Edgar Knecht - Dance On Deep Waters (2013) Hi Res

The critics just can’t hide their excitement when it comes to Edgar Knecht. “Jazz hasn’t been this original and stimulating for a long time”, one of them enthused; “This music is simply stunning”, respected monthly Jazzpodium confessed; and Germany’s biggest quality newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote: “This is truly unheard-of music.” And truly, the German pianist and his band of bassist Rolf Denecke and drum-duo Stephan Emig and Tobias Schulte succeed in creating something genuinely new: A fusion of the vivacity of jazz and world music with the elegance of classical composition and the depth and clarity of ancient folk melodies.

On his 2010 debut album “Good Morning Lilofee”, Edgar Knecht demonstrated that dusty German folk songs could be brought back to life if interpreted with empathy and passion. It gained his ensemble invitations to some of the most renowned inter- national festivals, playing alongside established stars like John Scofield, Buena Vista Social Club, Pat Metheny and Dave Holland. And wherever they went, they turned both the public and critics into fans.

On their new CD Dance on Deep Waters, the brilliant quartet continue their forage through the “Old German Songbook”. As a result, some of the most popular songs of the romantic era are turning into works of spine-tingling, mesmerising intensity, including Latin-flavoured “Gedankenfreiheit” or lightningspeed bebop-piece “Frühling”.

With his unique and refreshing approach, Edgar Knecht has both raised the bar for those following in his trail and opened up new gateways to long-lost traditions. Thanks to their airy, playful magic, his songs are suspenseful spaces for the imagi- nation to run wild and seeming paradoxes to co-exist: “Der wilde Wassermann” (“Wild Aquarius”) is both minimal and classically rich, while tragic love story “Es waren zwei Königs- kinder” (“Once there were two king’s children”) seems to dispense with time and space altogether.

Piano, bass and drums are dancing on the waves of deep waters, rhythms and melodies are rising like ecstatic fireworks. “And all of this”, according to newspaper Hessische Allgemeine, “is done with plenty of Innigkeit, a boisterous joy of playing, a love for improvisation and spontaneity. Sometimes it’s so good, it makes you cry.”