Home Events CONCERT | JÖRG LEICHTFRIED PROJECT

CONCERT | JÖRG LEICHTFRIED PROJECT

Name: CONCERT | JÖRG LEICHTFRIED PROJECT
Start: 2014-09-09
End: 2014-09-09

In 2012 during a study period in NYC, Austrian pianist and composer Jörg Leichtfried founded the quartet with NYC-based Austrian improvisers that would become the Jörg Leichtfried Project. Playing Leichtfried’s original compositions, this quartet brings together some of the most creative improvisers of the younger generation in Austria and NYC.

ABOUT JÖRG LEICHTFRIED PROJECT

Jörg Leichtfried, piano, composition

Lukas Gabric, saxophone

Christopher Nolte, double bass

Peter Traunmüller, drums

Jörg Leichtfried

Jörg Leichtfried is freelance piano player and composer based in Vienna, Austria. In 2009, Jörg received his Master of Arts degree (with distinction) in Jazz Piano from the Konservatorium Wien University, where he has been Lecturer for piano in the Jazz Department of Prayner Conservatory since 2010. In 2011, he made a duo recording with Bertl Mayer, and the Jörg Leightfried Trio released ‘Magicians, Sounds, and other Beauties’ in 2013. Leichtfried has collaborated with musicians such as: Klemens Marktl, Bertl Mayer, Jozsef Botos, Caspar van Meel, Herwig Gradischnig, Nika Zach, Hans Salomon, Vladimir Kostadinovic, Andreas Wälti, Andrej Prozorov. He has appeared at festivals and performed at concert venues throughout Europe: Austrian Cultural Days (Bihac, Bosnia), Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Porgy & Bess Vienna, Bayreuth, Leipzig, Birdland Vienna, Dresden Jazzfestival (Germany), Harlem Jazz Club Barcelona (Spain), Austian Cultural Forum Theran (Iran), Krajevo Jazz Festival (Serbia).

Lukas Gabric

Lukas first discovered his passion for music, around age seven, when he heard a recording of Paul Desmond. From that moment on, he was mysteriously attracted to the sound of the saxophone and jazz. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the conservatory of his native province, Carinthia. On a World Scholarship Tour, he was offered a scholarship by the Berklee School of Music in Freiburg/Germany in 2003. In 2004, he was awarded “Best Soloist” in an Austrian Jazz competition at St. Georgen am Längsee. In 2005, Lukas was awarded with the cultural award for music and composition from the province of Carinthia, which enabled him to tour and produce his first album as a leader “a tribute to my brother”. His first album served as an audition tape for the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan/NYC to which he was accepted on scholarship basis. In his sophomore year he received the M. D. Thomas Award for academic and musical excellence. At the New School University he had the opportunity to learn from Jazz greats/legends like Walt Weiskopf, Jimmy Owens, Reggie Workman, Chico Hamilton, Ari Hoenig, Adam Nussbaum, Michael Karn, Jimmy Owens, Charlie Persip, Andrew Cyrille, Armen Donelian, Bill McHenry, Jane Ira Bloom, Joel Frahm, Billy Harper, Hal Galper, Leanne Ledgerwood, etc. He received a BFA with honors from the New School University in 2010 and an MA from the City College of New York in 2013 where he also worked as an adjunct lecturer, ensemble coach, and tutor. At City College Lukas had the chance to learn from masters such as: John Patitucci, Eric Alexander, Rich Perry, Steve Wilson, Steve Cardenas, etc. In 2013 Lukas was selected to be a member of the prestigious Juilliard Artist Diploma Ensemble with which he records tours and teaches all around the globe. Lukas was also a semi finalist at the 2013 Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington D.C. and won the 3rd place in the finals of the 2014 North American Saxophone Alliance Competition in Champaign/IL. He has performed at renowned venues like the Blue Note NY, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Porgy and Bess in Vienna, Birdseye in Basel/CH, The Bern Jazz Festival’10, etc. In July 2014 Lukas was awarded with the “Best Solist Award” at the international Jazzfestival In Getxo/Bizkaia Spain. At the same festival the Lukas Gabric Group was also awarded with the “Audience Choice Award”.

Christopher Nolte

Christopher Nolte is a Freelance Bassist based in Chicago IL. He received his BM in Commercial Music from Millikin University in Decatur IL., his MM in Jazz Studies & Performance from the University of Illinois and is currently working towards finishing his DMA from U of I. He has performed in numerous varied musical settings ranging from Jazz & Classical to Pop, R&B and World music. Christopher has performed with Stefon Harris, Slide Hampton, David “Fathead” Newman, Chuchito Valdez, Jim Pugh, John Faddis, Cecil Bridgewater, Dana Hall, Benito Gonzales, John McNeil, Brad Shepik, Gerry Gibbs, Rob Garcia, Dan Cray, Mike Fahie, Ryan Keberle, Dan Tepfer, Elizabeth Stanley & Jason Gotay. Christopher spent over two years working in New York City, where he quickly became an in-demand bassist in Brooklyn and throughout the NY Metro area. While there he also performed at some of the finest music venues in the city, including Shapeshifter Labs, Le Poisson Rouge & Carnegie Hall. Christopher has also studied with Master Mande Drummer Moussa Bolokada Conde and Balinese Gamelan with Master Gamelan Musician I Ketut Gede Asnawa. In June 2008, had the pleasure of traveling to Bali, Indonesia with the University of Illinois East-West Ensemble, a group that was formed to combine elements of Western music with that of the indigenous Gamelan music of Bali. One of Christopher’s life-long musical goals is to help blur the lines between genre, thus propagating the belief that great art is evident in all types of music.

Peter Traunmüller

Peter is a New York-based drummer and composer. A native of Salzburg (Austria), Peter grew up in a music-friendly home surrounded by lots of different instruments and recordings from Count Basie to the Beatles and many more. Playing extensively on mama’s cooking pots, his parents decided to put him in the basement, along with a drumset and tons of exercises, which were given to him by his first teacher Matthias Birzer. By then all was set for a career in music. Peter studied drums privately with Peter Bachmayer and piano with Bruno Juen before he attended the Anton Bruckner Privat University where he studied with Jeff Boudreaux, Doug Hammond, and Dejan Pecenko.  During this time, Peter had the chance to work with many well known players such as Charles Haynes, Harry Sokal, Klaus Dickbauer, Hermann Linecker, Andreas Schreiber, Peter Herbert, Tim Collins, Richard Oesterreicher, Christoph Cech among others. He has performed with various groups at musical venues such as Jazzfestival Saalfelden (AT), Young Jazz in Town Festival (IT), Bayrisches Jazzweekend (DE), Jazz & The City (AT), MM Jazzfestival (AT), OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival (CN) etc. Peter loves to explore the rich and never ending world of Jazz music but because of his passion for music in general Peter is familiar with a lot of different musical styles and settings which can be heard on his past recording works with Bands such as “Atrium” (Rock), Trio Macanudo (Argentinian music) or Traunmueller forscht! (free improvised music). He also performs on bass with his new Band “The Purple Pie Quartet” and can be heard occasionally playing piano with the “Peter Traunmueller Trio”. Currently Peter is working in Austria with his Duo “Hermann Linecker & Peter Traunmüller”, “Nane’s Spicy Kitchen Lab” and “Peter, Lois & Lukes” and in New York with artists such as Michel Reis, James Cammack, Joe Alterman, Joel Frahm, Lukas Gabric, Johannes Felscher, Dave Schnitter, Dan Lipsitz among others.