Niklas Winter - Graduale (2023)

Niklas Winter is a finnish jazz guitarist and composer. Winter has made 8 records as a leader and has been active as a sideman in several bands. He also runs his own jazzlabel Abovoice. During the years Winter has performed with; Kenny Wheeler, Ulf Wakenius, Kirite Kanawa, Jesse Van Ruller, Cameron Brown, Henry Lowther, Ted Curson, Lars Jansson, Jukkis Uotila, Teemu Viinikainen, Karl-Martin Almqvist, Fumio Yasuda, Ino Nobuyoshi, Jani Moder, Morten Lund, Jesper Bodilsen, Severi Pyysalo and many more..

Winter has a fresh, modern sound. This is original and very exciting music and Niklas Winter Quartet has surely been a great experience at many festivals. Tor Hammerø /Jazznyt (Norway)

Winter is a true sophisticated original on the guitar in Finland. Timo Vähäsilta /Rytmi (Finland)

Niklas Winter’s poetic playing shows great knowledge of improvisational skills. Jörgen Östberg /Orkester Journalen (Sweden)

” In Winter’s playing listener can hear plainness and intelligence. Winter’s improvisations and harmonies look back to the history of jazz but also expresses the atmosphere of today.”Hiroki Sugita/Jazz Life (Japan)

Trust in fact, was key, as was a fundamental sense of good time. Without a drummer or a bassist, and with the two guitarists sometimes dissolving into spare sections where time was, at best, suggested, it became even more essential that the two could internalize that time and know where it was, without it being explicitly there. It’s in the context of the duo that an artist is at his/her most exposed; not only are their abilities, instincts and improvisational élan laid bare, but their communication skills—or lack thereof—are impossible to disguise. Viinikainen and Winter needn’t have worried, as it was clear, from their Tampere Jazz Happening performance, that this was a duo communicating at a very deep level, playing relatively quiet music that was, nevertheless, thoroughly captivating.