Piano Jazz 2024

Steve Lacy’s reputation as jazz’s quintessential soprano saxophone specialist often obscures his singular commitment to composing songs on others’ texts. A pinnacle of this work is Packet, Lacy’s 1995 suite on poems by Judith Malina. Montreal’s Susanna Hood is one of the finest interpreters of Lacy’s vocal works, and, alongside pianist Tania Gill and soprano player Kayla Milmine, delivers Malina’s emotional, expressly feminist texts with precision, nuance, and elan. What makes unPacked special, however, are Hood’s riveting dance improvisations; as an improviser across dance and music, she is without peer.

Presenting a an American standard song collection that features imaginative and dreamy piano jazz solos. Experience a light swing music feel and a beautifully soft melody that is too marvelous for words!

“The beauty of Oscar Peterson’s sound has never been as superbly captured as this.“ (Jazz critic Gene Lees in the original liner notes) When the world-renowned Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson came to Villingen in 1961, there was a mood of intense excitement all round.

Pulsar-driven groovetronics, folky modalisms in waltz time; dreamvitations to the cine-lounge. Rhythm-n'-mood experimenters Les Hommes return with a plasma-rippling suite of jazzified cuts. The new album – Sì, così – takes us into their usual unusual orbits; with re-explored mid-century Lowrey organ, mellifluous bass clarinet, Arcadian flutes, groovified piano electrique and oscillators scorched on re-entry, it's out there. With compositions aired on BBC 6 Music, Radio 3, Radio 4 and stations around the world, plus sold-out live shows, global cult combo Les Hommes combine mid-century-cool organ group tropes and heavy percussion with contemporary arrangements and sound-sources. Their new 2024 release, Sì, così, takes the line-up further out again to explore spacier themes, esoteric modes and filmic stratospheres, as well as continuing expeditions into 'live' small-group recordings.

Third album for NOVA, the project of bassist Félix Zurstrassen - a singular artist, in many ways. With rare virtuosity, he combines the extreme demands of his music with his way of offering it to the public as a clear, collective and generous adventure.

Saxophone trio records present a lot of challenges for a bass player. Your sound, intonation, time feel, and command of harmony are all perfectly exposed. However, in Joachim’s case, these challenges are handled with ease and instead showcase how much he excels in those areas. The depth of his sound is the first thing that hits you. The sonic space that might otherwise be occupied by a piano is compensated for by the rich quality and deep fundamental tone of each bass note. These qualities keep you engaged throughout the entire record despite the sparse orchestration.

The Jazz Piano Quartet was a one-off collaboration between renowned pianists Dick Hyman, Roland Hanna, Marian McPartland, and Hank Jones.

Fuelled by deep love of 90's guitar bands and an unwavering passion for football (with a slight obsession for Lionel Messi), Joe Webb emerges with a new EP ‘Collblanc’ as an extraordinary talent, skilfully blending traditional piano mastery with a captivating rock star persona.