Christian Weidner Every Hour of the Light and Dark. press release PRESS CONTACT:

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Theodore Bradley
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Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching christian weidner e v e r y h o u r o f t h e l

piano Henning Sieverts bass Samuel Rohrer drums 1 1. Tethys 2. 3.

1 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching christian weidner e v e r y h o u r o f t h e l i g h t a n d d a r k Release date: July, 1st 2016 alto saxophone Achim Kaufmann piano Henning Sieverts bass Samuel Rohrer drums 1 1. Tethys Fuzzy Membership 4. Weightless 5. Dance Fantasm 6. In Memoriam 7. Fairy Tale Friends 8. As Long as Now

Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching A poem of perfect miracles Henning Sieverts and Samuel Rohrer have been in alto saxophonist s band for over six years, Achim Kaufmann for over four.

2 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching A poem of perfect miracles Henning Sieverts and Samuel Rohrer have been in alto saxophonist s band for over six years, Achim Kaufmann for over four. This longstanding partnership forges the intuitive magic that makes for inspired music as the group explores the varying shades of. chose bassist Henning Sieverts and drummer Samuel Rohrer simply because, after having played with them in various bands over the years, it was clear to me that Henning and Samuel were best suited to identify with my music, to support and shape the stories the music tells, and carry these stories further. Pianist Achim Kaufmann came into the group a little later: I had been a fan of his playing for some time. As with Henning and Samuel, he plays with a profound subtlety refined, nuanced, versatile. Kaufmann has been lauded as one of a handful of exceptional jazz pianists who has injected a new pulse into West European improvised music. Sieverts ranks as one of the premier bassist/composers on the European scene, while Munich s prestigious Süddeutsche newspaper singled out Rohrer as perhaps the most melodic among European drummers lyrical and to-the-point. As for Weidner, in All About Jazz, Dan McClenaghan extolled Christian s highly developed and finely focused artistic vision and identified him as an owner of a rare original voice. Weidner s eclectic musical inspirations include jazz innovators Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, as well as Bach, Stravinsky and Berg. But there are other reasons why critics have remarked that he combines the fundamentals of traditional music with the spirit of the Avant-garde. At the age of 18 he began a multi-year musical relationship with German Avant-garde legend Gunter Hampel. But he has also been personally influenced by the acclaimed American pianist/composer Kenny Werner. In 1999 Weidner travelled to New York to record a CD with Gunter Hampel and trombonist Nils Wogram as well as to study with Werner. Christian states that, Kenny s ideas and suggestions inspired and motivated me to reflect on particular musical approaches that take into consideration a musician s feeling for directness and lightness in his playing. The inspiration for the album came out of a musical idea Christian sketched a decade ago. He reflects that, a while ago I was taking another look at the material, and once again it affected me so much so that I wanted to get more deeply involved and experience it with my quartet. The sketch has a melancholy theme akin to a prayer that draws you in, trance-like, rapturous, like a consecration. The composition In Memoriam comes closest to the sketch. Weidner explains that some of the album s compositions 2

Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching were inspired by this piece, while others are worked out of the original material.

3 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching were inspired by this piece, while others are worked out of the original material. For instance, I conceive the composition as a message of consolation and resolution that rings out from the musical world of the original sketch. It unites the light and the dark. That s also why it s the album s title. The line comes from poet Walt Whitman s Poem of Perfect Miracles. The original line goes to me, ever hour of the light and dark is a miracle. For Christian, It reminds me of the timeless truth that everything is a miracle, every stone, every breath, everything strange, everything familiar. The music Christian listened to during the period he was composing the pieces for this album had both a direct and indirect influence on its ambiance. At that time, he was listening to the cryptic-iconic Avant-garde singer/songwriter Annette Peacock s ECM album An Acrobat s Heart, British singer James Blake s song Lindisfarne, and a half-hour recording of a muezzin call to prayer from Istanbul. Weidner reflects that, Within all these diverse types of music there is an exceptional stillness between the phrases that literally draws you in. 3

Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching Tethys is named after the Greek sea goddess.

