Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic IV: Accordion Night by Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic

Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic IV: Accordion Night

Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427958921
Catnr: ACT 95892
Release date: 26 June 2015
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Label
ACT music

UPC
0614427958921

Catalogue number
ACT 95892

Release date
26 June 2015

""'Jazz at Berlin Philhamonic IV - Accordion Night' is a musical exposé of four accordionists that let you hear all sides of this particular instrument, through which it becomes clear once again how virtuoso timelessness can shine!" "

MusicFrames, 20-8-2015

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

The programme is the star at “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic”. The aim of the concert series, curated and produced by Siggi Loch, is to bring together different musicians in a way that has never been seen or heard before, with one thematic focus. On 13 February 2015, the eighth edition at the sold out Kammermusiksaal saw the spotlight focus on the accordion: From Musette in Paris to Schrammelmusik in Vienna, the Sinti and Roma music from the Balkans and the tango in Buenos Aires, the accordion is best loved in popular music, and a welcome companion in house and folk music: the "common man's orchestra". In the classical and jazz genres, however, it is all too often misunderstood and still an outsider in classical and jazz music, despite pioneering talents such as Astor Piazzolla and Richard Galliano. Vincent Peirani, one of the stars of the evening who “expertly modernises” the instrument (3sat Kulturzeit), initially underestimated the scope of sounds and opportunities for musical development that the accordion offers: “As a boy I always wanted to learn the drums. The accordion was an instrument for grandparents, but my father made me learn it […]. Not until I had learned to play Mendelssohn and Bach on it did I realise how versatile an instrument it is, and then I adopted it - or it me …” The classically trained accordionist Klaus Paier is an adventurous sonic explorer, who creates an intoxicating mix of jazz, classical, Musette and world music, alongside cellist Asja Valcic – in a nutshell: “Eurojazz at its best” (Der Spiegel). Connecting the unexpected: Surprising, unusual artistic encounters can produce magical moments, and for this evening, Siggi Loch initiated two duos that had never played together before. Firstly, Régis Gizavo, an autodidact accordionist who learned his trade on the streets and in the bars of Madagascar, From his local folk music to Portuguese and South African styles, mostly heard on the radio channels he could receive from neighbouring Mozambique, Gizavo snapped up everything he could get his ears on. At “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic”. He teams up with guitarist Nguyên Lê, a musician renowned for his fusion of world music and jazz. Secondly, Stian Carstensen, well known for his pioneering multi-style band “Farmers Market”, joins forces with the Polish violin wizard Adam Bałdych. Vincent Peirani was voted “The Discovery of the Year 2014” in France (Victoire du Jazz), is considered by Fono Forum as a “one in a century talent”, and the FAZ newspaper recently wrote that “Peirani can do almost anything on an accordion”. Alongside the saxophonist Emile Parisien he forms a dream team that was awarded the ECHO Jazz 2015 as best international ensemble performance (2014’s “Belle Époque”). Astor Piazzolla's “Libertango” tops off the “Accordion Night”. Interpreted by all of the artists together, this is a rendition of the eternal classic that has definitely never been heard in this way before. And so it is that another memorable and celebrated “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” is brought to a magnificent conclusion.

Bei „Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic“ ist das Programm der Star. Bei der stets ausverkauften Konzertreihe im Kammermusiksaal geht es Kurator und Produzent Siggi Loch darum, bisher ungehörte Musikerkonstellationen unter einem thematischen Fokus zusammenzustellen. Am 13. Februar 2015 stand das Akkordeon im Rampenlicht:Von der Musette in Paris über die Schrammelmusik in Wien und der Sinti- und Roma-Musik aus den Balkanstaaten bis hin zum Tango in Buenos Aires. Das Akkordeon ist vor allem in der populären Musik beliebt, ein gern gesehener Begleiter in der Haus- und Volksmusik, das „Orchester des kleinen Mannes“. In der Klassik und auch im Jazz ist es aber bis heute immer noch ein Exot, auch wenn die Crossover- und Weltmusikwelle ab Anfang der 80er Jahre das Instrument stärker in den Fokus rückte.

