For local jazz musicians, appointments in the Unterfahrt with its outstanding international program are sought after and rare. That’s why there’s a double concert on Thursday, April 4th, in which two Munich cracks will present their new albums, both released on the Swiss label Unit, one after the other. This is the young trumpeter Nico Weber with his debut “Ela”, which was already discussed in the SZ. And then the saxophonist Moritz Stahl with “Dream Sequence”.
With the dancing balls on the cover, striped like hypnosis circles (designed by graphic artist Niklaus Troxler), you could think of them Jazz Rush Big Band think, who has also used similar psychedelic designs for albums and T-shirts. After all, Moritz Stahl is also the band’s lead tenor saxophonist. But “Dream sequence”, as the CD, which is also available on double vinyl, is called, is actually the first album under his name. It’s hard to believe that the now 32-year-old winner of the Kurt Maas Jazz Award, the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize and the BMW Young Artist Jazz Award has been a fixture far beyond the Munich scene for years.
At the age of 16 he was already in the state youth jazz orchestra, and while he was studying he could already be heard in many groups and on various albums. As mentioned, he is currently not only playing in the Jazzrausch big band, but is also a permanent member of the bands led by Philipp Schiepek, Luca Zambito, Fiona Grond and Hannah Weiss. In his own right, he is co-founder and director of the electronic alternative jazz quintet Ark Noir, which also led to the management of the “Tunnel Visions” festival series. Finally, there is his alter ego odizouu, that “awakens when Moritz Stahl goes to sleep,” as it says on his homepage. His saxophone, coupled to an analog pedalboard, sounds in spherical ambient soundscapes.
In “Dream Sequence” it is clearly the jazzer Moritz Stahl who dreamed. First of all, the music is freer than in his previous projects. For this purpose, he and his long-time friend and companion, the guitarist Philipp Schiepek, put together the right band with national greats in 2022: drummer Leif Berger came from Cologne, pianist Julius Windisch from Berlin and bassist Lorenz Heigenhuber (an old Munich native) from Leipzig. Last summer they were able to try out the underpass during a “Summer Week”. “That bonded us together, so we were able to work quickly in the studio,” says Stahl.
What will now be heard live is well captured in the album title. Especially in the five numbered title pieces there is a lot of association and the limits of harmony, polyrhythm, space and time are tested. But it’s also more sophisticated, like the lyrical “Olivers Pensive” or the almost parodic swing-bobbing “Aiglatson”. Stahl’s development over the past few years and his understanding of contemporary jazz will be on display. With a look into the future and an invitation to “engage in music with an open mind and sometimes leave questions unanswered.” What Stahl puts it this way also applies to Nico Weber and his Kwartett.
Moritz Stahl Quintet & Nico Weber Kwartett, Thursday, April 4th, 8:30 p.m., Unterfahrt, Einsteinstrasse 42, www.unterfahrt.de