Max Petersen Trio
Swiss based pianist and composer Max Petersen takes his listeners on a transformative journey through an audacious amalgam of classical and jazz influences. His trio explores the tension between a traditionally Western approach to performance and composition, and African-American improvisational techniques and rhythmic sensibilities. This mercurial blend of influences guarantees that every single concert is unique. As the tempestuous harmonic shifts, elegant melodies, the organic ebb and flow of groove unfold in unison you can expect a truly transcendental experience.
Max Petersen, a student of, among others, Vijay Iyer and Fred Hersch and dividing his time between his home town of Zurich and the jazz metropolis of New York, is as much interested in classical music as he is in jazz. His debut album “Dream Dancing” (2016, Unit Records) was highly praised by the media: the music magazine Concerto considered the album’s title track “an accolade to the premier league of jazz” and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called the album ” a unicum in the history of the jazz piano trio”. With his latest album “Divine Traces” (2019, QFTF), Max Petersen takes a stand on the previous work and shines a new light on the “history of the piano trio”: a young, courageous, acoustic expression in the spirit of our time.
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Pathos Piece
Max Petersen – Piano
Kolja Legde – Double Bass
Fabian Arends – Drums
The trio loves to go where the conditioned listening habits don't expect it [and] manages to constantly shift the boundaries of its eight exciting compositions, which meander back and forth between the African-American tradition, modern classical music, polyphony, free jazz and the melancholy of German romanticism.
Jazz thing (DE)
Group improvisations of an astounding maturity. [...] A very successful recording with an excellent sound that reinterprets the classical piano trio in a contemporary way.
Jazzpodium (DE)
Songs with brilliant improvisations. Max Petersen demonstrates with an exciting polyphony, sparkling chords, haunting cadenzas or elegant melodies his special and individual approach to music.
Concerto (AT)
A top-class jazz album. [...] Max Petersen plays the piano like a mixture of an experienced musician and tinkerer, of an entertainer and a free spirit. His technical brilliance is breathtaking.
Kulturtipp Zürich (CH)
Max Petersen takes his listeners with him in a rich world of different musical influences.
Rhein Main Magazin (DE)
Upcoming
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Past (selection)
B-Flat Berlin (DE), Esse Musicbar Winterthur (CH), Jazz Downtown Konstanz (DE), Mehrspur Zurich (CH), Montreux Jazz Festival (CH), Moods Zurich (CH), Neimënster Luxembourg (LU), Terminus Saarbrücken (DE), ...
Divine Traces
QFTF
2019
Max Petersen – piano
Dominique Girod – double bass
Fabian Arends – drums
Dream Dancing
Unit Records
2016