Gropper's distinctive style, which many listeners may be familiar with through the trio Hyperactive Kid, finds its continuation in Philm. The sound is an intersection of familiar jazz idols and his own vocabulary. In doing so, it has succeeded in developing a recognizable independence away from academically cultivated sound and dull or screeching "free jazz monotony."
The quartet is alert and responsive. For the listener, composition is not always distinguishable from improvisation. The overall very intricate and lively tracks, develop tart contextual changes, give birth to beauty, are surprising and innovative.
Philipp Gropper (saxophone), Håvard Wiik (piano), Andreas Lang (bass), Oliver Steidle (drums).
PHILM website
2 May 2013 | 20:30 | Liveclub Telegraph | Admission: 12€/8€
(5€ for members of the Jazzclub Leipzig e.V.)