Christian Weidner

The Inward Song is hardly the quiet, introverted recital of music that might be expected, given the album's title. While alto saxophonist Christian Weidner does throw in a few pieces that fit nicely under this banner, the music on this CD also demonstrates a great deal of range. A case in point is the way the album begins. "St. Paul" starts off with Weidner and pianist Colin Vallon delivering angular unison lines on a blank canvas. Bassist Henning Sieverts and drummer Samuel Rohrer enter with a seemingly un-metered, wavy undercurrent of sound. The intensity just builds from there and reaches fever pitch, with Weidner exuding a John Coltrane-style spiritualism and intensity in his delivery.

Dejan Terzic, one of the few truly European musicians, started Melanoia in 2012 and earned the German Grammy, Echo- Award with Melanoia's debut album as Best German Drummer in 2014. On the present album Terzic relies on the rapport of 7-string guitarist Ronny Graupe and alto saxophonist Christian Weidner. He also joins forces for the first time with totally wired keyboard wizard Jozef Dumoulin as trailblazer in the sonic wilderness.

Vibraphonists like to be the sprinters. This is also due to their instrument, which, thanks to its percussive clarity, lends itself to letting the tones bubble powerfully. Karl Ivar Refseth doesn't care. He is a poet, not a speaker, holds sounds together instead of firing salvos of sound. That makes the Norwegian, who lives in Berlin, a texture worker for The Notwist, but also an unexcited leader of his own trio. He leaves the snaking, meandering and juggling with the lines to the alto saxophonist Christian Weidner, who takes the lead on “Devotion”, the band's second album after a six-year break. Refseth and the double bass player Matthias Pichler indicate the direction, and their closely interlocked shimmering and lingering determine the sound. The result is transparent chamber music, acoustically dominated music, oscillating between melodic exuberance and the charm of improvising miniatures.