4 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching Tethys is named after the Greek sea goddess. Christian explains that, The piece is an undulating movement, freely improvised with a fundamental musical building block: the interval of a fifth. The forms originate out of this coalescence, this primordial ocean. The development ends in an ecstatic variation of the theme. So for the start, a basic classical idea. My motto for me to come into this world, into the present, to establish contact through intuition, to discover gratitude in order to completely give myself as human being and musician. Fuzzy Membership describes that vague sense of being. The piece stands between worlds, undecided, fleeting, bizarre. Weightless is a sort of bell-ringing. A prayer. Calm. The title evinces the weightless part of the bell: its sound. Dance Fantasm falls back into the turmoil of Tethys, this time more concretely circling around the theme, a grotesque dance. An invitation to the listener to continually pick new words out of the maze. 4

Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching In Memoriam my remembrance the central idea: a choral theme, a recitative, a prayer, it s all in there, fused, collaged, mutually coloring.

5 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching In Memoriam my remembrance the central idea: a choral theme, a recitative, a prayer, it s all in there, fused, collaged, mutually coloring. Fairy Tale Friends is dedicated to my companions. The title of the album s last piece, As Long as Now is a line from Annette Peacock. Weidner calls it a musical poem developed in the moment, composed as improvisation, inspired by the three pieces from Peacock, Blake, and the Muezzin, in which a solo singer sings one deeply moving line after another, and in between breathes in silence. There s an elastic push-pull between the melodic and the atonal, between pulse and space as Weidner and friends explore the shades and tones of Every Hour of the Light and Dark. The musicians gaze inwards, sensitive, self-critical, with a simplicity and depth of feeling as they uncover the miracle of the moment. 5

Grünwalder Weg 30 82041 Oberhaching Discography on Pirouet

p Henning Sieverts, b Samuel Rohrer, dr) PIT3065 2010 : The

Rohrer, dr) PIT3052 2004 : Choral (, as Antonio Palesano, p

Landfermann, b Jim Black, dr) PIT3088 2013 Kathrin Pechlof:

PIT3073 2008 John Schröder: Sir Lemuel s Dance (John

Distribution: Europe (except GB): NRW Distribution GB:

6 Grünwalder Weg Oberhaching Discography on Pirouet Records As leader 2016 : (C. Weidner, as A. Kaufmann, p H. Sieverts, b S. Rohrer, dr) PIT : Dream Boogie (, as Achim Kaufmann, p Henning Sieverts, b Samuel Rohrer, dr) PIT : The Inward Song (, as Colin Valon, p Henning Sieverts, b Samuel Rohrer, dr) PIT : Choral (, as Antonio Palesano, p Daniel Schröteler, dr) PIT3009 As sideman 2016 Robert Landfermann: Night Will Fall (C. Weidner, as Sebastian Gille, ts Elias Stemeseder, p Robert Landfermann, b Jim Black, dr) PIT Kathrin Pechlof: Imaginarium (Kathrin Pechlof, harp, as Robert Landfermann, b) PIT John Schröder: Sir Lemuel s Dance (John Schröder, p, as Oliver Potratz, b Oliver Steidle, dr) PIT3033 Distribution: Europe (except GB): NRW Distribution GB: Discovery Records USA, Canada: Naxos Japan: Gats Production Hong Kong, China: Shun Cheong Record Korea: C&L Music 6 Design and photography: Konstantin Kern

Robert Landfermann. Night Will Fall. press release PRESS CONTACT:

Robert Landfermann. Night Will Fall. press release PRESS CONTACT: Robert Landfermann Release date: January 1, 2016 Christian Weidner alto saxophone Sebastian Gille tenor saxophone Elias Stemeseder piano Robert Landfermann bass Jim Black drums 1. Motettu de Tristura 2.