundations of the Soul revolution. Patrick FReMEAUX THE JAZZ SOUL OF LITTLE STEVIE : FINGERTIPS - SQUARE - SOUL BONGO - MANHATTAN AT SIX - PAULSBY - SOME OTHER TIME - WONDERING - SESSION NUMBER 112 - BAM. TRIBUTE TO UNCLE RAY : HALLELUJAH I LOVE HER SO - AIN't THAT LOVE - DON't YOU KNOW - THE MASQUERADE - FRANKIE & JOHNNY - DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS - COME BACK BABY - MARY ANN - SUNSET - MY BABY'S GONE. 45T : I CALL IT PRETTY MUSIC, BUT THE OLD PEOPLE CALL IT THE BLUES (PART 1) - I CALL IT PRETTY MUSIC, BUT THE OLD PEOPLE CALL IT THE BLUES (PART 2) - LA LA LA LA LA - LITTLE STEVIE WONDER & CLARENCE PAUL - LITTLE WATER BOY - CONTRACT ON LOVE - SUNSET. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : OLIVIER JULIEN

La bossa nova est l'une des plus emblematiques des musiques populaires du XXe siecle. en plus d'avoir offert au grand repertoire quelques-uns de ses plus beaux fleurons elle a place la musique bresilienne sur le devant de la scene internationale. en parallele a son ouvrage, Alain Gerber selectionne 45 des oeuvres les plus emblematiques des debuts de la bossa nova entre Bresil et etats-Unis. Ant�nio Carlos Jobim, Jo�o Gilberto, Johnny Alf, Luiz Bonfa, Carlos Lyra et Baden Powell font echos a Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck et Sonny Rollins. Patrick FReMEAUX Bossa nova is one of the most emblematic forms of popular music of the 20th century. In addition to having given the great universal songbook some of it's finest jewels, it has placed Brazilian music at the forefront of the international scene. In parallel with his book, Alain Gerber has selected 45 of the most emblematic songs from the early days of bossa nova. Ant�nio Carlos Jobim, Jo�o Gilberto, Johnny Alf, Luiz Bonfa, Carlos Lyra and Baden Powell are echoed by Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Patrick Fremeaux CD 1 - RIO DE JANEIRO : HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS : BACHIANA BRASILEIRA N� 5 - DICK FARNEY & LUCIO ALVES : TEREZA DA PRAIA - JOHNNY ALF : RAPAZ DE BEM - ANT�NIO CARLOS JOBIM & VINiCIUS DE MORAES : SE T�DOS F�SSEM IGUAIS A VOCe - LUIZ BONFA : LUZES DO RIO - JO�O GILBERTO : UM ABRAcO NO BONFa - ELIZETE CARDOSO : OUTRA VEZ - JO�O GILBERTO : CHEGA DE SAUDADE - DORIVAL CAYMMI : SAMBA DA MINHA TERRA - JO�O GILBERTO : SAMBA DA MINHA TERRA - TRIO CAMARA : MUITO A VONTADE - JO�O GILBERTO : HO-Ba-La-La - ELIZETE CARDOSO : SERENATA DE ADEUS - BADEN POWELL : SAMBA NOVO, Pt. 2 - BADEN POWELL : PARA NaO SOFRER - MAYSA (MATTARAZZO) : O BARQUINHO - SYLVIA TELLES : SE e TARDE ME PERDOA - JO�O GILBERTO : LOBO BOBO - SYLVIA TELLES : DISCUSS�O - JO�O GILBERTO : SAMBA DE UMA NOTA SO - JO�O GILBERTO : DESAFINADO - SYLVIA TELLES : CORCOVADO - CARLOS LYRA : COISA MAIS LINDA - CARLOS LYRA : MARIA NINGUeM - OS CARIOCAS : TUDO e BOSSA - SeRGIO RICARDO : MAXIMA CULPA - ANIBAL SARDINHA "GAROTO" : ALMA BRASILEIRA - OSCAR CASTRO-NEVES : AULA DE MATEMATICA. CD 2 - (QUELQUE CHOSE SUR L'AMeRIQUE DU NORD) : CURTIS FULLER : ONE NOTE SAMBA - DAVE BRUBECK : VENTO FRESCO - STAN GETZ & CHARLIE BYRD : e LUXO So - CAL TJADER : SE e TARDE ME PERDOA - SONNY ROLLINS : THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES - DIZZY GILLESPIE : DESAFINADO - BOB BROOKMEYER : CHORA TUA TRISTEZA - STAN GETZ : BIM BOM - ZOOT SIMS : MARIA NINGUEM - QUINCY JONES : BLACK ORPHEUS - DAVE PIKE : PHILUMBA - COLEMAN HAWKINS : UM ABRAcO NO BONFa - IKE QUEBEC : FAVELA - LALO SCHIFRIN : RAPAZ DE BEM - CHARLIE ROUSE : VELHOS TEMPOS - GEORGE SHEARING : MANHA DE CARNAVAL - BUD SHANK : PENSATIVA. DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE : ALAIN GERBER

