”My heartfelt thanks to Mr Lee Konitz, who has been a constant inspiration throughout my musical career. This album is a reflection of this inspiration – I owe a lot to this legendary alto player and master of improvisation."
The Danish alto saxophonist Christina von Bülow has created a very special trio with two jazz masters in their own right: The Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson and the American drummer Eliot Zigmund. Together, they pick up standards from the great songbooks of jazz and make them their unique own creations; like birds singing, never quite repeating the same sound. The music is very inspired by Lee Konitz with a focus on improvisation, intuition and interplay. Quite a few of the tracks on the album is Christinas take on new themes for old standards.
Thomas Clausen, writer of the liner notes, explains: “The present CD is all about this element of variation. But also about being natural, playing melodically. And it’s an album about interplay! Every bar these musicians play breathe this truth. Some tunes are straight standards. And the presentation of the melody is sometimes straight, as we know it. But it is varied all the time and never feels repetitive.”
What makes the new album special is a feeling of a collective spirit throughout. Christina is the main soloist, but she is always giving herself time to breathe and making pauses in her solos and thus room for the other instruments."
About Christina von Bülow
Christina von Bülow grew up with jazz, as her father, Fritz von Bülow, was a jazz guitarist and developed a great love for brazilian music too, along with the jazz music that was already a natural part of her life. She started playing flute in her teenage years and later changed to the alto saxophone, which has been her main instrument ever since. From 86-90 she studied at the Rythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.
In 1990 she had private lessons with Stan Getz at his home in Malibu, one year before he passed away. She says about the mentorship: “He welcomed me with great hospitality, we met several times and I spent many inspiring hours with him during my two months stay in Los Angeles. He became like a mentor for me.”
