Jonas Sorgenfrei: Moods

"(...) preserved sound ideas (...), but with a lot of chutzpah (...). Pulsar of common sound and motif narratives (...). So fun what could already be ticked off: a trio without innovationist exaggerations".
- Jazzthing, 2022

"(...) hardly a stylistic epoch of modern jazz - each evoking its own images - is left out: From the hard-bopping opener, to the lascivious ballad and the swinging Latin number, to the detached soul-jazz composition, the three virtuosos have it all."
- Christof Thurnherr, Jazz'n'more, 2022

"The performance art of this trio is undoubtedly of the highest level. "Moods" is a colorful and diverse album.
The improvisational imagination, the kaleidoscope of moods and emotions make one listen with
unbridled interest to listen."
- Jazz-fun.de, 2022

After his furious and critically acclaimed debut "Elephants Marching On" on the Swiss label Unit Records in September 2021, drummer and composer Jonas Sorgenfrei dedicates his second release to the transparent sound of a trio without a harmony instrument: the saxophone trio.

The compositions tell about "Moods" in everyday life and beyond - influenced by their emotions and qualities. In doing so, the music reveals a clearly recognizable influence of the American “straight-ahead”.

The band sound is earthy, warm and the trio swings sometimes briskly, sometimes finely through the mostly clear and concise compositions. The focus is on the melodic character of the pieces and the spontaneous, free interplay in a reduced, transparent formation.

In Sorgenfrei's new project, Cologne tenor saxophonist Denis Gäbel - a fresh member of the HR Big Band and undoubtedly one of the outstanding stylists in his field - shines with a full, warm and moving sound, alongside the contrasting, extroverted, grounding bass playing of new Cologne member Peter Christof.

The always fresh and agile playing of bandleader Sorgenfrei, multi-faceted, always in balance and focused on interaction, leads in creative detail across the surfaces and into the depths of the compositions.

Jonas Sorgenfrei manages with seemingly playful ease to unite different, strong musical personalities in an independent band sound and presents himself in his second release as leader just as profoundly, yet in varying aesthetics, to an interested audience.

Denis Gäbel - Saxophone

Peter Christof - Bass

Jonas Sorgenfrei - Drums