Fratellanza means brotherhood. And there is no better term to describe what Paulus, Joost, Jasper and Wim have together musically. This album is a musical journey where these musicians fuse the charm of Italy with the infectious swing, virtusosity and melancholy of gypsy jazz.

Fremeaux & Associes, label patrimonial de reference du jazz, a edite aux formats livre et livre audio avec les Presses Universitaires de France un cours de reference sur l'histoire du jazz de Laurent Cugny, professeur emerite a la Faculte des Lettres de Sorbonne Universite (Institut de recherche en musicologie), pianiste et ancien directeur de l'ONJ (Orchestre National de Jazz). Cette anthologie 3 CD selectionnee par l'auteur retrace, en parallele a son ouvrage, la voie parcourue par cette musique qui, des maisons closes de La Nouvelle Orleans, jusqu'aux scenes les plus prestigieuses de la planete, a su devenir la plus savante des musiques populaires de notre dernier siecle. Patrick FReMEAUX Fremeaux & Associes, the leading jazz heritage label, has published in book and audiobook format a reference course on the history of jazz by Laurent Cugny, professor emeritus at Sorbonne University's Faculty of Letters (Institute for Research in Musicology), pianist and former director of the ONJ (Orchestre National de Jazz). This 3-CD anthology selected by the author retraces, in parallel with his book, the path taken by this music which, from the brothels of New Orleans to the most prestigious stages on the planet, has become one of the most popular music of our last century. Patrick FReMEAUX CD1 - DES DeBUTS, AU COOL JAZZ : DEEP RIVER MARIAN ANDERSON - IF YOU SEE MY SAVIOUR THOMAS A. DORSEY - KIND HEARTED WOMAN BLUES ROBERT JOHNSON - MAPLE LEAF RAG SCOTT JOPLIN - TIGER RAG ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND - CANAL STREET BLUES KING OLIVER - BLACK BOTTOM STOMP JELLY ROLL MORTON - HOTTER THAN THAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG - JAZZ ME BLUES BIX BEIDERBECKE - NEW KING PORTER STOMP FLETCHER HENDERSON - BODY AND SOUL COLEMAN HAWKINS - THESE FOOLISH THINGS LESTER YOUNG - JUMPIN' AT THE WOODSIDE COUNT BASIE - ECHOES OF HARLEM DUKE ELLINGTON - CLARINET A LA KING BENNY GOODMAN - HOT HOUSE DIZZY GILLESPIE - KOKO CHARLIE PARKER - TEMPUS FUGUE-IT BUD POWELL - BOPLICITY MILES DAVIS - THOU SWELL STAN GETZ - I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY CHET BAKER - BERNIE'S TUNE GERRY MULLIGAN - TAKE FIVE DAVE BRUBECK. CD2 - DU HARD BOP AU FREE JAZZ (+ JAZZ VOCAL) : OLEO MILES DAVIS/SONNY ROLLINS - MOANIN' ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS - JOY SPRING CLIFFORD BROWN / MAX ROACH - SELF-PORTRAIT IN THREE COLORS CHARLES MINGUS - SUMMERTIME GIL EVANS/MILES DAVIS - SO WHAT MILES DAVIS - GIANT STEPS JOHN COLTRANE - INVISIBLE ORNETTE COLEMAN - CRAZY BLUES MAMIE SMITH - BACK WATER BLUES BESSIE SMITH - STRANGE FRUIT BILLIE HOLIDAY - HOW HIGH THE MOON ELLA FITZGERALD - EMBRACEABLE YOU SARAH VAUGHAN - SWEET LORRAINE NAT KING COLE - MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME NINA SIMONE. CD3 - LE JAZZ EN FRANCE : LONESOME LOVE SICK BLUES JOSePHINE BAKER - PARIS BIGUINE STELLIO - DINAH DJANGO REINHARDT - CHRISTIANA MICHEL WARLOP - SWEET AND BEBOP BORIS VIAN - FLeCHE D'OR DJANGO REINHARDT - STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY HENRI SALVADOR - ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT SACHA DISTEL - ESQUISSE II ANDRe HODEIR - LES OIGNONS SIDNEY BECHET - IN A MIST MICHEL LEGRAND - VERY FATIGUe MARTIAL SOLAL - RAT RACE LES DOUBLE SIX - CUTE MILT BUCKNER / JO JONES - TROC TROC - CRAZY RHYTHM STePHANE GRAPPELLI / CLAUDE BOLLING - 22 MEZOUK ALAIN JEAN-MARIE - MOTHERLESS CHILD GOLDEN GATE QUARTET - TEA FOR TWO DIDIER LOCKWOOD - MINOR SWING NEW QUINTET DU HOT CLUB DE FRANCE - DRUM THING 1 DANIEL HUMAIR - NEW STORIES HERVe SELLIN - SALAMERO LAURENT CUGNY. SeLECTION : LAURENT CUGNY

