Deutscher Jazz Preis ... 2025 Nominees ~ The Free Jazz Collective

Founded in 2021, the Deutscher Jazz Preis is a prestigious nationwide award in Germany that honors musicians for their contributions to various facets of jazz, celebrating exceptional artistry, innovation and influence. The jury is comprised of journalists, educators, musicians and organizers involved with jazz in Germany and the nominees - all 76 of them - are in some way active in the country's vibrant musical scene. In the end, there will be 22 winners who will receive the prize and 12,000 Euros in prize-money, in fact, even the nominees receive 4,000 Euros. Not shabby.

The list of nominees include many musicians who are covered here on the Free Jazz Blog. Previous year's winners included Alexander von Schlippenbach, Oliver Steidle, Sylvie Courvoisier, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Günter Baby Sommer, Jeff Parker, Moor Mother, and James Brandon Lewis, among many others. You can check out the current list here.

The prize winners will be selected June 13th and so it seemed like a good of a time as any to check out some recordings from some of the nominees. Full disclosure: neither myself nor the Free Jazz Blog have any say or sway in the selection. Additionally, there is no claim -- in any sense -- that this is a balanced and thorough overview of the nominees' recent output.

So, let's dig in. For the first set of reviews, I turn to Argentinian born, Berlin-based saxophonist Camilla Nebbia. a musician who seems to be everywhere these days, playing and recording at a feverish pace. Something that I feel we can be thankful for!

Camila Nebbia and Angelica Sanchez - in another land, another dream (Relative Pitch, 2024)

in another land, another dream is a duo album that Nebbia recorded with pianist Angelica Sanchez from late last year on Relative Pitch. Recorded live at the small studio/performance space near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn in 2023, the album is an intimate affair that shows the two musicians seamlessly connecting at a rather deep musical level. Sanchez’s playing is refined, her sometimes minimal lyricism is complimented by Nebbia’s bold, expressive tone. The opening track, 'In a Land Before,' begins with spacious voicings from Sanchez and spiraling lines from Nebbia. It grabs the listener right away. The track moves from such lyrical forays into deep exploration during its 9-minute lifespan, switching without pause from scratching of the strings inside the piano and breathy sounds from the sax to an uptempo melodic explosions. The six tracks that comprise the album brim with intensity.

Camila Nebbia and John Hughes - The Myth of Aether (s/r, 2024)

Another gem from Nebbia that showcases her vibrant tone, this time with Hamburg based bassist John Hughes. Recorded live at Berlin's Kühlspot - an artist atelier and performance space in the creative Weissensee district of Berlin - the album is an intimate affair that really highlights both the saxophonist's and bassist's versatility. Opening track 'desenmarañando rapido' (unraveling quickly), does kind of what it says in the title, but a lot more too. It begins with Nebbia's robust playing that quickly ... umm ... unravels into an atonal melody, complimented by Hughes' expressive pizzicato lines. It really is, however, less of an unravelling than a game of high speed chase, with the two musicians' keenly intertwined lines and astute listening at play. For a contrast, 'Tectonic Shift' begins with high distorted harmonics on both instruments, and again, astute interplay, but now in a more exploratory mode. The title track takes its time to materialize and their extended techniques lead the two to a fragmented finale.

Camila Nebbia, Dietrich Eichmann, John Hughes, Jeff Arnal - Chrononaux (Generate Records, 2024)

Chrononaux finds saxophonist Nebbia and bassist Hughes within a larger ensemble, bringing in pianist Dietrich Eichmann and drummer Jeff Arnal. The international mix of American, German and Argentinian musicians comes together in an explosive, yet melodic, combination. Again, Nebbia's full, hearty saxophone playing compliments Hughes' strong, precise phrasings. Eichmann adds another powerful voice to the mix, with angular and musical phrases, as sharp and incisive as thickly harmonic. Arnal brings an energy to the stewing brew that is just as decisive and pugnacious as is required. The digital album contains two long tracks. The first track, at 25 minutes, begins by knocking your socks off and the second, clocking in at an hour and three minutes, doesn't really allow you to put them back on. So, just be still and let the music whisk you away.

