Christien Weidner - The Inward Song

Christien Weidner, alto saxophone; Colin Vallon, piano; Henning Sieverts, bass; Samuel Rohrer, drums

St. Paul / Abendlied / Relief / Penta / Lyra / Psalm / Poem For Ada / Drawn Ones / Ave / The Inward Song / Poem For Ada (Reprise)

o The Beauty of the Radical - Christian Weidner's CD "The Inward Song": the high art of creating new, unexpected sounds. And the art of combining perceptive ensemble communication with aesthetic precision in a sensational unorthodox four-man team with pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Henning Sieverts, and drummer Samuel Rohrer.
o Diversity in unity: the pieces on this CD could not be more different. Gently whispering, then expressively edgy. With a measured pace and then with a subliminal rumble. Agitated, driving and then, as if by magic, ingeniously organised.
o It is a music that is never predictable - or even better - that can never be anticipated when listening. The sounds continually surprise, the character and tonal material change from piece to piece, continually unpredictable and unexpected. And nevertheless it all comes out of the same mould.
o In the eleven pieces on this CD the unpredictable is completely organic, with a forceful logic. An enthralling atmospheric unity develops, a strong slipstream of sequential moods and sensations. The music doesn't cajole the listener - it wins the listener over.
o Alto saxophonist Christian Weidner was born in 1976 in Kassel, studied in Hamburg, Stockholm, and Berlin, went through eight years of playing in the school of radical individualist Gunter Hampel.
o Weidner has gathered a group of like-minded musicians around him, each one with a strong personality. At the same time each is especially known for their musical empathy and intuition, for their sensitive and perceptive ears. The players in Weidner's quartet are Swiss pianist Colin Vallon, who has often been singled for his joy and passion for experimentation in the search for new sounds; fellow-countryman Samuel Rohrer on drums, who as a master of the freest possible musical forms and rhythms, has distinguished himself playing in groups with wide-ranging styles; then there is the German bassist Henning Sieverts, a musician who has an iron-clad grasp on the many forms of contemporary jazz.

Price: $24.98