Somewhere Before Keith Jarrett

Pianist Noah Haidu sees a certain irony in his current recorded output. “I love composing but improvisation has always been my greatest passion. When I started releasing music in 2011 I relied on my songwriting to make a unique artistic statement, but I’ve come full circle and realized that finding my own voice on a simple, unadorned standard is a rare and necessary endeavor.” Haidu embraced that endeavor on his 2023 release Standards, and on Standards II, due out April 12, 2024 on Sunnyside Records. The new album is a breathtaking masterpiece featuring Haidu with two of the music’s most esteemed players, Buster Williams on bass and Billy Hart on drums.

The tunes are instantly recognizable: well-known standards such as "All The Things You Are", "Over The Rainbow" or "Autumn Leaves". And yet the listener always has the impression of hearing something completely new. On "Painting Music", Danish pianist Carsten Dahl gives his own take on some of the great classics of the jazz repertoire in a way that is highly personal, resolutely individual and completely revelatory.

Austrian pianist David Helbock has been called “a consistent trail-blazer” and “a gifted story-teller at the piano” (quote from 3sat Kulturzeit). In his ACT debut album “Into the Mystic” (2016), he left his personal and individual imprint on well-known compositions from Beethoven to Thelonious Monk and John Williams, setting them in a context of mythology, legends and the spiritual.

With Jim Black we are used to the most different sounds. Paul Motian is one of his main influences, therefore it is not surprising for insiders that he now leads his own troika of piano, bass and drums. In the same way Paul Motian has formed the famous Bill Evans Trio, Jim Black does not find himself in the role of a simple time keeper, but plays melodies on his drums and cymbals interrelating closely with the piano and bass. Comparisons can only be misleading, but Jim Black's analog recording seems to be the continuation of 'Somewhere Before' to another place and into a new time; a great album of the first Keith Jarrett Trio with Charlie Haden on bass and Motian on drums. Music that is the godfather behind the creations of Winter & Winter. Black finds with young pianist Elias Stemeseder and bassist Thomas Morgan, who has worked with Motian, the perfect line-up. The three musicians open their innermost self and have an intimate dialogue captivating the listener. These three artists still have to tell themselves and us a lot of unheard stories.