New York Bass Quartet - Air (2022)

Air, the new album by bassist Martin Wind, presents the double bass in an entirely new way: making it the center of the action. Wind, born in Flensburg, Germany, emigrated to New York a quarter of a century ago to seek his musical fortune in the world capital of jazz, and found it. Now, on Air, he introduces us to his New York Bass Quartet.

The idea of forming an all-bass ensemble came to Wind about ten years ago when he began teaching at Hofstra University. "For this group I wanted to gather students from different stylistic backgrounds and expose them to a wide repertoire of pieces - from Bach chorales to pop songs to jazz adaptations. And because I didn't want the material to be repetitive week after week, my students and I started writing arrangements," Wind recalls.

On Air, Wind documents eight of these arrangements with the support of several of New York’s world-class musicians. They include Jordan Frazier (principal bass with the renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), Gregg August (2020 Grammy nominee in the "Best Large Ensemble Jazz Recording" category), and Sam Suggs, who at 30 sounds "outrageously mature," as Wind puts it.

"I consider them the A-Team for this kind of a project. Thanks to their versatility and perfect bowing technique, I was able to explore the immense tonal possibilities of the instrument, as well as the entire scope between classical, rock and jazz."