The concept of “Jasper Somsen Invites ...” is typical in the world of Jazz music. I just called some of my colleagues and asked if they would like to perform with me in a duo, trio or quartet. Being my guests of honour, I’d let my invitees decide our repertoire. On 30 March 2023, I invited the Metropole Orchestra’s alto saxophone player Paul van der Feen and master pianist Bert van den Brink. We had so much fun during the sound-check that we decided to record the concert. The recordings turned out to be a lucky shot in the dark. Paul, Bert and I instantly agreed and selected the best tracks for an album. The music on this album perfectly reflects the same spontaneity as many other concerts of that series: live music, up-close and personal, for a wonderful audience.

A melody you never heard before takes you back to a place where you have never been. Immediately, from the first notes of Traveller’s Ways, you as the listener feel that wondrous combination of familiarity and astonishment. On this magnificent album, Somsen, Pieranunzi and Mirabassi create music that feels like coming home and at the same time leads to numerous unknown destinations you have never visited before.

Whoever has listened to the music on this CD understands its title:"Drop me off" - getting dropped off, yes, but only at Reinhardt Winkler’s . The passionate drummer and heartful man has gathered his musical companions for an intense musical exchange and weaves their subtile contributions with perfect rhythmic work into a sound experience that you wouldn’t want to miss.

Pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and arranger Michele Corcella complete offer a beautifully orchestrated collection of John Lewis’s best.

In the specific field of jazz/classical music crossover, the 1920s were crucial. They gave us one of the first, absolutely extraordinary, works of the genre: the famous “Rhapsody in Blue.” John Lewis moved in the same direction as Gershwin, but from a very different vision and experience. Indeed, Lewis was an excellent jazz pianist, but above all Lewis, besides being a great jazz player, was deeply in love with the music of Bach and from the earliest years of his career onward made the blues/Bach pair the banner of his artistic life. It is to this musical conception and to the compositional art of John Lewis that, a little more than two decades after his passing, “Blues and Bach” wishes to pay tribute. His tunes have been reworked and orchestrated for the occasion with an ensemble that, in some ways, is itself a crossover within a crossover (jazz trio plus string quintet and woodwind quintet).

REVIEWS:

If jazz is by now a respectable genre, it’s partly thanks to John Lewis. Never knowingly overwrought, this American pianist had his roots in classical music, bebop, and the Birth of the Cool. A Bach devotee, he incorporated fugue and counterpoint into his work. Here two Italians, the pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and the arranger Michele Corcella, complete the journey with a beautifully orchestrated collection of Lewis’s best.

Pieranunzi is one of Europe’s great jazz pianists, greatly influenced by Bill Evans. His luminous tone and elegant, linear phrasing is a superb foil to the warmth of Corcella’s arrangements. On Vendome, the most Bach-like piece, Pieranunzi slips easily between frisky fugue and sophisticated swing as the strings scurry alongside. On Django the violins handle the baroque counterpoint as the trio dig into a down and dirty blues. 

Some wonderful sound pictures are drawn on Skating in Central Park: a Satie-like figure falls like snow and the piano waltzes over the drummer Mauro Beggio’s powdery brushes. Woodwinds swirl and strings sparkle. By contrast, Spanish Steps and Jasmine Tree are proper workouts with lively trio improvisation slotting into complex orchestral structures. Strings often weigh down a jazz group — here they make it more exciting.

