Georg Graewe, Brad Jones, Hamid Drake

"In the mid-1990s German pianist Georg Graewe was among a number of free jazz veterans attracted to the young improv scene in Chicago. In 1997 he spent six months in the city and formed one of the finest groups of the decade with drummer Hamid Drake and bassist Kent Kessler, along with German reedist Frank Gratkowski. The quartet stopped working around 2001, but in 2019 the pianist found and released a searing live recording of the group from 1998, which sparked a desire to reconnect with Drake. That finally happened in the summer of 2024 at the storied Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria, in which Lisbon based American expat bassist Brad Jones rounded out the trio's first-time meeting. Lightning was indeed captured in a bottle with this recording, revealing that the Graewe-Drake electricity remains undiminished. In his sleevenotes the pianist notes the stifling heat as they took the stage, but over the course of three fiery collective improvisations the new trio was fuelled by the hothouse environment, revealing astonishing chemistry. The rhythm section unspools endless ebb and flow movement, riding deep grooves and embracing wide open abstraction; the ideal foundation for Graewe's nonchalant versatility.

While the pianist often elides boundaries between jazz and contemporary music, here he unabashedly digs into the former even while drawing ideas from the latter. There's something unfortunate about the way veterans are often overlooked if they don't devise an endless profusion of new concepts or bands, but More Than Anything proves how misguided that metric is. These individuals have amassed incredible experience and knowledge, and their ability to summon those resources in the moment, with an unceasing flow, is something even the most talented young improvisors will always lack.


Of course, Graewe hasn't been resting on his laurels. He has several ongoing projects including the latest manifestation of his long-running exploration of large ensemble music, Sonic Fiction Orchestra. In Concert, Bochum 2022 features three diverse works, tightly arranged and residing more in the contemporary music milieu despite plenty of neatly plotted improvisation from the likes of clarinettist Gratkowski, guitarist Martin Siewert and harpist Sara Kowal. Few improvisors have managed to collide musical worlds with more rigour and fecundity." - Peter Margasak