Artist(s)

Klaus Paier (accordion)

Paier studied accordion, jazz and composition at Klagenfurt conservatory. Paier has been particularly inspired by such instrumentalists as Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus or Thelonious Monk. For him, their conception of jazz, with its wide diversity of musical possibilities and freedoms, was of inestimable importance. In addition to the historically evolved European harmonies involving the accordion, the classical component has also assumed an unmistakable position in Paier's compositions. He himself aims to express a positively charged polarity in music: attraction and rejection, weight and lightness, loudness and quietness, openness and self-containment, strict discipline and passionate explosiveness. He accomplishes this feat again and again in an inimitable manner, enthralling his audience in concert tours in Israel, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland...

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Asja Valcic (cello)

Asja Valcic, at 18 completed the music academy in her home city of Zagreb. She followed that with studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. She has given solo performances among others under the direction of Zubin Mehta and Kazushi Ono; her chamber music partners have included members of distinguished ensembles such as Alban Berg, Brodsky and the Melos Quartet. She was awarded the 'Concours international de jeunes concertistes de Douai“ in France in 1995. The cello leads a sonorous, if not largely inconspicuous, existence outside of the classical music world. Emerging from this background, the cellist, Asja Valcic has solidified a conspicuous place for herself in the European music scene. Parallel to her engagements and recordings...

Asja Valcic, at 18 completed the music academy in her home city of Zagreb. She followed that with studies at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold. She has given solo performances among others under the direction of Zubin Mehta and Kazushi Ono; her chamber music partners have included members of distinguished ensembles such as Alban Berg, Brodsky and the Melos Quartet. She was awarded the "Concours international de jeunes concertistes de Douai“ in France in 1995. The cello leads a sonorous, if not largely inconspicuous, existence outside of the classical music world. Emerging from this background, the cellist, Asja Valcic has solidified a conspicuous place for herself in the European music scene. Parallel to her engagements and recordings in classical subjects, Asja Valcic has increasingly turned to improvisation and new forms of expression for her instrument. Both the radio.string.quartet.vienna, which she cofounded in 2004, as well as duos with the Austrian accordionist and composer, Klaus Paier (2009) represent stylistic crossovers, which enjoy international recognition. Since 2012 she is also a member of Iiro Rantala String Trio. The native of Croatia works as an arranger, composer and lecturer. "As a musician, who grew up in chamber music, Asja Valcic imbues her jazz with powerful and unusual vitality," according to a review in the British GUARDIAN. "Valcic's cello emits everything that fingers and bows can entice from strings: everything from stunning bass pizzicati to whispering flageolets," writes the BADISCHE ZEITUNG. "She is a cunningly smooth instrumentalist," emphasizes the culture magazine, MIKADO (Hessischer Rundfunk). Since 2007 have been released 10 CD’s with Asja Valcic at ACT.

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Vincent Peirani (accordion)

'What this Nice-born Parisian coaxes out of the piano accordion is something the likes of which has never been heard before. You can tell it is a future legend who is playing here!' – Süddeutsche Zeitung. The French accordion player, singer and composer Vincent Peirani was born on 24.4.1980 in Nice. At the age of 11 he began playing the accordion, initially classical music. As a teenager he already won numerous international awards. At 16 he discovered jazz and soon took up the study of jazz in Paris. At the beginning he faced scepticism with his accordion and his classical training, but he quickly convinced the critics with an entirely new way of looking at the instrument, made a name for...

