Philip Zoubek Trio

Cologne-based Austrian pianist Philip Zoubek is an inveterate explorer forging a sound that blends the introspective harmonies of Bill Evans and Paul Bley with extended techniques and a deeply improvisational mindset. While he’s regularly collaborated with Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Hayden Chisholm and Sebastian Gramms, he formed this trio with bassist David Helm and drummer Dominik Mahnig in 2018 to deftly consolidate his varied conceptions. While the group’s first album “Outside” captured his compositional practice with lyric grace and a beguiling sonic palette, the group’s brand new recording “Nonplaces” represents a major artistic leap. The timbral range is expanded with increased exploration of his instrument’s harp and judicious electronic enhancements, while rhythmically the trio is decidedly more forceful, occasionally settling into throbbing grooves over which Zoubek unleashes improvisations of inscrutable logic and drama without betraying his collective vision.

This concert is part of the To Jazzfest erlin Radio Edition