Arne Matsson

Arne Forsén is a Swedish pianist with a unique range. With a starting point in jazz and free improvisation he moves freely over the boundaries to classical music, West African music and not the least Swedish Folk music, which he does on Visa från Dorotea (Song from Dorotea).

A psychoacoustic journey towards a black hole, for cello solo and six-channel surround live-electronics.

It must be considered a stroke of good fortune that these three musicians have come together: On double bass, the Swede Anders Jornim, one of the most essential bass players on the European jazz scene with eight albums as bandleader for ECM and a packed artistic CV with tours and recordings alongside legends such as Elvin Jones, Albert Mangelsdorff, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, and Kenny Wheeler. On guitar, Arne Jansen, the two-time "ECHO Jazz" award-winning Berliner, who has played with the Senegalese Orchestra Baobab, Nils Landgren, and Jazzanova and whose duo recording with Nils Wülker recently climbed to number 15 in the German pop charts. On saxophone, Uwe Steinmetz, who also lives in Berlin, has made a name for himself as a composer for the NDR Big Band and the Fitzwilliam String Quartet in addition to his collaborations with Joe Maneri and Tord Gustafvsen, among others.

It must be considered a stroke of good fortune that these three musicians have come together: On double bass, the Swede Anders Jornim, one of the most essential bass players on the European jazz scene with eight albums as bandleader for ECM and a packed artistic CV with tours and recordings alongside legends such as Elvin Jones, Albert Mangelsdorff, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, and Kenny Wheeler. On guitar, Arne Jansen, the two-time "ECHO Jazz" award-winning Berliner, who has played with the Senegalese Orchestra Baobab, Nils Landgren, and Jazzanova and whose duo recording with Nils Wülker recently climbed to number 15 in the German pop charts. On saxophone, Uwe Steinmetz, who also lives in Berlin, has made a name for himself as a composer for the NDR Big Band and the Fitzwilliam String Quartet in addition to his collaborations with Joe Maneri and Tord Gustafvsen, among others.

Bengt-Arne Wallin (13 July 1926 – 23 November 2015) was a Swedish jazz composer, arranger, trumpeter, and flugelhorn player who played jazz influenced by Swedish traditional folk music.

Bengt-Arne Wallin (13 July 1926 – 23 November 2015) was a Swedish jazz composer, arranger, trumpeter, and flugelhorn player who played jazz influenced by Swedish traditional folk music.

* Featuring many tracks for the first time on CD. There were many worlds in George Malcolm's (1917–1997) universe – organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, choral director and conductor – and this one demonstrates his unique skill as a solo performer who, throughout his career, more than any other individual defined the harpsichord's identity in England.

Harmony and tension, softness and strength - rarely are contrasts as noticeable and close as in a couple. In the active dialogue of the musical duo, in the constant give and take, listening and communicating, demanding and supporting, the two ECHO jazz award winners Nils Wülker and Arne Jansen now invite us to their first joint duo album. The ten tracks on "Closer" are wonderfully different and pleasantly surprising, telling exciting stories with new original compositions, interpretations from the repertoire of the two leaders and covers of some of their favorite pop and rock songs, from Nine Inch Nails to Ry X to The Blue Nile. With every note, they win over the listeners, accompanying them on a journey through new and exciting soundscapes like good friends. Sometimes empathetic and intimate, then again cinematic and atmospherically dense, from the ultimate reduction in a duet to an almost orchestral sound, the two exceptional musicians and close friends explore what they have in common and live out their peculiarities in the music on "Closer". It doesn't get any closer than that.