Two bittersweet ballads were surely included for sentimental reasons. The Italians handle Lewis’s Milano gently, the piano wandering easily through a shifting chamber-music cityscape. Lewis didn’t write Autumn in New York (it’s by Vernon Duke), but his band the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded it and was formed in NYC. Pieranunzi swaggers along as skyscrapers of sound stretch upwards around him. Classic classical jazz.

-- London Times (Chris Pearson)

The GRAMMY Award Winner Metropole Orchestra, GRAMMY Award Winner John Beasley, and GRAMMY Award Nominee Maria Mendes present a new live recording. Fado music is undeniable for the Portuguese people and for all of those who seek for nostalgic love in the past and present. And so is saudade – a Portuguese word that doesn’t translate to any other language in the world.

"Fado and saudade are forever bound. They both express the melancholic longing for the past and the hopes it becomes present once again. They also express the belief in destiny as a fortunate and fatalistic power that you cannot escape from. This music is about how I feel Fado and how I love it, free of definitions, free of limitations. This is no Fado album. This is no traditional Jazz music. This is an adventure that is real and can be felt by everyone. As love is." --Maria Mendes

Editor's Choice at Jazziz October 2022

REVIEWS

With her critically acclaimed 2019 album Close To Me, Mendes spotlighted her ability to bring disparate influences together with her vibrant fusion of symphonic jazz and Portuguese Fado, the folk music of her homeland. Now, Mendes brings her singular vision to the concert stage in collaboration with master keyboardist-arranger John Beasley and Metropole Orkest on her new live album, Saudade, Colour Of Love...the album expands the emotional intensity of its predecessor’s hybrid sound with the backing of a full orchestra. The lush symphonic sound sparks when it meets the interplay of Mendes’ brilliant quartet and the singer’s fervent vocals.

--DownBeat

Drawing songs from her Grammy-nominated album Close to You and adding new material, Mendes and producer, co-arranger and conductor John Beasley get the balance just right: Sinatra-esque orchestral introductions, rippling jazz piano, the melancholy drama of fado, her own forays into scat and improvisation. Check out the epic “Verdes Anos,” which starts with soft strings, moves into a fiery piano solo, and ends with the Orkest doing battle with Mendes’ high-pitched cries and squeals. “E Se Não For Fado” fits squarely in the ballad tradition, keeping the improvisation to a minimum to make the most of its lovely melody.

Mendes soars as both singer and scatter on her own “Dança Do Amor,” while “Quando Eu Era Pequenina” takes a traditional Portuguese tune and sends it into orbit. Beloved Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal contributes a brand-new piece to the program, and “Hermeto’s Fado For Maria” ends up as a highlight of the record. Mendes closes the album with “Meu Pobre Capitão,” a new co-composition with Beasley whose creamy melody and Latin shuffle send the audience out smiling. Pulling from two different traditions on Saudade, Mendes manages to make a new one of her own.

--The Big Takeover

There are few things as exciting and as challenging as singing with a full orchestra.  Maria Mendes has a voice, toned by technique and colored with emotion, that soars like another instrument atop the awesome arrangements of the Metropole Orkest conducted by John Beasley.

[Mendes] offers us Portuguese Folk songs, colorfully arranged and plush with orchestration. The mastery of John Beasley as arranger and conductor shines like gold. This project is Maria Mendes’ dream-come-true album, recorded, May of 2022 in Amsterdam.  Her voice is as natural and multi-layered as the orchestra and her exquisite range soars above the instruments like a powerful bird in flight. Maria’s range is astounding and the way she weaves jazzy scat sounds into the production is both unique and ear-catching. John Beasley builds the production around her vocals beautifully, attentive to the details of her delivery, while all the time, enriching this amazing orchestra with his sensitive, dynamic arrangements.

Here is an artistic and unusual project, infused with jazz, rich with classical overtones and culturally prominent.

