Releases:







MOUNT MEANDER is back with their second album!

After their acclaimed debut (Clean Feed, 2016), this pan-European quartet of accomplished free improvisers moves towards a more visceral expression live, presenting a record of one of their intimate yet robust performances. The music emerging is a sort of an ethereal substance in a state of constant flux - musicians as particles interacting according to inner (experiences) and outer (time, space, and the receiver which is also a giver) impulses and meanings. One of the elements initiates a movement, the rest radiates accordingly - stone is thrown into the water, thus creating waves. Here, it is never about specific particles, but about the substance itself and its vector-transcend to where it becomes just yet another particle in an even greater soup of matter.


Second MOUNT MEANDER album 'Live in Berlin' is out now on Gotta Let It Out.

You can buy it from their website or directly from us. It's also out on all the streaming services.​



MUSIC


MOUNT MEANDER







There is a mountain.
There is music pouring down the steep rocks.
Four people are standing on that mountain.
They are four instruments.
Four parts, yet one organism.
Four different paths led them to this peak,
and so will they stand, playing for the plains and forests.
Listen to the sound of the mountain.


Confirming that jazz is an universal language, here is a trans-national quartet featuring musicians from Germany, Latvia and Poland, in the two last cases living in Copenhagen. If you don’t recognize the names of these four representatives of a new generation of European musicians, namely Karlis Auzins, Lucas Leidinger, Tomo Jacobson and Thomas Sauerborn, certainly you’ll know some of those with whom they already established exciting partnerships: John Tchicai, Mat Maneri, Lotte Anker, Andrew D’Angelo, Adam Rudolph, Randy Peterson, Kresten Osgood, Sidsel Endresen and Frank Gratkowski. This gives you an idea of what to expect: music with an attitude, and the attitude is to function as one organism. Not a simple gathering of four individuals, but a complete being committed to intuitive and collective free improvisation. Does it mean this is non-idiomatic improvised music, to use the label invented by Derek Bailey? Not quite: the band Mount Meander uses musical idioms to tear down the borders between jazz, the avant-garde, world music, rock and pop, and precisely because this CD isn’t about genres. It’s all about unity, equality, trust and communication. Are you ready for them?


MOUNT MEANDER is:
Karlis Auzins (LV) – saxophones
Lucas Leidinger (DE) – piano
Tomo Jacobson (PL) – double bass
Thomas Sauerborn (DE) – drums



Releases:







In 2016 MOUNT MEANDER has released their album at the amazing Portuguese label Clean Feed.

You can buy it from their website or directly from us. It's also out on iTunes, Tidal and Spotify.


Album reviews:

“This quartet shows us that there need not be a compromise when it comes to jazz that is both bold and enjoyable to listen to. Here, stunning melodies go hand-in-hand with restless experimentation, and the end-result is music that is endlessly alluring.”
4/5 stars
(Derek Stone - Free Jazz Blog - USA)


"This is one of the most enjoyable recordings I've listened to in quite a while.”

Favourite Releases of 2016
(One Man's Jazz - continuation of Taint Radio - Canada)


"Ambitious compositions, pushing limits."

The Best Jazz Albums of 2016 Honorable Mention
(Tom Hull - on the Web - retired Village Voice writer and Jazz Consumer Guide creator - USA)


“Phenomenal!!!”
(Maciej Lewenstein - Polish Jazz Recordings and Beyond - Poland)


“Doskonały przykład pełnego świeżości spojrzenia na muzykę improwizowaną XXI wieku.”

2016 Top Albums
(Robert Ratajczak - Long Play - Poland)


“What distinguishes this music the most is the level of communication and cooperation among the musicians. This is a truly leader-less band, a collective endeavor, a homo sapiens project. This is not necessary a unrestrained conversation, nor free ideas exchange or some kind of “mystical” musical bond in making. “Mount Meander” more about human sensibilities, creative process, and this special moments when music transcends the genres, and art surpasses your own limitations. A truly memorable project. Strongly recommended.”
(Cezary Lerski - Polish Jazz Net - Poland/Canada)


“While it might seem that there is a production line for outfits hailing from Scandinavia, Mount Meander demonstrates that the output is far from standardised.”
3.5/4 stars
(John Sharpe - All About Jazz - UK)


“The more you hear this, the more it jumps out at you. Recommended!”
(Grego Applegate Edwards - Gapplegate Music Review - USA)


“Meget velspillet og afvekslende.”
(Niels Overgård - Jazznyt - Denmark)


“Mount Meander imponuje erudycyjną szerokością spojrzenia, konsekwencją realizacji i łatwością, komunikatywnością przekazu. Niektóre fragmenty też płyty można zanucić niczym popowe piosenki. Jak dla mnie - fascynująca muzyka!”
5/5 stars
(Marek Zając - Multikulti Project - Poland)


"To wysmakowany, dojrzały, kameralny, współczesny (free) jazz."

4/5 stars

(Łukasz Iwaśiński - Jazz Forum 7-8/2017 - Poland)


“«Mount Meander» er blitt en tidvis spennende plate, hvor hoveddelen av spenningen ligger i de første tre delene.”
(Jan Granlie - Salt Peanuts - Norway)


"Materiał ukazuje dużą dojrzałość i świetne porozumienie.“

(Piotr Rytowski - JazzPress 11/2016 - Poland)


“The most important thing about this album is the fact that young European musicians make albums like this one today, while the majority of their contemporaries are producing loads of brainless excrement. The sheer personal courage to make a statement, regardless of how it will be accepted by others is the essence. (...) this is a fine debut effort and hopefully more will be heard of these young Jazz heralds in the future.”
(Adam Baruch - Polish Jazz - Israel/Poland)


“Hudobná výpoveď tejto mladej štvorice je veľmi osobitá.”

(Patrick Španko - skjazz.sk - Slovakia)


“Une jolie réussite discographique pour un quartette que l'on aimerait entendre en live.”
(Philippe Cornet - Focus Vif Magazine - Belgium)


"Jedenfalls haben alle übrigen Stücke ihre ausgeprägte individuelle Struktur und Stimmung, innerhalb derer die vier Musiker inspiriert agieren. Es ist erfreulich, dass die gelungene Debut CD dieser Band auf dem renommierten clean feed Label erscheint und damit internationale Verbreitung findet."


tomojacobson [at] gmail.com / +45 3013 8573