Jubilee Release #10

ACT Family Band

The ACT Jubilee Concert ACT 60156015-2 (Double (Doubleuble-CD)
German Release Date: Date: April 27, 2012

Whoever thought jazz is a marginal branch of music meant for small cellar pubs was disabused at the ACT jubilee concerts during the first week of February 2012. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Munich label, jazz visited the impressive concert halls in Germany. Around 4.500 people followed its call and experienced during the four concert nights how the spotlight was turned on jazz. ACT all-star ensemble consisting of nine musicians thrilled the audience at the Philharmonie in Berlin (KMS), Muffathalle in Munich, Tonhalle in Dsseldorf and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg in a performance that according to the German magazine BUNTE was a world class session with the very best of jazz. The newspaper DIE WELT was greatly impressed after the final concert in Hamburg on the 5th February and spoke of a magnificent programme and a storm of applause. Fortunately, the NDR had decided beforehand to record the concert. Therefore, the ACT family celebration on stage will be available on a double CD which is released on the 27th April for a special price (2 CDs for the price of one). Siggi Lochs journey has followed a trajectory all of its own. After stumbling across the music of Sidney Bechet at the age of 15, he formed a band and began dreaming of running his own jazz label. Half a century ago he was among the R&B fans getting a first taste of The Beatles at the Star Club in Hamburg. Soon afterwards he produced some of the first tracks by the pop group The Searchers as he embarked on a career as a talent-spotter, producer and major label executive. It is, of course, his own jazz company, ACT, which has become me his primary passion along with his everbeco expanding collection of contemporary art, examples of which adorn many of the album sleeves. If much of the jazz world now resembles a sterile, hermetically sealed museum, Loch clings to the quixotic notion that the music has to surprise, to stir and sometimes to shock.

Never shy of speaking his mind, he worries that too many of todays compositions sound constructed not composed. The past is important, but why be enslaved by it? Musicians have to work their audience, he told me. Just like in rock and roll. Theyre not living in an ivory tower. Does that mean a pursuit of the lowest common denominator, Kenny G with a Bavarian accent? Not at all, as ACTs 20th anniversary tour demonstrated. While there may have been Arctic conditions on the streets outside the venues on the Jubilee Concert tour, musical director Nils Landgren set about creating a piping-hot summation of the labels history, performed by the members of the ACT Family Band. Polish pianist Leszek Moder indulged in playful duels with his German counterpart Michael Wollny. Pensive French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyn L channelled the spirit of Jimi Hendrix with a little help from Denmarks Ccilie Norby. Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola added will o the wisp cameos elsewhere, while the diminutive French player Cline Bonacina almost dwarfed by her baritone sax -- unleashed one fiery solo after another. The musician who remains the symbol of ACTs act was, of course missing. But Esbjrn Svensson who died in a scuba-diving accident four years ago was remembered as the cast gathered for a moving finale. Heres to the next twenty years. The ACT Family Band: Nils Landgren / trombone & vocals Cline Bonacina / baritone sax Verneri Pohjola / trumpet Michael Wollny / piano Nguyn L / guitar Lars Danielsson / bass Wolfgang Haffner / drums Special Guests: Ccilie Norby / vocals Leszek Moder / piano

Jubilee Release #10

ACT Family Band

The ACT Jubilee Concert ACT ACT 6015 601515-2
Photo by Steven Haberland

Disc 1 - Part One 01 Pasodoble (Danielsson) 4:56 Leszek Moder & Lars Danielsson 02 Sleep Safe And Warm (Komeda) 5:52 Leszek Moder 03 Svantetic (Komeda) 6:03 Leszek Moder & Michael Wollny 04 The Tears Of Billie Blue - Clair de Lune (Debussy / Norby) 6:37 Ccilie Norby / Nguyn L / Lars Danielsson / Wolfgang Haffner 05 Stars In Your Your Eyes (Hancock) 6:45 Nils Landgren / Michael Wollny / Lars Danielsson / Wolfgang Haffner 06 Hymn (Danielsson) 7:00 The ACT Family Band featuring Ccilie Norby 07 This One Goes In Four (Pohjola) 11:23 The ACT Family Band featuring Verneri Pohjola Disc 2 - Part Two

Musical Director: Nils Landgren Produced by Siggi Loch Recorded at Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Germany, 05.02.2012 Sound Engineer: Sven Kohlwage Producers for NDR: Axel Drr and Stefan Gerdes CD Mix and Mastering by Klaus Scheuermann

01 Little Wing (Hendrix) 7:49 Nguyn L & Lars Danielsson 02 Lonely Dancer (Wollny) 4:58 Cline Bonacina / Michael Wollny / Lars Danielsson 03 ZigZag Blues (Bonacina) 5:47 The ACT Family Band featuring Cline Bonacina 04 Silent Way (Haffner) 6:14 Nils Landgren / Michael Wollny / Lars Danielsson / Wolfgang Haffner 05 Dodge The Dodo (Svensson) 8:50 The ACT Family Band featuring Verneri Pohjola & Nguyn L 06 Love Is Real (Svensson - Haden) 5:42 The ACT Family Band featuring Ccilie Norby & Nils Landgren 07 Purple Haze (Hendrix) 15:26 The ACT Family Band feat. Ccilie Norby, Nguyn L, Cline Bonacina & Wolfgang Haffner

Also available: The Jubilee Album 20 Magic Years with Nils Landgren, Youn Sun Nah, e.s.t., Michael Wollnys [em], Nguyn L, Joachim Khn, Gerardo Nunez, Vince Mendoza a.o.

Ehrengutstrasse 28, 80469 Mnchen, Germany Phone +49 89 72 94 92 0, Fax +49 89 72 94 92 11 e-mail: info@actmusic.com Visit our website at http://www.actmusic.com

Distributor: Allegro-Nail Distribution (US) A&N Music (GR) Andante Music (RO) Apostrophe (RU) C&L Records (KR) Divyd (SK) Dukyan Meloman (BG) Challenge Records Int. (Benelux) DC Comp (UA) edelkultur (DE & AT) Egea (I) Equinox Music (TR) GIGI Distribution (PL) Gramofon (BA) Harmonia Mundi (FR) Harmonia Mundi (UK) Intek (SI+HR) Jassics (ZA) Jazzworld (HK) JSC "Bomba" (LT) Karonte (ES & PT) Musikklosen (NO) Musikvertrieb (CH) Naxos (SE/FI) Outside Distribution (CA) One-Hifi (RS) Planet MGM Distribution (AU) Southbound Records (NZ) Sundance (DK) Videoarts Music Inc. (JP) 2HP (CZ)