$15 Cover @ the Door / Start 6:30pm / Doors 6pm
Join Christian Artmann (“a composer with great vision,” AllAboutJazz, and a flutist of “stunning virtuosity”, JazzTimes) and Laszlo Gardony (“a great pianist,” Dave Brubeck, and “formidable improviser”, JazzTimes) for an exciting duo performance in celebration of Artmann’s new album “Our Story” (Sunnyside Records, 2018). Inspired by Gardony’s unique musical spirit, Artmann asked his idol personally for lessons at Berklee College of Music almost 20 years ago. Out of a student-teacher relationship grew a beautiful kinship and a blossoming musical conversation, culminating in a series of concerts and the recording of Our Story about which Artmann says: “The idea that we all interrelate, that whatever I do has an effect on you and vice versa, that’s a powerful concept that I really believe in. The music on Our Story isn’t so much about me as it is about camaraderie in challenging times, and about all of us as eternal beings living together on this precious planet.”
Christian Artmann
A New York-based flute player and composer, his passion about bridging musical boundaries and showcasing the flute in jazz began as a childhood immersed in classical music in his native homes of Germany and Austria. Artmann was invited to the prestigious Aspen Music Festival as a teenager where he performed under world-renowned conductors Claudio Scimone and Lawrence Foster and gave solo recitals of Debussy, Hindemith and Bartók. Increasingly fascinated with composition and improvisation, he realized that jazz was his true calling and committed to developing his own musical voice.
Following studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston and collaborations in the Vienna jazz scene, Artmann moved to New York and released his first record as a leader, Uneasy Dreams, to critical acclaim in 2011. His follow-on recording, Fields of Pannonia, was released on Sunnyside Records in 2015 and explores influences from Bach over 20th century classical music to Wayne Shorter. All About Jazz notes in its review: Fields of Pannonia is “rooted in the notion that art can and will stretch as far as the imagination will take it”. The National Flute Association Quarterly calls the album a “mythical journey in sound”.
In the summer of 2017, Artmann went back into the studio to record his latest work, Our Story, with long-time associates Laszlo Gardony (piano), Johannes Weidenmueller (bass), Jeff Hirshfield (drums) and Elena McEntire (voice). In many ways a reflection of Artmann’s Buddhist faith, Our Story marries a rich and alluring harmonic palette with a strong sense of groove that is at home equally in straight ahead jazz, funk, neosoul and Brazilian music. The new album will be released by Sunnyside Records on May 25, 2018.
Artmann studied at Harvard Law School, Berklee College of Music and Princeton University. He has toured throughout Europe and has performed at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Prague’s Smetana Hall, the Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival near Paris as well as clubs in New York, Boston, Paris and Vienna.
Artmann is a Miyazawa Artist and a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He plays Miyazawa and Kotato flutes and uses Applied Microphone Technology microphones.
Laszlo Gardony
“A formidable improviser who lives in the moment” (JazzTimes), Laszlo Gardony has performed in 27 countries and released a dozen albums on the Sunnyside, Antilles, and Avenue labels during his distinguished, decades-long career. Winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Gardony has been noted for his “fluid pianism” by The New York Times. The legendary Dave Brubeck called him “a great pianist.”
His latest solo piano album “Serious Play” (Sunnyside) was named one of the Best Jazz Albums of 2017 by DownBeat Magazine: “Serious Play combines spontaneity and intent. Improvised in the studio, it’s a harmonious, emotionally intense whole that sounds like a concert rather than an arbitrary collection of tunes. No matter how busy Gardony becomes, there’s a stillness at the center of his music, a distinctive amalgam of central European folk strains, majestic classical piano and improvisational fearlessness.”
Both Serious Play and Gardony’s 2015 live sextet album Life In Real Time were named by the Boston Globe as one of the “10 Best Jazz Releases of the Year.”
Gardony has performed alongside and/or recorded with artists including Dave Holland, Miroslav Vitous, Bob Moses, Mick Goodrick, Yoron Israel, John Lockwood, Jamey Haddad, Bill Pierce, Don Braden, and Stan Strickland. In addition to his own recordings on Sunnyside, Antilles and Avenue, his compositions, arrangements and playing have been featured on jazz releases from Blue Note, Accurate, Rounder, and Ronja Music.
A Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music, Gardony continues to divide his time between composing, recording, concerts and teaching, committed to living an inspired, truthful, and productive life in music.