Kaufmann / Landfermann / Lillinger - Grünen (2010)

Don’t let the picture fool you: these three German musicians may be quite young, but they are real masters at their respective instruments. Achim Kaufmann is one of the most captivating pianists on the European scene and when he plays free-form, with experimental insight, his personal approach is fuelled by a profound knowledge of the piano jazz history. No wonder Kaufmann works with the best, like Michael Moore, John Hollenbeck, Henning Sieverts,Frank Gratkowski, Wilbert De Joode, Dylan van der Schyff, Jim Black, Mark Dresser, Han Bennink and Chris Speed, to name only a few. Robert Landfermann is one of the strongest and most intriguing bassists on the European scene today. Joachim Kühn, Simon Nabatov, Urs Leimgruber, Tobias Delius, Rudi Mahall, and Axel Dörner already discovered his abilities. Christian Lillinger is simply an astonishing drummer, Soundvisionary on the European scene. Cooperation with Joachim Kühn, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Leo Smith, Barre Phillips, David Liebman and John Tchicai a.o.. “Grünen” (“the greening”) was recorded live at a venue in Cologne and documents the first time they ever played together. There weren’t any rehearsals beforehand, conversations or scores to interpret: this is improvised music with all its implications. And of course, this isn’t a conventional piano jazz trio: The pianist is not the leader; no one is. All the members of the band deal with the techniques and vocabularies they have developed on their instruments. These are forward-thinking musicians. The result is pure music.