Frederik Köster Quartet live at Birdland, Hamburg 2011

Frederik Köster - Trumpet, Flügelhorn

Tobias Hoffmann - Guitar

Robert Landfermann - Bass

Ralf Gessler - Drums

recorded live at Birdland, Hamburg, March 26, 2011

1. 3x211 (Köster)

2. Liebeslied (Köster)

3. 2. Juni (Köster)

4. Prayer (Köster)

Time is one of our world’s strangest phenomena: it has both physical size as well as being a philosophical construct, measurable by fine apparatus, yet barely captured by human experience. Frederik Köster has alsways been fascinated by „time“, by mind games such as „Minority Report“ as well as by the traces of contemporary history reaching up to our present.
Even his quartet’s debut was programmatically named „Constantly Moving“ and documented the first years of the band after it was founded in 2003. On the follow-up album “Zeichen der Zeit” Signs of Time (2009) the Frederik Köster Quartet adopted a position of its own using an outspoken mixture of honest rock guitar and elastic jazz trumpet, delightful improvisation and songwriter storyteller qualities. “This is the band as it sounds today and it includes all our influences, the signs of the present times and the past times”, the bandleader explains. And the signs of the times are looking good for Frederik Köster. In 2009 he received - as a soloist as well as his quartet - the New German Jazz Award, and in 2010 the ECHO and the WDR Jazz Awards. The third album of the band now follows, developed as a constant “work in progress”: “Momentaufnahme (Snapshot)”.

Pablo Held Trio live in Bonn 2011/ live in Gütersloh 2011

Pablo Held - Piano
Robert Landfermann - Bass
Jonas Burgwinkel - Drums

Beethovenhaus Bonn, February 26, 2011:
1. Forest of Oblivion (Pablo Held)
2. Nostromo/ Korelia/ I Have a Dream/ Music (Held/ Held/ Hancock/ Held)
3. Diana (Wayne Shorter)
4. Directions (Joe Zawinul)

Recorded live at Theater Gütersloh, March 5, 2011:
Nearness/ I Have a Dream/ Corellia/ Directions/ Klartraum/ Phasen/ Forest of Oblivion/ Phase II

"Pablo Held and his fellow musicians present piano trio music that leaves a lasting impression on the audience instead of going for short-dated effects. Despite his young age - when recording his debut album in 2008 he was only 21 years old - Held is already surprisingly confident in his style. His music has a mysterious and introverted quality, but at the same time manages to engage the listener with great tension without being withdrawn. The nearly instinctive sureness in playing with Robert Landfermann and Jonas Burgwinkel only serves to enhance this effect.
Held's first two albums—Forest Of Oblivion (Pirouet, 2008) and Music (Pirouet, 2010)—helped put him on the map, but his latest release Glow (Pirouet, 2011) might go down as his real breakthrough record. Held leaves the trio format behind, though he retains the services of drummer Jonas Burgwinkel and bassist Robert Landfermann, and makes a quantum leap forward with ten far-ranging works for this expansive, ten-person ensemble.
While each piece on Glow resides in its own orbit, certain commonalities exist. First and foremost is the focus on instrumental blending. While Held utilizes the usual mixture of horns and rhythm section that are all-too-common, he also works cello, celesta, harmonium and harp into the mix, expanding the combinatorial possibilities within each piece. He proves to be a brilliant sonic chemist, capable of mixing any instruments in balance, making it difficult on occasion to distinguish one instrument from the other, but easy to revel in the aural concoctions—whether stormy or sublime—of his creation. The second element in play on many of these pieces is the rhythmic-to-arrhythmic duality that arises throughout. Landfermann and Burgwinkel help to constantly reshape and refocus the music, using everything in their arsenal from funk to relative freedom, in a continuous effort to mold Held's music to his liking."

Pablo Held Trio live at Jazzfest Berlin 2010

Pablo Held piano
Robert Landfermann bass
Jonas Burgwinkel drums
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Side Stage, November 6, 2010

1. Introduction
2. Medley: Klartraum 8/ Forest of oblivion/ Music/ Log lady/ With concern/ Desire/ Melody/ Phasen/ Phase II (Pablo Held)
3. Introduction
4. O sacrum convivium (Oliver Messiaen)

When it comes to counting the Pablo Held Trio’s qualities, critics do not cut down on superlatives. There is talk of “the shooting star among young jazz pianists”, of “an ideal combination of improvisational imagination and musical economy” and of “one of the most exciting young groups of German jazz”. With good reason, for pianist Pablo Held, bassist Robert Landfermann and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel are more than a just a trio. They form one of the few symbiotic units in the piano trio’s more recent history. The trinity's intentions flow together in one common stream, the course and density of which time and again is full of surprises.
Pablo Held combines the tranquillity of the routinier, at home at nearly every major European jazz festival, with the ravenous appetite of a man in his mid-twenties, wanting to experience jazz from every imaginable perspective. In each piece the romanticist as well as the rationalist mark out their terrain.
The latest recording of the Pablo Held Trio is simply called "Music", released on Pirouet Records.

