Christian Elsässer - The Move

Christian Elsässer (Piano) - Niels Klein (Sax) - Tim Collins (Vibraphone) - Henning Sieverts (Bass) Fabian Arends (Drums) Life is change. At its best, it gives rise to inventive jazz—as in Christian Elsässer’s new album The Move. After a long phase working primarily as a composer, arranger and conductor for big bands and orchestras Christian Elsässer reveals a particularly intimate, chamber-like side on his new quintet album. „While working on the music a lot of changes were about to happen in my personal life. The most crucial one was that my wife and I decided to leave Munich behind and create a new home for our family in the country-side.“ This emotional shift—filled with excitement, nostalgia, and the magic of new beginnings—runs like a thread throughout the album. The choice of musicians and the associated instrumentation had a decisive influence on the realization of the compositional ideas. „For this recording I invited four long time friends with whom I have worked in various musical contexts – but never in exactly this lineup. When mentally assembling the band’s sound, I was imme-diately fascinated by the many colorful possibilities that arose from the combination of instruments.“ With The Move, Christian Elsässer creates a musical diary of change: a journey full of farewells and new be-ginnings, shaped by the growth of a family and the quiet yet profound changes that life brings over time. It explores movement in its deeply rooted facets—from the life-changing experience of relocating to a new place to the small and significant steps toward a nature-oriented way of life. Pieces like Birds, Morgentau, and Wie-genlied create sonic landscapes drawing on the rich palette of modern jazz. Other original compositions, such as Kanon and Circles & Corners, reflect Elsässer’s inventive structural concepts, already hinted at in their titles. Likewise, Short Story No. 2 follows a self-imposed challenge: to fit entirely on a single sheet of music—quite a contrast to his large-ensemble arrangements, which typically require dozens of pages. Christian Elsässer is one of the most versatile voices of contemporary Jazz in Europe. He is regularly commissi-oned by top ensembles such as the Metropole Orkest (three-time Grammy winner), the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and all four German radio big bands (WDR, HR, NDR, SWR). He has worked with a wide range of acclaimed artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Aaron Parks and Mike Stern. Elsässer is also a pro-fessor of Composition and Jazz Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.