Maria Baptist is one of the most exciting pianists in contemporary jazz. In her new programme »The Solo Works«, she combines current compositions with central works from her repertoire - including the piano cycle »Hopes & Fears«, which was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award.
Her music emerges from the interplay of structure and spontaneity. Compositional thinking and improvisational openness are intertwined, motivically bound, formally thought through and developed in the moment.
Baptist’s piano playing is highly virtuosic, rhythmically complex, polyphonically pervaded – and always focussed on musical development.
She works with motivic transformation, thematic condensation, sound as a formal process.
The comparison often made with Jarrett or Evans points to the depth and openness of her playing, but Maria Baptist follows her own aesthetic logic – analytical in her approach, clear in her form, supported by an unmistakable tonal signature.
»The Solo Works« is concentrated presence – clear, open, lively.
PERFORMERS
Maria Baptist piano
