Jazz Articles about Jürgen Friedrich

The Nano Brothers: Ascend Flowers

by Glenn Astarita
December 8, 2024

The Nano Brothers' Ascend Flowers is a bold journey into free improvisation. The duo behind this daring experiment--pianist Jürgen Friedrich and saxophonist-educator Johannes Ludwig--defy expectations with their spontaneous yet meticulously crafted compositions. As the press release notes, “Everything is improvised even if it doesn't sound like it." The Nano Brothers, unburdened by preconceived notions or stylistic constraints, navigate their sonic landscape with telepathic understanding. Their music is not merely improvised but composed--a testament to their deep musical symbiosis. ...

Jurgen Friedrich: Monosuite

by Dan Bilawsky
August 17, 2012

Pianist Jurgen Friedrich doesn't play a single note of music on Monosuite, but his personality and cognitive bearing are omnipresent. While Friedrich's piano was at the heart of the sound on the trio-based Pollock, he removes his hands from the ivories on this follow-up date, allowing a cadre of string players and a highly flexible foursome to express his well-crafted thoughts in their own way. This 49-minute opus is as much about sought-after equilibrium as anything else. ...

Jurgen Friedrich: Pollock

by Jerry D'Souza
August 3, 2009

Pianist Jürgen Friedrich, bassist John Hebert and drummer Tony Moreno banded together in 1998 when Friedrich, who was on a visit to the United States, met the other two at a jam session. The empathy between them was instant and they decided to team up. They hit the road, creating an ambience that was snug in the comfort zone of chamber music.

Friedrich is a judicious and resolute pianist, choosing his notes with deliberation. He is in no hurry to ...

Juergen Friedrich: Pollock

by Dan McClenaghan
June 5, 2009

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), the Abstract Expressionist American painter best known for his “drip paintings" produced from 1947 to 1950, loved and was inspired by jazz. The innovative music of that time in the genre was Bird (Charlie Parker), Dizzy Gillespie and the burgeoning bebop sounds that Pollack would listen to while he created. Jazz has loved and drawn inspiration from Pollack, too--in part, perhaps, due to the improvisational aspect of the painter's best known art. The original album cover of ...

Jurgen Friedrich: Seismo

by Nic Jones
December 17, 2006

A sense of restraint pervades this whole programme of piano trio music, and it works to make it less compelling, especially when the underlying approach is oblique both harmonically and rhythmically.

On one level the trio seems to be trying to make maximum use of minimum material. While this approach can result in music that demands attention, the results here just seem to hang in the air. On “Coincidence," the three musicians seem intent on avoiding emphatic interplay and the ...

Ithamara Koorax: Autumn in New York

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 14, 2005

Spilling over with jazz and pop classics, Autumn in New York is probably the best program yet from blossoming Brazilian vocalist Ithamara Koorax.

Like almost every other female vocalist from Brazil, Koorax sounds influenced by Flora Purim--heard, for example, in her fearless hopscotch jumps across the endpoints of her entire vocal range. Also like Purim, Koorax has been tinted by classic jazz harmonies and phrasings--and not just by vocalists (though Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Horn are obvious influences), ...

Ithamara Koorax: Love Dance: The Ballad Album

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 7, 2003

Ithamara Koorax has released several albums in Brazil and Japan, but Love Dance is only the second US album for this star from Rio, the follow-up to her debut Serenade in Blue.

With her unmistakable voice, Koorax sings English, Portuguese, and Spanish love songs composed by such masters as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, Marcos Valle and Ivan Lins, plus songs by Claus Ogerman and Jurgen Friedrich (in German). Her voice manifests this diversity to its advantage: ...