Jakob Helling Concert Big Band feat. Fay Claassen - Nerds & Sweeties (2023)

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Jakob Helling Concert Big Band feat. Fay Claassen - Nerds & Sweeties (2023)

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Singer Fay Claassen and trumpeter/composer Jakob Helling first met in summer 2022 for concerts and recordings with the "Jakob Helling Concert Big Band". Now this delightful encounter continues with slightly fewer musicians on stage: the two have a fantastic band in tow, featuring Matthew Halpin (sax), Mátyás Bartha (piano), Ivar Roban Križić (bass) and Mario Gonzi (drums), some of the most exciting musicians in the German-speaking world. The programme ranges from some pieces from the brand new album "Nerds & Sweeties" by the "Jakob Helling Concert Big Band" to arrangements from the Great American Songbook, which Helling has breathed new life into, to the musicians' own compositions. You can look forward to an entertaining concert evening full of joyful playing and virtuosity paired with arrangements that stimulate both the brain and the heart.

Fay Claassen is an award-winning singer who has worked with some of the most important artists in jazz: from Toots Thielemans and Paquito D'Rivera to the WDR Big Band, the Metropole Orchestra, Bob Brookmeyer, Michael Abene and Vince Mendoza. As the American music magazine so aptly enthuses: "Fay Claassen is to singing what Audrey Hepburn was to the movies: elegant and graceful." With her unmistakable timbre, she is one of the great female voices of European jazz.

Jakob Helling learnt his first notes on the trumpet in a trombone choir in Westphalia, began composing at an early age and also appeared as a keyboard player or singer in rock bands before studying jazz trumpet in Bremen and Essen and then completing a master's degree in composition in Graz. Released his debut album as a composer and arranger in 2019 with a live album by the award-winning "Jakob Helling Concert Big Band". Now lives with his family in Vienna.

Matthew Halpin plays an important role in Helling's ensembles, as he makes metaphysical elements in the music seem tangible. He grew up in Ireland, studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and now plays mainly in German-speaking countries and Ireland. Caught attention in 2021 with his fiery debut album "Agreements". Jazz saxophone professor at the MUK in Vienna since February 2023.

Mátyás Bartha found his love for jazz and the piano at an early age and soon left his hometown of Szentendre, Hungary, to study jazz in Graz. He then spent some time in New York and has now been an incomparable & irreplaceable part of the Viennese jazz scene for years.

Ivar Roban Križić listened to his family's jazz records from an early age, studied double bass in Graz and, as soon as his busy schedule as a jazz bassist allows, is busy with his doctoral thesis on contemporary performance practice and improvisation.

Mario Gonzi can be described without hesitation as a luminary in his field. He has been drumming since the age of five - initially in Mödling, Lower Austria, and shortly afterwards at jazz festivals around the world with some of the key figures in jazz: from many years with Art Farmer to Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Clark Terry and Paquito D'Rivera to Roman Schwaller and Adrian Mears. Perhaps not without good reason, he is regarded by many as one of the best drummers in Europe.

James Davison, trumpet, flügelhorn
Matthias Schwengler, trumpet, flügelhorn
Christian Mehler, trumpet, flügelhorn
Jan Kaiser, trumpet, flügelhorn
Adrian Prost, trombone
Philipp Schittek, trombone
Karel Eriksson, trombone
Johannes Oppel, bass trombone, tuba
Lennart Allkemper, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet
Sebastian Gerhartz, alto saxophone
Matthew Halpin, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet
Malte Dürrschnabel, tenor saxophone
Jonas Brinckmann, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Sebastian Scobel, piano
Ivar Roban Križić, bass
Mario Gonzi, drums
Jakob Helling, composition & conductor

Recorded on August 30 & 31, 2022 at Studio Tonzauber in „Konzerthaus Wien“ by Reinhard Buchta & Kristaps Austers
Mixed by Reinhard Buchta & Jakob Helling at Quinton Studios Vienna
Mastered by Christoph Stickel, CS Mastering