Johannes Enders - Standard Questions (2026) [Hi-Res]

"Questions open up a space that can be interpreted," is how German saxophonist Johannes Enders describes the starting point of 'Standard Questions', "something that has probably fascinated me subconsciously for a long time." So he searched the American Songbook for pieces whose titles formulate questions, selected seven of them, and added two of his own compositions in a fitting manner. He then recorded the collection with his equally new and magnificent acoustic quartet: the Austrian pianist Oliver Kent, the Berlin-based American bassist Josh Ginsburg, and the American Gene Calderazzo on drums, who moved to England in the mid-1990s.

Johannes Enders shapes the selected standards into a statement of balanced beauty. Gentle, raw, and with sustained energy, he offers his answers to the questions of our time, reflecting improvisationally on the old and ever-new questions, and in doing so, defending not only his understanding of jazz as a universal language, but also the unifying and identity-forming power of music in general. Like many of his predecessors, he believes in its positive force, which, beyond the prevailing criteria of neoliberalism, speaks of something greater in ever-new variations.

Johannes Enders (ts)
Oliver Kent (p)
Josh Ginsburg (b)
Gene Calderazzo (ds)