Aspects: Jazz in the Chamber Music Hall

Some projects are the subject of lengthy artistic deliberations that lead to highly harmonised works. For example, the CD 'Surprise!' which brought French trumpeter Airelle Besson together with two outstanding figures from the young jazz scene on the other side of the Rhine, pianist Sebastian Sternal and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel, was the official birth of a trio that was as unexpected as it was seductive. The special alchemy between the three musicians is masterfully brought out on this first CD. Airelle on trumpet in her own personal style, precise, economical, pure, constantly focussed on the purity of the vocals; Sebastian on piano and Fender Rhodes, putting his fluid movements and the discreet virtuosity of his playing at the service of the overall sound, with a sense of architecture and spatialisation of remarkable clarity and precision; and Jonas on drums, breathing both sustain and breath into the trio, with his art of groove and dotting of rare delicacy.