Camila Nebbia / Leo Genovese / Alfred Vogel - Eyes to the Sun (Boomslang Records, 2024)

This trio featuring Nebbia sees her with fellow Argentinian Leo Genovese on piano and Austrain Alfred Vogel on drums. The recording was born from a meeting of the saxophonist and drummer in Berlin and led eventually to the addition of Genovese. Known for his work with Esperanza Spalding and the late Wayne Shorter, Genovese also seems quite at ease in the free jazz setting as well, adding a rich layer of harmonic and rhythmic drive to Nebbia's ever inspired lines and Vogel's textured and insistent drumming. The track 'Glint' is a perfect example of the group's dynamism. At times quite melodic, starting with a subdued and expressive introduction from the saxophone, abstracted but lush chordal movement from the piano and rhythmic suggestions from an intense snare drum, the piece grows denser and denser through impressionistic rhythmic and melodic lines. It is almost hard to believe that this is all free improvisation, as the musicians all seem quite focused on creating a sturdy musical structure. 'Glow,' the track that follows immediately begins with Vogel creating a foundational rhythm, though a quite agitated one, over which Nebbia and Genovese - who has now switched to the saxophone - duet, or maybe duel. The vying tones become quite forceful, before finding ways to accommodate each other. The title of the album, and all the track titles, refer to an experience that Vogel had after being diagnosed with cancer in the weeks following the recording session in Buenos Aires. His battle and recovery lead to him seeing life in a new light. A truly stunning recording.

Ingrid Laubrock - Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic, 2025)

Brooklyn based, German saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock has been quite busy in recent years (and in the years prior), releasing a very diverse selection of recordings, from the high octane free-jazz trio with drummer Tom Rainey and bassist Brandon Lopez (No es la Playa, Intakt, 2023), to the dark hued electronics/saxophone duo with Cecilia Lopez on Maromas (Relative Pitch, 2024) , to the avant garde construction of Monochromes (Intakt, 2023) with saxophonist Jon Irabagon, harpist Zeena Parkins and Rainey, and many more. On Purposing the Air, the saxophonist takes a much different approach: she is the composer, not the performer. Built around the human voice, Laubrock takes the poetry of New York poet and educator Erica Hunt, and sets the work Mood Librarian – a poem in koan to 60 miniatures. It's a compelling work that draws the listener in close, and one that will require much deep listening thereafter. The recording features vocalists Fay Victor, Sara Serpa, Theo Bleckmann, and Rachel Calloway along with cellist Mariel Roberts, pianist Matt Mitchell, guitarist Ben Monder and violinst Ari Streisfeld.

Luise Volkmann - Rites de Passage (nWog Records, 2023)

Luise Volkmann is a young saxophonist from Colonge, Germany who has also been quite active in recent years, building a reputation for both her playing and composing. Rites of Passage is not her latest recording, that would seem to be the self-released Punk Jazz Sessions (2025), but it is an early major statement from the artist. Recorded over the course of several years with different musicians and in different settings, the work is offered as a socio-political statement as much as a musical one. According to the liner notes, it is "music of resistance and transition. It contrasts the life in which we settle with a utopian space that has yet to be established." For brevity sake, let's stick to the sound, which this album is indeed about. Volkmann, here, is more composer than player, taking the rich array of tones from orchestral instruments and mixing them with electronic processing and sculpting. The result is a tonal journey that freely mixes genre and mood, composition and improvisation.

