J.D.Hive - Isn't Dinner Lovely Tonight (2022)

Unlike in classical music, the violin is one of the rare attractions in jazz, even if the great violin virtuosos of improvised music, from Grapelli to Ponty to Didier Lockwood, have set milestones in their own way. Johannes Dickbauer, head and namesake of the new quartet J.D.Hive, has been moving in both genres for many years.

On the tightrope between classical and jazz, he has already celebrated a number of successes. For example with the radio. string. quartet. Vienna. The ensemble caused a sensation at the 2006 Berlin Jazz Festival when they performed pieces by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. His boss John McLaughlin was enthusiastic in the liner notes for the 2007 album, and the media were also full of praise. A good three years and two more productions later, Johannes Dickbauer left the quartet to realize his personal ideas as a composer and bandleader.

His latest formation, J.D.Hive, achieves this goal with outstanding elegance and unpretentious brilliance. Crossing what were once supposedly iron stylistic boundaries alone no longer seems unusual these days, but the level at which the style mix at J.D.Hive moves stands out and can be regarded as groundbreaking.