Muse

With "Muse" Stefan Karl Schmid releases only one year after the octet album "Pyjama" another recording that puts him as a saxophonist and improviser in the center of the action. Personally and musically closely interwoven with the predecessor, seven original compositions, an Icelandic folk song and the Warne Marsh title "Background music" can be found here and together form a multi-faceted, nuanced body of work. Once again David Helm on double bass and Thomas Sauerborn on drums are on hand, who together with Schmid elicit an intoxicating energy and diversity from the saxophone trio line-up. Lovingly fleshed out and colored, they navigate complex forms and harmonic structures with great creativity and soloistic virtuosity. In doing so, they effortlessly oscillate between free, unbound soundscapes and powerfully driving passages. Schmid places great emphasis on incorporating the individual voices. Thus Shannon Barnett (trombone), Bastian Stein (trumpet) and Pablo Held (piano) complement the trio to form a quartet in carefully selected works composed in advance for this purpose. The players thus become muses, correlatively and selflessly fleshing out and mutually interpenetrating the compositional and interactive shadings. Once again Schmid confirms his role as a far-sighted bandleader and impresses with his emotional and virtuosic saxophone playing. With Muse, Stefan Karl Schmid underpins his far-reaching reputation as a cultivated saxophonist and once again proves himself to be an accomplished composer and clever arranger of contemporary jazz.