Bill Frisell, Kit Downes and Andrew Cyrille - Breaking The Shell (Red Hook Records, 2024)

British pianist and organist Kit Downes has called Berlin his home for the past several years and can be found sometimes playing the various church organs that dot the city when he's not tending to his international musical and teaching career. He can also be found playing pipe organ on this compelling and oft meditative release with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Andrew Cyrille. It begins with the whistle of the organ of St. Luke in the Fields New York church in the West Village on 'May 4th,' in which there are incidental buzzings from Frisell's primed and ready guitar and one can feel the mood brewing. When Frisell finally joins, he is in an atonal mode, his fragile, shimmering cobweb notes enmeshing Downes' wheezing tones and Cyrille's light rhythmic tappings. By the next track, 'Untitled 23,' things are in motion. The three are in free exchange, Downes' adoption a more focused sound. The following, 'Kasei Valles,' finds the trio in a much different mode, the organ is a vessel of sound, growling and groaning, sort of a building terror. Only towards the ends do we hear some guitar making its way into the space. A tune like 'El,' on the other hand, seems to dip into the abstract Americana that Frisell was exploring on his early 90's albums like Have a Little Faith. Throughout, Cyrille shows how a sensitive touch on the drums, brushes, gentle snare, can offer so much to the music.

Felix Henkelhausen Quintet - The Excruciating Pain of Boredom (self, 2025)

Young people these days, seriously, how can you be bored? The entire world of knowledge, that Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that we once only dreamed of, now exists in everyone's pocket. We just don't quite use it as well as Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent. So, this boredom that Henkelhausen speaks of in the title of his new, live recording must be somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Just listen to the first few tracks of the album, there is simply no time to be bored, it cooks from the get-go. Henkelhausen's previous album, Deranged Particles (Fun in the Church, 2024) is a nominee for album of the year and if this new release is any indicator, it stands a good chance of winning. Bringing his compositions to life are saxophonists Wanja Slavin and Uli Kempendorff, drummer Leif Berger and pianist Valentin Gerhardus - who also provides an essential component with live-processing. The musicianship is top-notch and the energy is as well. Perhaps the title's meaning can be inferred through what the bassist/composer writes in the notes to the album: "The compositions have their own distinct character and over the course of this nearly 60-minute album, paint a rather dark picture that strongly correlates with my emotional state during that time." Though I cannot speak to how Henkel hausen was feeling at the time, I don't think it is darkness that is communicated by the knotty melodic statements and the rich rhythmic textures, rather it is a depth and mature completeness in the work.

Aki Takase & Daniel Erdmann - Ellington (enja, 2024)

Duke Ellington's importance and influence on jazz is beyond reproach. From composition to performing to shaping the history of the music, there is a deep well for the duo of Berlin-based, Japanese pianist Aki Takase and Paris-based, German saxophonist Daniel Erdmann to draw from for their explorations. From reverent readings to explosive expropriations, the pair treat the compositions with tasteful reverence and invigorating reinvention. For example, the haunting simplicity of 'African Flower' is retained, Takase providing an effectively minimal comping for Erdmann's evocatively melodic solo, and then into her own gently unfolding solo. While on 'Caravan,' the two hit on the tension in the melody expertly and then launch into fiery improvised passages. There is a lot between these gems, like the great 'Don't Get Around Much Anymore' and the quaint swing of 'It's Bad to be Forgotten.' The album ends with a heartfelt rendition of an homage to the maestro, namely Charles Mingus' 'Duke Ellington's Sound of Love,' leaving a simple, single tear of bittersweet joy on cheek. Ellington is a nominee for album of the year and another good choice.

Bex Burch - there is only love and fear (International Anthem, 2023)

Londoner Bex Burch, who, as I understand it, lived and worked in Berlin for a time, released there is only live and fear in 2023 on International Anthem. The album features a roster of the label's artists, including woodwindist Rob Frye, drummer Dan Bitney, trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay, bassist Anna Butterss and violinist Macie Stewart. The album is a compelling exploration of rhytmic textures and minimalist melodies that defy easy categorization. Drawing from avant-garde jazz, folk, and minimalism, the album’s intimate moments sit comfortably alongside more expansive passages, making for a generally relaxed listening experience along with rewarding jolts of energy.