Solo Piano is the great antagonist to Maria Baptist’s orchestral work – out-composed structures, an architect-like precision contrasted to free improvisation and compositional sketches. And certainly: those who are familiar with Maria Baptist’s work will also feel the influence of her large orchestra on her improvisational work. Her unique voice – “highly emotional, evocative and vivid as life” (All About Jazz) – can be heard in every one of Maria Baptist’s recordings.

Her 2018 album Resonance, unlike its prequel Self-Portrait (2014), moves away from the classical song form and takes a leap to a clearly improvisational style.

Resonance outlines Maria Baptist’s relationship to music and mindfulness — and by extension, inspires her listeners to dive deeper into the present moment with her. The music she recorded is as intellectually compelling, as it is emotionally intense – it is filled with magical moments that resonate with the listeners’ soul.

While the last year was fully dedicated to the release of Maria Baptist’s follow-up album Here & Now 2 (2019) which has brought her great international recognition both as a composer and bandleader (“this album should cause listeners‘ ears to perk up in the U.S.” DOWNBEAT), the preparations for her new Duo project, which will celebrate CD release on September 10, is taking place in the background:

Maria Baptist has teamed up with world class saxophone virtuoso Jan von Klewitz. One can certainly see this collaboration as an organic progression of the last years: One of the first artistic encounters between the two occurred at the time of the establishment of Maria Baptist’s orchestra in 2015, until Jan von Klewitz also appeared in Maria Baptist’s chamber music projects as a feature guest on her Trio plus One album Poems without Words (2017) and now is finding its first climax in a joint project.

However, for attentive concert-goers, this shouldn’t come out of the blue – after all, both have already been on tour extensively in this formation and have even been invited to the Hong Kong Jazz Festival 2019, one of the most important festivals in the entire Asian region.

Although in recent years large orchestral productions such as her album series Here & Now 1+2 (2016, 2019) and her piano solo album Resonance (2018) have been prominent in Maria Baptist’s artistic work – bringing her both high-profile exposure and promoting her to the international stage with concerts at key festivals – the trio remains an essential part of Maria Baptist’s artistic career:

She gave her first public concert in a trio line up and throughout her career repeatedly dedicated an album to this intimate formation: Crazy Dreams (2000), Music for my Trio (2006), Spring in Berlin (2010), Gate 29 (2012), Poems without Words (2017), whereby the latter opened up to a quartet with Jan von Klewitz as a guest.

Over the years the ensemble has established itself as one of the most important trios from Germany and is also regarded among the “most exciting jazz formations in Europe” (artistic director 12on14 Jazzclub), playing with “high technical skills and musical intelligence” (AAZ) while at the same time creating “deep worlds of sounds that are so rarely heard in Europe” (Cosmo Scharmer). One of the concert critics has pointed out that a “performance by the Maria Baptist Trio is like a musical revelation”.

Jan von Klewitz (sax), Fabian Timm (bass), John Betsch (drums)

Over the past few years, Maria Baptist has established her profile as an international pianist with her solo recording Resonance (2018) and her quartet album Poems without Words (2017), and has strengthened this profile with highly visible concerts at festivals such as Jazz Baltica or the Hong Kong Jazz Festival. Now she is once again focusing entirely on her skills as a composer with her sequel album Here & Now 2 for her jazz orchestra on which the DOWNBEAT states: “it should cause listeners‘ ears to perk up in the U.S.”

Supported by Baptist’s 16-piece ensemble, which features a first-class line-up of musicians, Maria Baptist transfers her aesthetic and unique style to Here & Now 2. The seven new, complex compositions emphasize the uniquely creative voices and individual personalities of each member of the band. Here & Now 2 reflects on the present moment, on what represents the “here & now” in a broader sense.

The Maria Baptist Orchestra is one of the leading big bands in the pulsating Berlin jazz scene. They have been playing their monthly concert series at Kunstfabrik Schlot since 5 years. The Berlin Senate supports the Orchestra with a jazz funding and their previous album Here & Now was nominated for the German Record Critics‘ Award. The music, all composed by Maria Baptist, has been seen “in a league with the key figures of modern Big Band Jazz such as Schneider, Gruntz, McNeely and Bley” by All about Jazz.

Rhythm: Piano-Maria Baptist, Bass-Fabian Timm, Drums-Heinz Lichius Reeds: David Beecroft, Jan v. Klewitz, Niko Zeidler, Richard Maegraith, Nik Leistle Trombones: Julius Hopf, Jan Landowski, Rasmus Holm, Christopher Sauloff Trumpets: Greg Bowen, Fabian Engwicht, Ruben Giannotti, Eddie Hayes