Strangers Alexander Wienand

• 1 Agenbach Winterwald 07:05
• 2 Serpiente Negra 07:16
• 3 Waves 03:56
• 4 Monday Moanin' 05:20
• 5 Tribute to John Taylor 05:05
• 6 Steamy Icecubes 08:01
• 7 Where Walk 05:58
• 8 Strangers 04:04
• Total Runtime 46:45

Info for Strangers

Strangers is pianist Alexander Wienand’s bold new statement — a celebration of curiosity, discovery, and the creative spark that emerges when artists step into the unknown together.

The album’s concept grew from a simple but powerful idea: that unfamiliarity can be one of the greatest sources of inspiration. Whether it’s an untested rhythm, a new musical partner, or an idea outside of music entirely, these moments of uncertainty challenge musicians to respond — and it is within these reactions that true creativity is born.

The title track Strangers embodies this philosophy. Two contrasting themes evolve through improvisation until they merge into a single, unified musical narrative — a metaphor for encounter, tension, and transformation.

Alexander Wienand, piano
Uli Kempendorff, tenor saxophone
Johannes Felscher, double bass
Diego Piñera, drums

Alexander Wienand
A composing pianist for whom the worlds of jazz and so-called classical music have from the very beginning been inseparably intertwined as a source of inspiration. For this reason, audiences encountered the keyboard artist with his trio or as a sideman at jazz festivals such as the Cologne Jazznight, Jazzahead Bremen, or the Düsseldorf Festival. At the same time, he presented his own projects on classical stages including the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Bad Kissingen Piano Summer, and the Musikfest Stuttgart. Several CDs and productions for broadcasters BR, MDR, and HR document his work with various ensembles.

Wienand began his training as a classical concert pianist with Marianne Bender (Calw), Prof. Friedemann Rieger (Stuttgart), and Klaus Eidmann (Detmold). He then attended the Würzburg University of Music, completing diplomas in jazz piano (artistic major with Tine Schneider) and classical piano (artistic and pedagogical major with Eva May). Masterclasses with Jacky Terrasson, Misha Mengelberg, Barry Harris, Hubert Nuss, Begona Uriarte, Karl Hermann Mrongovius, and André Marchand further deepened his education.

Wienand lives and works in Berlin as a pianist, composer, and teacher of piano, jazz piano, and theory/ear training.

Uli Kempendorff
Uli's work as a musician takes place in the tradition and avantgarde of improvised music and jazz and has been documented on over three dozen CDs and LPs and radio broadcasts, on labels like WhyPlayJazz, ECM, Enja, unit records or Four Music. Among those are eight of his own productions with his groups "Field" and "Yellow Bird" and plenty of co-producing credits. Aside from his own projects such as "Field" (since 2018 with Christopher Dell, Peter Bruun and Jonas Westergaard), Kempendorff has been active in groups with Julia Hülsmann, Ulrich Gumpert, Benjamin Weidekamp, Felix Henkelhausen, Wanja Slavin, Rudi Mahall, Markus Pesonen, Pablo Held, Tobias Delius, Mike Pride, Lina Allemano and Christian Weber; he has toured, recorded and played with SEEED, Rolf Kühn, Bad Stream, Jimi Tenor and 'Little' Jimmy Scott.

In 2010, he started the concert series "Serious Series" which he curated until 2014. In 2016, he curated the concert series "In Between Festivals" in Wroclaw (PL), as part of the city's European Capital of Culture tenure. This was done in collaboration with Marc Schmolling, Stiftung Zukunft Berlin and MicaMoca. Until 2018 he also co-curated the series "JAB 105" at Berlin's club A-Trane with Gebhard Ullmann.

Concerts and teaching brought him to the Ivory Coast, Canada, the US, South America, Usbekistan, Mexico and to many countries in Europe. Kempendorff has received several grants from the city of Berlin, was a DAAD-scholar from 2006-2007 in NYC and spent a month at the Stadtmühle Willisau in Switzerland as a guest of the Alfred-Köchlin-Foundation. He is also an alumni of the Stiftung Àrvore (CH).

Diego Pinera
has already proved several times that he is one of the most exciting drummers of contemporary jazz and knows how to build up a good band. The 42-year- old’s life path leads from Uruguay to Cuba, from the USA to Berlin; from 16 released records (2 of them with ACT Music), over hundreds of concerts on 4 continents to a Grammy nomination, an Echo Jazz Award and most recently to the German Jazz Award 2023.

Johannes Felscher
is a Brooklyn-based bassist, composer and producer at home in many directions in music. Being an imaginative performer on upright and electric bass alike, Johannes Felscher enjoys expressing his wide interest in everything music and his natural feel for groove and harmony regardless of genre.

Feeling equally at home in the studio as on stage, Johannes maintains a busy schedule producing and recording for a wide scope of artists and institutions.

This album contains no booklet.