Forest

Description

Since 1966, the SWR NEWJazz Meeting, a mythical sound laboratory for improvised music, has brought together musicians to develop their creative ideas free from everyday constraints. Over four days, this setup creates a free space for experimentation, with the aim of developing a concert program that will then be presented on tour throughout the broadcast area. Micah Thomas is a visionary among pianists on the current New York improvisation scene. He became famous as the driving, energetic piano force of the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. As the curator of the SWR NEWJazz Meeting 2022, Thomas assembled a group of exceptional New York improvisers. The sextet had never played together in this form before. When asked for a name for the SWR NEWJazz Meeting project, Thomas replied: Forest. The musical fruits of this album, in fact, shimmer like a dew-covered forest landscape stretching far beyond what a single glance could embrace. And in this "forest," something magical happens: it is dark, calm, and tranquil, and then suddenly, for a moment, rare and shy animals emerge from the mist and fog. These tracks, subsequently selected by Thomas, offer such experiences. They are deliberately identified as fragments, highlights from long passages of spontaneous improvisation.