Christian Elsässer - The Move (2025) [Hi-Res]

With The Move, Christian Elsässer creates a musical diary of change and reveals a particularly intimate, chamber-like side.

After a long phase working primarily as a composer, arranger and conductor for big bands and orchestras Christian Elsässer reveals a particularly intimate, chamber-like side on his new quintet album.

„While working on the music a lot of changes were about to happen in my personal life. The most crucial one was that my wife and I decided to leave Munich behind and create a new home for our family in the countryside."

The choice of musicians and the associated instrumentation had a decisive influence on the realization of the compositional ideas. „For this recording I invited four long time friends with whom I have worked in various musical contexts - but never in exactly this lineup."

With The Move, Christian Elsässer creates a musical diary of change: a journey full of farewells and new beginnings, shaped by the quiet yet profound changes that life brings over time. Pieces like Birds, Morgentau, and Wiegenlied create sonic landscapes drawing on the rich palette of modern jazz. Other original compositions, such as Kanon and Circles & Corners, reflect Elsässer's inventive structural concepts. Likewise, Short Story No. 2 follows a self-imposed challenge: to fit entirely on a single sheet of music - quite a contrast to his large-ensemble arrangements, which typically require dozens of pages.

Christian Elsässer is one of the most versatile voices of contemporary Jazz in Europe. He is regularly commissioned by top ensembles such as the Metropole Orkest (three-time Grammy winner), the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and all four German radio big bands (WDR, HR, NDR, SWR). He has worked with a wide range of acclaimed artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Aaron Parks and Mike Stern. Elsässer is also a professor of Composition and Jazz Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.

Christian Elsässer (Piano)
Niels Klein (Sax)
Tim Collins (Vibraphone)
Henning Sieverts (Bass)
Fabian Arends (Drums)