"What this Nice-born Parisian coaxes out of the piano accordion is something the likes of which has never been heard before. You can tell it is a future legend who is playing here!" – Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The French accordion player, singer and composer Vincent Peirani was born on 24.4.1980 in Nice. At the age of 11 he began playing the accordion, initially classical music. As a teenager he already won numerous international awards. At 16 he discovered jazz and soon took up the study of jazz in Paris. At the beginning he faced scepticism with his accordion and his classical training, but he quickly convinced the critics with an entirely new way of looking at the instrument, made a name for himself in France's jazz scene and was soon playing with the creme de la creme of French jazz, the likes of Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Renaud Garcia Fons, Louis Sclavis and Vincent Courtois. Parallel to that he pursued many of his own projects, drawing from the widest range of genres – from jazz, chanson and world music through to classic and even heavy rock. Since 2011, Peirani has been playing regularly in the quartet of the Korean singer Youn Sun Nah, the most successful female jazz artist in France in recent years. Through this engagement he also made the acquaintance of Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius and ultimately the boss of the ACT label Siggi Loch. Peirani played on the Wakenius album "Vagabond" recorded in February 2012, also astonishing and enthralling live audiences everywhere. "Thrill Box" came out in May 2013 and was Vincent Peirani's first album as a leader – star-studded with pianist Michael Wollny, bassist Michel Benita and saxophonists Michel Portal and Émile Parisien. The album showcases the entire wealth of facets of Peirani's musical influences, and reveals more impressively than ever before what an intelligent and artful composer he is, and what a masterful and profoundly musical instrumentalist and storyteller.

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Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester

Nguyên Lê (guitar)

'Nobody plays guitar like him,' wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper about Nguyên Lê; the very first exclusive ACT artist ever. Born of Vietnamese parents in Paris in 1959, Nguyên Lê is one of the most versatile and independent guitarists in the world – going far beyond the bounds of jazz music and shaped by the most varied of influences such as Asian music, modern jazz, fusion or classic rock. Gitarist Ngyuên Lê is a very particular jazz musician for a number of reasons: Even though he lives in Paris where he was born in 1959, he feels very connected to the cultural background of his Vietnamese family. He furthermore is self taught and just started to play the drums by...

"Nobody plays guitar like him," wrote the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper about Nguyên Lê; the very first exclusive ACT artist ever. Born of Vietnamese parents in Paris in 1959, Nguyên Lê is one of the most versatile and independent guitarists in the world – going far beyond the bounds of jazz music and shaped by the most varied of influences such as Asian music, modern jazz, fusion or classic rock.
Gitarist Ngyuên Lê is a very particular jazz musician for a number of reasons: Even though he lives in Paris where he was born in 1959, he feels very connected to the cultural background of his Vietnamese family. He furthermore is self taught and just started to play the drums by the age of 15, but soon switched to the guitar.
He entered the music business in 1983 playing with the Afro-Caribbean band “Ultramarin“. His impressive career really kicked off after joining the French “Orchestre National du Jazz” in 1987. Already his first solo albums – released at the beginning of the 90es – attracted a large and still growing audience.
Lê had his German debut in collaboration with the Jazzpãna-Ensemble in 1993. It was exceedingly well received by critics and fans. Newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ was even raving about his playing: „There is no other human playing the guitar like Lê!“. ACT-boss Siggi Loch just felt the same and Nguyên Lê became his label’s first exclusive artist.
To this day, Lê released no less than 12 albums on ACT. He has played with almost every important and famous European or American jazz artist. He is a regular guest to WDR Big Band and has founded several bands and ensembles, whereof trio E_L_B (with Peter Erskine und Michel Benita) and Lê’s “Jimi Hendrix Project” are the most successful and well-known.

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Adam Bałdych (violin)

Violinist and composer Adam Bałdych has won acclaim as an excellent improviser discovering uncharted territories in violin music, as well as a genuine personality, capable of establishing a dialogue with artists from both the classical, improvised, and popular music scenes. ‘Jazz violin redefined,’ declared The Guardian (UK), while Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych ‘undoubtedly the greatest living master of jazz violin technique, of whom one can expect anything’. Considered as ‘the violin’s child prodigy’, he launched his music career at age 14 and was soon hailed as an innovator combining the achievements of classical music with a contemporary language and an improviser’s talent. He soon developed his own style that has inspired a whole new generation of improvising violinists. Bałdych has presented his music at the world’s major...

