Dieter Ilg

One of the most admired Lieder and concert singers of his generation, Bass-Baritone Thomas Quasthoff returns to the studio with his first solo album since 2010. Thomas Quasthoff is approaching standards such as Nice and Easy or Cry Me A River with new arrangements by Jörg Achim Keller. The results: exciting new versions of familiar jazz-classics. This release finds the singer partnering again with German trumpeter Till Brönner - featuring a solo and his Trio Partners Frank Chastenier, Dieter Ilg and Wolfgang Haffner as well as the unique NDR Bigband.

In its ongoing series of reissues under the Double Time Jazz Collection moniker, Eagle Eye Media has put together two tribute shows on one DVD that demonstrate how a conception that is reverent yet forward-thinking can work wonderfully in one instance, and somewhat less-so in another. Tribute to John Coltrane: Live Under the Sky is an almost relentless, take-no-prisoners homage to Coltrane that works because it tries to take his music to a new place that is nevertheless respectful of its roots. Tribute to Bill Evans: Live at the Brewhouse is less successful because, while the musicianship is uniformly excellent, the lineage to Evans is less direct.

„When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out and do anything they want to do.“ Jimi Hendrix’s wish has been posthumously fulfilled. Although he had such misfortune in life, and died in 1970 at a mere 27 years of age, his immortal music has continued to be played ever since his death - very much in the spirit of that quote. Countless musicians in rock, pop and jazz have been influenced by Hendrix, and many have overtly based their own music on his. Among the ACT family of artists, several have been inspired by his music, and have found their own individual ways to play it. In November of this year this icon of the 1968 protest movement, this pioneer of rock would have been 75. A good reason, then, for ACT musicians to gather together for a retrospective called “Hendrix in the Spirit of Jazz”, to let the unique spirit of this genius of the electric guitar soar again.