Luciano Biondini, Rita Marcotulli at Unterfahrt Munich Photo credit: Ralf Dombrowski

Ralf Dombrowski (text and photos) reports on a vintage week at the Unterfahrt club in Munich. Ralf writes:

Even by its own high standards, Unterfahrt here in Munich has had an exceptional week:

Lutz Häfner, Jochen Rückert, Mark Turner at Unterfahrt Photo credit:Ralf Dombrowski

Tuesday: Lutz Häfner International Sextet including Mark Turner, Lage Lund and Jochen Rückert (photo above). This was complex, through-composed, contemporary modern jazz, achieving musical heft and density through the interaction of strong individual characters. This is a context where German saxophonist Häfner, a controlled yet impulsive player encounters Turner, with his more introverted way of listening in on himself, and also the laconic Rückert with his polyrhythms, the sound-painter Rainer Böhm on piano, plus Lund on guitar with his unique way of creating way-out effects with single-notes. Demanding listening, but inspired.

Jermaine Landsberger, Randy Brecker at Unterfahrt Photo Credit: Ralf Dombrowski

Wednesday: Hammond Eggs with Randy Brecker (photo above). Jermaine Landsberger‘s organ trio, with guitarist Paulo Morello and drummer Christoph Huber, is on the road with an international star guest, and they were having anything but a boring time of it, quite the opposite. Brecker had his work cut out to hang in there with the soul/jazz groove of the band. Landsberger above all asserted his credentials as an organist with huge and assured tonal resources, good taste and judgment, and the ability to captivate the listener.

Thursday: Rita Marcotulli and Luciano Biondini (top photo). This piano/accordion duo give you picture-perfect Mediterranean melancholy. They communicate symbiotically, they have melodic subtlety to spare, and with their knack of constantly leading the listener to new discoveries, they are perhaps one of the most inspired duos that the European jazz scene has to offer at the moment.