Wolfgang Haffner Trio live in Altdorf 2009

Photo © by: Steven Haberland / ACT

Hubert Nuss, Piano
Robert Landfermann, Bass
Wolfgang Haffner, Drums

recorded live at Stadthalle Altdorf, Franconia /Germany, November 25, 2009

1. Tubes
2. Faithless
3. Shapes
4. Wordless
5. Ride
6. Star
7. Nightsong

Another concert with Wolfgang Haffner with some new material from his latest CD "Round Silence", released on ACT Music. Note Rising Star/ "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" Robert Landfermann on bass…

Young German Jazz live at WDR Jazz Cologne 2009

Niels Klein & Stéphane Guillaume Sextet

Niels Klein – tenor sax, bass clarinet
Stéphane Guillaume – soprano sax, flute
Claus Stötter – trumpet
Frédéric Favarel – guitar
Robert Landfermann – bass
Jonas Burgwinkel – drums

recorded live at Stadtgarten Köln, October 31, 2009

1. Three Circles (Niels Klein)
2. Crossing Tativille (Stephane Guillaume)
3. Progression (Niels Klein)
4. Last Plan On A Smile (Stephane Guillaume)
5. ?

Niels Klein, born 1978 in Hamburg, Germany, begins saxophone playing at the age of 13, first public appearences at the of 15. 1996 1st price winner in the competition „Jugend Jazzt Niedersachsen“. since 1998 studies in saxophone and composition at the Hochschule für Musik, Köln, winner of the „Jazzpodium Niedersachsen 2000“ Price. At WDR jazz.cologne 2009 he met French sax fellow Stephane Guillaume.

Robert Landfermann solo

Robert Landfermann – bass

6. Ich habe nie gelernt zu frieren

recorded live at WDR Funkhaus Köln, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, October 31, 2009

Robert Landfermann was born 1982 in Oberwinter near Bonn. At the age of 7 he began playing classical guitar moved to e-bass and finally to the doublebass. Soon he made various musical experiences. From 2002 till 2009 he studied Jazz-doublebass in Cologne with Dieter Manderscheid and got lessons on various masterclasses with Mark Dresser, Mike Richmond, Martin Wind, John Hollenbeck, Peter Herbolzheimer, Hiram Bullock, Phil Woods a.o.
Robert Landfermann received the "WDR-Jazzpreis 2009" for best Soloist.

Jonas Burgwinkel & Omar Klein Duo

Jonas Burgwinkel – drums
Omar Klein - piano

7. 5/8 Mantra (Klein)

recorded live at WDR Funkhaus Köln, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, October 31, 2009

Jonas started playing drums at the age of nine taking private lessons. In 1999 he entered the Conservatory of Maastricht as a young student while still attending highschool. That same year he won several Jazz competitions and was a guest of the Bundes Jazz Orchestra where he took lessons with John Riley. In 2003-2004 he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and has being taught by Ralph Peterson and Jamey Haddad.
In 2009 he won the "BEST SOLOIST AWARD" on the "European Jazz Competition" at the "North Sea Jazzfestival" in Rotterdam and the reknown "WDR-Jazzpreis 2009" in Germany. He is furthermore a vital part and very sought after player on the scene.

Landfermann/ Burgwinkel/ Klein/ Held

Niels Klein – tenor sax
Pablo Held - piano
Robert Landfermann – bass
Jonas Burgwinkel – drums

8. Music

recorded live at WDR Funkhaus Köln, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, October 31, 2009

Pablo Held Trio live at North Sea Jazz Festival Rotterdam 2009

Photo © by Konstantin Kern

Pablo Held - Piano

Robert Landfermann - Bass
Jonas Burgwinkel - Drums


Recorded live at North Sea Jazz Festival Rotterdam, July 11, 2009

Tracks:
Phasen/Nearness/Music/Melody/Two Questions One Answer (Pablo Held)

ALL ABOUT JAZZ REVIEW by Dan McClenaghan about Pablo Held´s latest CD "Forest of Oblivion"(released on Pirouet): "In every review of Pablo Held's debut, Forest of Oblivion, the pianist's age will be discussed. Don't blame the writers. Held, hailing from Germany, was born in 1986. His age, at the time the CD was recorded, was 21. It's a remarkably tender age for having crafted an original musical statement; it's even more remarkable for its high quality.
On this piano trio outing, the sound is thoughtful and introspective, to go with well-placed percussive forays and injections of energetic momentum; and if he must be put in a school—as in the exuberantly percussive Bud Powell school; the quirky Thelonious Monk bebop school; the intelligent and gorgeously harmonic and inventively melodic Bill Evans school—Held could be compared most closely to one of jazz's modern giants, Brad Mehldau."
In July 2009 the PABLO HELD TRIO played in the Finals of the EBU-Jazz Competition at the NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009. The trio's drummer Jonas Burgwinkel won the BEST SOLOIST AWARD at this occasion.

Wanja Slavin Sextet at moers festival 2009

1. Salvation/ TOWK & Salsatanic

2. Hortkinder/ Brossa

Wanja Slavin, sax
ophones, clarinet
Ibadet Ramadani, voc
als
Karsten Hochapfel, guitar, cello

Ronny Graupe, g
uitar
Robert Landfermann, bass
Christian Lillinger, drums
Special Guest: Samuel Glaser, trombone

recorded live at mores festival, Mai 30, 2009

Wanja Slavin, born 1982, is a well crafted saxophonist and composer. He has studied in Munich with Leszek Zadlo and has played with Kenny Wheeler, Paulo Cardoso, Joachim Kühn, Rudi Mahall, John Schröder, Kalle Kalima, just to name a few.
Wanja Slavin belongs to the generation of (European) musicians who decided to make their base Berlin. The gifted saxophonist from Munich currently lives in a stable in the German capital. He is a member of the newly established JazzkollektivBerlin, whose participants read like a Who’s Who of the capital’s young jazz scene. Slavin comes to Moers in a constellation that includes the “Hyperactive Kid” Christian Lillinger.
Together with Marc Schmolling Wanja recorded a wonderful duo album in 2003 called "offminor"