--Musical Memoirs

 

This new release features famous standards played by a remarkable ensemble lead by drummer Reinhardt Winkler. The recording features Harry Allen on tenor saxophone, John di Martino on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass. “I’ve selected each song on the album because it speaks to my heart in a very personal way. Making music takes my mind to a special place, filling me with an awareness of being a link in a chain; a chain of ideas and musical approaches that I’m treating with great care while trying to keep them going.” (Reinhardt Winkler)

Patty Lomuscio writes: “My dream has finally come true, to make a record in NY with jazz legend, maestro Kenny Barron. I have always loved jazz and New York is its home. It all started by chance, thanks to the friendship that links me to Joe Farnsworth, the king of swing, caused by a situation that we never wanted or imagined we would have to face during the lockdown. After an exchange of music and emails, the much desired project came true and was realized in the most important jazz recording studio in the world, the Rudy Van Gelder Studio. The common denominator for the songs is love and the sensations experienced during that forced isolation, being alone in the house, uncertainties, the desire to overcome everything through love. I am particularly attached to the only Italian song that I contributed, written by an extraordinary musician and friend, Mario Rosini, a song whose meaning is very close to my father. The pieces we have chosen resonate beautifully thanks to the piano touch of Kenny Barron, the deep sound of Peter Washington, the poignant notes of Vince Herring and the pressing rhythm of Joe Farnsworth. I have added in my own emotions that I have tried to convey with my voice. I am amazed and happy at the results!”

JOYFUL NOISE. the product of a tremendous collaboration and the confluence of a range of musical currents. In 2021, Challenge Records gave me the opportunity to conceive and produce a new CD. I had previously completed a project with the Ravelli Brass septet and ace drummer Arie den Boer. My roots are in the world of brass bands and I really wanted to let those roots shine through.

“I hope you enjoy listening to these eight concerts as much as we had fun putting them together for you. On the vinyl release we have a selection of songs drawn from the CDs and digital version and some very special bonus tracks, that only appear on the LP’s. In 2013 there was for me a very memorable night in a beautiful small Jazz Club in Cologne, Germany, where I got to play a duo concert with the great Michael Abene. From that concert we selected the immortal standard Cole Porter song “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To“. The Jazz Orchestra Of The Concertgebouw organized in 2016 a tribute concert to our own Europe’s First Lady Of Jazz, the legendary Rita Reys. One of her favorite songs was again from Cole Porter, which I did in the famous arrangement of Peter Herbolzheimer, “Love For Sale“. The other twospecial bonus tracks we took only on the LP’s are with the great Petar Beets Trio with Martijn van Iterson on guitar and Netherland’s iconic bass legend, Ruud Jacobs. What a pleasure and treat to have been on tour with this outstanding musicians. I love performing with Big Bands and one of the first Big Bands I worked regularly together with is the “Millennium Jazz Orchestra“ of my dear friend and fantastic arranger Joan Reinders. We did a studio album in 2002 and many, many concerts throughout the Netherlands and also in New York. In2019 Joan wrote a wonderful program of all George Gershwin classics and added the famous Matangi String Quartet. It was such a joy to do this program from which we selected “Summertime“ and “The Man I Love“ as special bonus tracks only for the LP version.” - Fay Claassen

During the last years, Kalle and I had the opportunity to work on original duo music without much pressure from outside and finally recorded this program in September 2022. I have always enjoyed listening to and exploring ensemble music that uses multiple instruments being capable of providing harmonic information. This certainly requires deep listening on various levels - pitch-wise, chord-wise, register-wise, rhythmically and texturally. The duo combination of piano and acoustic guitar puts these possibilities and challenges under a magnifying glass. The analogy of a "meta-instrument" seems especially fitting for this combination which showcases two instruments with very different properties that still make a lot of textural overlaps possible. Ideally their sounds blend into each other, one seems like an extension of the other. The pieces that I chose for this duo are song-inspired but also largely reflect some modernist compositional tendencies. It's as though Joni Mitchell, Henry Threadgill and Elliott Carter had decided to move to the same neighborhood, at least for a short sojourn, to work on an interactive project. Achim Kaufmann This is our first duo recording and it took almost two years to develop the music, yet we were not in a hurry and we let the music grow organically. Our decision to use acoustic guitar made the project unique for me. This project took me back to teenager years when I was overwhelmed by the acoustic work of Ralph Towner, Jimmy Page and Julian Bream. Finally I found a chance to integrate this in my music with Achim. For this project I had to tame the acoustic guitar again. The music is a collective meditation on influences from Miles Davis over Morton Feldman to Robert Johnson but all original compositions by Achim and me. I think this music shows new sides of our musical journey. Kalle Kalima

When Music Calls