Dieter Ilg

The 6. edition of the popular Magic Moments series by Germany’s jazz label of the year 2010-2012 (ECHO award). In 2013 again under the motto “In the Spirit of Jazz”:
Music far from fixed styles. Sometimes more, sometimes less jazzy. Between the genres, whether classical music, rock or pop. On the pulse of time and beyond. With established ACT stars and promising newcomers. Music for open ears, for the mind and soul. And for everyone who loves good music.

„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.

This wonderful tribute concert to the hero of lyrical Jazz Piano features Kenny Wheeler, Gordon Beck and friends at the Brewhouse Theatre, London 1992. The prolific and exceptionally musical Evans was proufoundly influential across the Jazz world, and several of his finest compositions are performed in this exceptional tribute event.

On his first instrumental album in over a decade, German jazz trumpeter/flügelhornist and pop star Till Brönner offers his own tribute to one of his earliest inspirations: the sound of Creed Taylor's CTI label. Co-produced by the artist with keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia and Samon Kawamura, these 12 tunes employ a crack studio band as well as strings, and evoke memories of the label's arrangers Don Sebesky, David Matthews, and Bob James, but with distinctly modern charts. The mood is relaxed, open, and fluid, and creativity runs high. The production is warm yet crystalline; though attention is paid to detail, nothing feels constrained by nostalgia. These 12 cuts wed hip, soulful jazz-funk grooves to modern jazz, sometimes infused with a subtly cinematic panache. "Will of Nature" has a tight front-line horn vamp (Brönner and saxophonist Magnus Lindgren) that invokes hard bop but sticks closer to spacy soul-jazz – Lindgren even quotes "A Love Supreme" in the intro to his solo. Di Gioia's Rhodes makes room inside the mix for exploration, while staying deep in the pocket provided by Wolfgang Haffner's drum kit and Albert Johnson's double bass. "The Gate" opens with lush, impressionistic strings that hover and float in the intro, highlighted by Lindgren's flute. They introduce Brönner's smoky flügelhorn melody, followed by double bass, rim-shot snare, and cymbals. The strings vanish and, in a nice timbral contrast, the slippery head is led by Lindgren's bass clarinet and the horn.

The 25 years old clarinettist David Orlowsky and his Klezmorim trio show their virtuosity and versatility on their CD "Noema" linking elements of klezmer, classics and jazz to create a new musical style.
When he was 16 and had only been playing the clarinet for three years, he caught the attention of Giora Feidman in master classes and concerts. David Orlowsky in now a multiple prizewinner in the nationwide German young performers competition "Jugend musiziert" and is one of the most exciting clarinettist of his generation. Feidman gave Orlowsky his introductin to klezmer and the young clarinettist still feels a strong affinity with this way of making music…