David Lacapelle

Austrian Syndicate…the phrase immediately brings to mind the best-known and most influential of all Austrians in jazz, Joe Zawinul. And yet David Helbock’s project is much more than just a homage to his compatriot. It is a return to the roots of fusion jazz and how things developed from then on. It is also a new direction stylistically for Helbock, who has harnessed a panoply of inspiration with a refreshing openness to new sounds from far and wide. As Helbock himself puts it: "This is close to my heart." Helbock has been able to enlist the best rhythm section in Austria for the Syndicate: Raphael Preuschl on bass and bass ukulele, drummer Herbert Pirker and percussionist Claudio Spieler. The quintet also has an American in it, one for whom becoming Austrian was a matter of choice: pianist Peter Madsen. This Austrian supergroup is also a place where Helbock’s stellar international guests shine brightly: Maria João, Fred Wesley, Dhafer Youssef, Alex Acuña and Lakecia Benjamin.

An alter ego (second or different self) is both a close companion to the individual as well as an additional personality. David Orlowsky and David Bergmüller are companions, however, they could hardly be more different. They hail from different musical traditions and the combination of these two instruments have no historical references. When David Orlowsky first discovered a video of David Bergmüller on the internet, he was not aware that he had encountered his musical alter ego. The two met in Berlin and mutually agreed to make music together after just a few shared notes. They became companions, which then became a duo, the duo ultimately becoming an organism. Within this organism, David and David function as opposing and complementary personalities. Together they embark on a journey into unexplored worlds of sound. The clarinet is the voice of bygone times while the lute joins to create polyrhythmic structures allowing both new and old times to flow together in their original compositions.

The third installment in a comprehensive deluxe reissue series of David Bowie's entire catalog, A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) chronicles perhaps the most artistically ambitious phase in Bowie's career – one that began with 1977's Low and concluded with 1980's Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)…

Nuna is a book of compositions for solo piano by Cuban-American pianist and composer David Virelles. A 2021 recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Virelles has worked with musicians as distinct as Henry Threadgill, Andrew Cyrille, Ravi Coltrane, Mark Turner, Chris Potter, Tomasz Stanko, Steve Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Tom Harrell and Milford Graves. His release Continuum (Pi 2012) was named the best jazz release of that year by The New York Times. After three esteemed releases on the ECM label, Virelles returned to Pi with Igbo Alakorin: The Singers Grove (2017), which was voted top Latin Jazz album in that year’s NPR Jazz Critics Poll.