‘Jazz violin redefined,’ declared The Guardian (UK), while Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called Bałdych ‘undoubtedly the greatest living master of jazz violin technique, of whom one can expect anything’. Considered as ‘the violin’s child prodigy’, he launched his music career at age 14 and was soon hailed as an innovator combining the achievements of classical music with a contemporary language and an improviser’s talent. He soon developed his own style that has inspired a whole new generation of improvising violinists.

Bałdych has presented his music at the world’s major jazz festivals, with performances in Poland, Germany, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Canada, Austria, Iceland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Spain, and Indonesia, among others.

The violinist performs and records with such outstanding artists as Paolo Fresu, Yaron Herman, Joachim Kuhn, Agata Szymczewska, Leszek Możdżer, Helge Lien, Aaron Parks, Lars Danielsson, Nils Landgren, Iiro Rantala, Marius Neset, Jacob Karlzon, and Billy Cobham.

His numerous accolades include the Grand Prix and individual prize of the 2006 ‘Jazz on the Odra’ festival, ECHO Jazz, and the 2024 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (award of German music record reviewers), as well as Polish state decorations: the Gold Cross of Merit, Decoration of Honor ‘Meritorious for Polish Culture’, and the Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture. He was also thrice nominated for the Coryphaeus of Polish Music award as Personality of the Year.

Bałdych dedicates increasingly more attention to composing classical music, commissioned and performed by such well-known orchestras and publishers as OMN New Music Orchestra (Antiphona, 2016), AUKSO – Chamber Orchestra of the City of Tychy (Early Birds Symphony), Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Concerto Galante), PWM Edition (Kuyawiak), and AUKSO / Polish Radio Choir (world premiere – Maryla’s Grave for violin, choir, and string orchestra).

Highly acclaimed for his creative work in the fields of jazz and contemporary music performance, for his inventive fusion of these two, and for extremely distinctive interpretations, Bałdych has appeared on nearly 20 albums, including the most recent titles: Passacaglia (duo with Leszek Możdżer), Legend (with Adam Bałdych Quintet and violinist Agata Szymczewska), as well as Poetry (with eminent Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu).

Adam Bałdych resides and works in Warsaw, Poland.

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Emile Parisien (saxophone)

The French jazz scene has a vitality, an originality and a do-it- all and do-it-anyway mentality about it right now. It is French musicians who are blazing the new trails for contemporary European jazz. There is a wonderful open-mindedness towards all musical cultures, genres and tendencies; and yet French musicians also give off the sense of having a proper grounding in their own tradition. A musician who represents all of these tendencies ‘par excellence’ is saxophonist Emile Parisien. Born in Cahors in the wine-growing region of the Lot, he is a jazz visionary. He may have one foot in that ancient soil, but his gaze is firmly fixed on the future. The leading French newspaper Le Monde has called him...

The reference points on Parisien’s personal musical map are very widely spread indeed. They range from the popular folk traditions of his homeland to the compositional rigour of contemporary classical music, and also to the abstraction of free jazz. And yet everything he does has a naturalness and authenticity about it. Rather than appearing pre-meditated or constrained, his music has a flow, he traverses genres with a remarkable fleetness of foot and an effortless inevitability.

What is it that makes the simple urgency of Parisien’s music quite so enjoyable? How does he manage to combine a provocative and anarchic streak with such a captivating sense of swing? Anyone who has seen and heard him on stage will know: it is because he lives his jazz with body and soul, because there is an authenticity and honesty inflecting every breath and every note.

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Régis Gizavo (accordion)

Stian Carstensen (accordion)

Composer(s)

Press

"'Jazz at Berlin Philhamonic IV - Accordion Night' is a musical exposé of four accordionists that let you hear all sides of this particular instrument, through which it becomes clear once again how virtuoso timelessness can shine!"
MusicFrames, 20-8-2015