"Liebman and Beirach are showing a rare beautiful feeling of harmony."
Jazzflits, 03-10-2016Richard Alan Beirach was born on 23 May 1947 in Brooklyn, New York City. In the middle of the 1960s, Richard Beirach entered the New York club scene, played innumerable gigs and jam sessions, with, among others, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Konitz. Soon afterwards, he played in the band of Stan Getz, together with bass player Dave Holland and drummer Jack deJohnette. In the 1980s, Richie Beirach focused increasingly on the solo piano and, parallel to that, on the cooperation with David Liebman in their duo and in the band "Quest", which they founded together in 1981, with drummers Billy Hart and Al Forster and George Mraz or Ron McClure on the bass, respectively. Since 2000, Richie Beirach lives in Leipzig and holds a professorship for Jazz piano at the Leipzig conservatory "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy".
NEA Jazz Master David Liebman’s career has spanned nearly five decades, beginning in the early 1970s as the saxophone/flutist in both the Elvin Jones and Miles Davis Groups, continuing as a bandleader since. He has played on over five hundred recordings with nearly two hundred under his leadership or co-leadership. In the jazz education field he is a renowned lecturer and author of several milestone books: “Self Portrait Of A Jazz Artist,” “A Chromatic Approach To Jazz Harmony And Melody,” “Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound,” (translated into multiple languages), in addition to teaching DVDs, journalistic contributions to periodicals and published chamber music. His autobiography “What It Is” (Scarecrow Press) is a fascinating look into Lieb’s career.
Lieb is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) since 1989, which is a worldwide network of schools from nearly 40 countries. Liebman’s awards, besides the NEA honor, include the Jazz Educators Network (JEN) Legends of Jazz (2013); the Order of Arts and Letters (France 2009); Jazz Journalist’s award for Soprano Saxophone (2007); Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Solo (1998); Honorary Doctorate from the Sibelius Academy (Finland-1997). He is currently Artist in Residence at the Manhattan School of Music and guest lecturer at both the University of Toronto and Berklee College of Music. Dave has consistently placed in the top positions for Soprano Saxophone in both the Downbeat and Jazz Times polls since 1973.
Liebman and Beirach are showing a rare beautiful feeling of harmony.
Jazzflits, 03-10-2016
''A strong contentwise and intelligent album made by two masters that know each other through amd through.''
Jazzenzo, 31-7-2016
Longlist 03/2016
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, 01-7-2016
The CD do isaccessible and tonally, Liebman plays mostof the time neatly inside the harmonys that Beirach lays down.
Doctor Jazz Magazine, 01-7-2016
4* music/ 4* sound
"Their musical communication takes a witty couse, is full of surprising turns and leads to improvisatory climaxes."
Fono Forum, 01-5-2016
"Liebman plays (...) slim and reduced lines which slowly lead away from the themes with increasing duration of the pieces and become multicolord motiv sculptures. Beirach adds thrifty, open voicings, lets cristallinely articulated arpeggios flow, and plays solos with spartan elegance."
Jazzpodium, 01-4-2016
"It is the perfect combination of the wind player's vertical lines and the pianist's horizontal drillings in the depths of space."
Jazzthing, 01-4-2016