Franz Hellmüller

Franz Hellmüller is known for his guitar work in various combos; constantly in quest of unexplored passages through the jungle of jazz, he draws on everyday experiences with unusual depth and acuity and is forever discovering exciting new ways to marry the familiar with the unknown. Like all creative people, however, he needs to keep his balance while attempting his feats of derringdo. Because every quo vadis always assumes a point of departure. For modern creators, of course, it is much easier to answer the first question, with its speculative dimension, than to give an account of one’s origins, which demands a credo. Since, although speculation can be revoked at any time, a credo is for keeps.
  Together with Luca Sisera and Tony Renold, Franz Hellmüller has got to a point where confessing his roots is not only inevitable, but mandatory. The trio’s takes on standards are not simply the next in a series of 1001 variations on the same old same old, rattling on down through the history of jazz for eons already: they are an anchor for a boat headed back into harbour from the open sea. For good? No sir! They weld the bonds of collective memory to the contingency of an individual perspective: no standard album of standards, but one that will set standards. The classic jazz numbers on this CD are the charts these three musicians can use to set sail once again, and not only on this disk. A break in both senses of the word, a creative process of orientation – an adventure.