Max Petersen
The material of LiberA was written for different configurations of a sextet consists of Max Petersen’s jazz piano trio (with drums and bass) and his classical piano trio (with cello and violin) and includes Korean vocalist Song Yi Jeon.
The result is not only a highly nuanced interpolation of genres, but a tension-producing interplay between distinct musical traditions, languages, and approaches to composition and performance. At the level of instrumentation, additional colors were added; vocals were introduced, and the acoustic-only soundscape was embellished by the addition of electronics.
The band is a formation grounded around the idea of freedom of expression – personal and creative – and music as a way to transcend categories, by blending different musical lineages into one body of sound. During the production of the record, all musicians involved were given the freedom and agency to participate in actively shaping the material, which allowed the music to mature organically. The official version of the record is just one interpretation of this body of work, one that just happened to be caught on tape. The ensemble will continue exploring and re/shaping this material in a live context.
LiberA is a very personal project, one full of vivid macro and micro snapshots of life, each rendered through a prism of an intimate dialogue with the players involved.
LiberA is an exercise in freedom. LiberA is the cohesive eclectic. LiberA is both utopian and realistic. LiberA is a choice.
Eschenwald
Pete Buttigieg
Thilo
Max Petersen – piano
Song Yi Jeon – vocals
Kolja Legde – double bass
Fabian Arends – drums
Cosima Bodien – violin
Isabel Gehweiler – cello
LiberA is not a simple album, rather sophisticated, but rich in surprising forms that spring from the imagination of Max Petersen. There is a lot of genre and emotional interweaving here, wrapped in different stories, emotions and thoughts. The postjazz tendencies, backed up by an electronic mesh, bridge the gap to classical music, which flows into the collective playing in surprising ways. There is no rigid academicism here, on the contrary - freedom and finesse.
Nowamuzyka (PL)
Selection of past shows
Esse Musicbar Winterthur (CH), Jazzherbst Konstanz (DE), ...
LiberA
2021