Percussion genius Florian Arbenz takes the listeners with his quartet into a world full of rhythmic tension, swinging solos, free improvisations and dreamy sounds!
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ARBENZ X POSTMA / JERJEN / BARRADAS
In his almost 30-year career as a musician, Florian Arbenz has proven time and again that he is not only a brilliant drummer, but also has a good nose for unusual and gripping combinations of musicians and instruments. In this quartet with Dutch master saxophonist Tineke Postma, Portuguese accordion virtuoso Joāo Barradas and Australian-Swiss bassist Rafael Jerjen, this comes into its own!
Florian Arbenz is a drummer from Switzerland. Born in Basel in 1975, he came into contact with music at an early age through his family. At home in jazz as well as in classical music, he played as a percussionist at numerous renowned festivals under the direction of Kent Nagano, for example. In the jazz periphery he collaborated with his brother Michael, Kirk Lightsey, Hermon Mehari or Nelson Veras; a large part of his attention is devoted to the trio VEIN. His album series Conversations, the fifth part of which was recorded with the band of this evening, attracted much attention in the scene. For his commitment to jazz and classical music, he was awarded the European Young Artists Award in 2000.
Tineke Postma is the twinkling star in the European jazz sky. The exceptional talent tours internationally with the most sought-after musicians and her work as a leader has received outstanding reviews from Down Beat, Rolling Stone or Jazzthetik. She has shared stage and recording studio with Kenny Barron, Herbie Hancock, Dan Weiss, Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dianne Reeves and many more. Her playing can be heard on two Grammy Award-winning albums and has been recognized with numerous individual awards including the Jazz Juan Revelations Award, the Buma Boy Edgar Award, and Down Beat Magazine's 2019 Rising Star.
João Barradas is one of the most reputable and widely acknowledged European accordionists, working simultaneously between classical music, jazz and improvised music. He has won some of the most prestigious international classical accordion contests of which, among others, the World Accordion Trophy (CMA), which he has won twice, the Coupe Mondiale of Accordion (CIA), the International Castelfidardo Contest and the Okud Istra International Competition, stand out. Alongside his activity as a classical musician, Barradas is one of the most active musicians in Jazz accordion nowadays. As an outstanding improviser he has collaborated with various renowned musicians, namely Greg Osby, Mark Turner, Peter Evans, Aka Moon, Mike Stern.
With a burgeoning international career, Rafael Jerjen is a bass player, composer and educator. Currently based in Lucerne, he was educated in Australia, the USA , Berlin, and Switzerland. Active as a composer, arranger and bandleader, Rafael leads the Rafael Jerjen Concept and MaxMantis, and has toured extensively in South America, Australia and Europe. His creative output has won awards and he has recorded and shared the stage with some of the biggest names in jazz in Europe, the USA and Australasia, including: Mike Moreno, Bill Cunliffe, Joe Labarbera, Bob McChesney and Nils Wogram.
