Into the gap (Remastered 2026) André Nendza

• 1 Rails (remastered 2026) 08:20
• 2 A Late Departure (remastered 2026) 04:55
• 3 For The Night (remastered 2026) 07:56
• 4 Lichtblau Suite Eleven (remastered 2026) 05:00
• 5 Lichtblau Suite Five (remastered 2026) 08:07
• 6 Lichtblau Suite Nine (remastered 2026) 05:28
• 7 Lichtblau Suite Seven (remastered 2026) 06:09
• 8 We'll Make A Date (remastered 2026) 08:44
• 9 My Beloved Everything (remastered 2026) 07:16
• 10 The Concept Of North (remastered 2026) 09:23
• Total Runtime 01:11:18

Info for Into the gap (Remastered 2026)

30th anniversary: The summer of 1996 was entirely devoted to recording my album “Into the gap” with my septet at the time.

This album was the first released under my own name (and the second ever, following Stefan Heidtmann’s ‘Pink’) and, for me, a crucial step from being a jazz student into the ‘real’ world of jazz. It meant stepping into the public eye and taking responsibility for my musical work. In short: a switch was flipped!

When I listen to the recordings today, my first feeling is one of immense gratitude that such brilliant musicians were involved in bringing the compositions to life.

Stephan Meinberg on trumpet and flugelhorn was already back then a perfectionist with a keen eye for detail, driving every project forward. George Tjong Ayong on the saxophones: pure talent with immense ease. Martin Schäfer on baritone sax brought tradition into play (it’s thanks to him that I’m still an Art Pepper fan to this day) whilst at the same time embracing what he always called #11-Jazz. And Thomas Loup on the trombone was, in a sense, the most professional of us all at that time. He could simply play anything straight from the sheet music with a brilliant sound and was the first to show me that so much is possible on the trombone.

The pianist Martin Speight plays with immense taste, superb phrasing and always spot-on voicings. And Christoph Hillmann? We’ve known each other for over 40 years, but these recordings mark the beginning of an intense musical partnership that has shaped the years since then right up to the present day. On this recording, you can already hear the beginnings of certain musical approaches that would go on to shape his playing (and our ensemble playing) in the years to come.

This album didn’t come out of nowhere. My first experiments under my own name began as early as the early 90s and eventually led to the line-up featured on the album. Ekkehard Sassenhausen, Michael Hennig, Stefan Beck and, above all, Christian Thomé were key companions during this initial phase. They endured countless rehearsals with unfinished pieces and the odd questionable gig.

The music on “Into the gap” showcases many facets of jazz, which were then explored in greater depth in the years that followed. For musicians who were still quite young at the time, most of it sounds remarkably confident, as the band is well-rehearsed. This was the result of numerous rehearsals, concerts and individual preparation.

You can hear it: everyone wanted it to turn out well!

I myself had only very recently made the decision to make the double bass my main instrument. Nevertheless, I hear some things that I would still play today, either exactly like that or in a similar way. And some things that today – particularly as a soloist and in terms of variety – would come more naturally.

The album was recorded at Holger Siedler’s THS Studio in Düsseldorf. Holger had built a studio within the premises of his master instrument repair workshop. Colleagues such as Wolfgang Engstfeld, Peter Weiss and Lutz Potthof had recorded their first albums there. Due to customer business and to avoid disturbing the neighbours, we could only record over long weekends. As none of us were particularly experienced at that point when it came to ‘recording for posterity’, it was important to me to get as much studio and mixing time as possible out of my available budget. Holger charged a more than fair price and also put his heart and soul into the recording. I remember, for example, that during a pre-production session we spent a day recording all the tracks on the premises of the THS Studio, and it became clear that an additional booth would be helpful to isolate the double bass. By the time the actual recording took place, Holger had built one in an adjoining room, complete with a viewing window!

André Nendza, double bass, composition, arrangement
Martin Speight, piano
Stephan Meinberg, trumpet, flugelhorn
George Tjong Ayong, saxophone
Martin Schäfer, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Thomas Loup, trombone
Christoph Hillmann, drums

Digitally remastered

No biography found.

This album contains no booklet.