Act Music

Drummer Kendrick Scott and bassist Alexander Claffy join rising-star Danish pianist Rasmus Sørensen for the release of a special trio project - Balancing Act - recorded in true jazz spirit in the heart of New York City.

"Unbreakable" is the 11th studio release from Swedish band the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. The brainchild of trombonist Nils Landgren, this record features legends such as Ray Parker Jr., Randy Brecker, and Tim Hagans, making for an undeniably funky listen. The album was recorded in November 2016 in the legendary Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, also the recording site for artists like ABBA, Scorpions, Elvis Costello and Esbjörn Svensson.

Accepted as a young student at the Stuttgart University of Music at the age of 15, multiple awards as a teenager, the ACT debut "Natural Energy" at 19, winner of the Baden-Württemberg Jazz Prize at 21 - is the unstoppable rise of the now 22-year-old saxophonist Jakob Manz over? Not at all, as the new album "The Answer" proves.

George Frideric Handel's "Alcina", "Ariodante" and "Il pastor Fido" (The Faithful Shepherd) were cornerstone of Sir Thomas Beecham’s so-called ‘lollipops’ and are beautifully rendered here. These recordings represent some of Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields with Sir Neville Marriner's earliest, dating from 1970 and 1971.

Based in San Francisco, The Family Crest blends genres and dense orchestrations to create a sweeping musical landscape while maintaining a pop sensibility. The Family Crest have already earned widespread national applause for their extraordinary orchestral pop ambition but with THE WAR, the San Francisco-based collective makes their boldest, most fully articulated musical statement thus far.

The Art in Music – Siggi Loch has had the clear objective to foster creative interaction between jazz and visual art ever since he founded ACT in 1992. As a producer who is also an art collector, he loves to bring not only topflight musicians together around him, but visual artists as well. Works by Philip Taaffe, Gerhard Richter, Martin Noël, Martin Assig and many more don’t just adorn album covers, they are also on display at the ACT Gallery in Berlin.

The original. The one that started it all. Noise Rock. Industrial Rock. Underground for years Metal Machine Music survived on the power of an idea. No key, no vocals and no set rhythm… hhhmmmm feedback forever. Supervised by Lou Reed and faithfully remastered to the last squeal.

"Salut aux opérettes de M. Jacques Offenbach!" This is how effusively the great Parisian music journal Le Menestrel greeted the newly opened Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens under the direction of the composer Jacques Offenbach in 1855: "Here is the showcase of Mr. Jacques Offenbach's products."

Celebrating 30 years of Nils Landgren Funk Unit. The year 1994 marks the birth of the Funk Unit. When I got the offer from Siggi Loch to join his new label ACT, the first thing he did was to change the original band name Unit to Funk Unit. When I asked why, he answered: ”because you play funk” – and right he was. The rest is history. After 30 years of albums, touring and everything connected to it, I thought it would be great to go somewhere special for our 30th anniversary recording session. I happen to have a dear friend, Johan Lundgren, who used to be my trombone student lightyears ago, and he, together with another friend, Fredrik Thomander, built a fantastic Recording Studio in Palma on the island of Mallorca. Wouldn’t it be a great opportunity for us all, after all these years together, to record the album in a relaxed setting, being able to fully concentrate on our task? To make an album celebrating our 30-year history as a funk band from Sweden.