Marking the debut album from Nina Feldgrill, the self-titled release through Quinton Records presents an incredibly bold and inspired project from the Vienna-based bassist and composer.
As a highly-decorated and highly-educated artist, Feldgrill's path has already brought so many notable successes her way from having been awarded the Oe1 Jazz Scholarship in 2024, as well as having achieved incredible success at the Austrian Jazz Awards for Best Newcomer in that same year. With a bachelor degree already under her belt from the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien and also finding herself on track to achieving her masters at the JAM Music Lab Private University, Feldgrill's passions in jazz find her on a set path of perpetual exploration. Feldgrill's dynamic and unparalleled vision presents a genuinely sublime and wholly unique perspective for her music - an ideology captured perfectly through this release and one that pays due homage to the litany of collectives and ensembles that she has found herself attached to over the years.
Nina Feldgrill has consistently embraced the concept of collaboration - the ability to create alongside varying arrangements of musicians and to celebrate that moment through music that proves a unique experience to each artist within that space. YouTube features an excellent hour-long video dated from 2020 that showcases Feldgrill on bass alongside Lili Maljoc on vocals and Katarina Kochetova on piano and vocals as they celebrate their affections for US pianist Robert Glasper under the guise of Ladies in Blue. It's a video and performance that proves thrilling viewing and further demonstrates Nina's versatile approach when it comes to her music.
With so many collectives and ensembles to her name, the release of Nina Feldgrill's debut album finds an inspired way to celebrate some of those key relationships and dynamics that have helped to define her career to date by fully introducing listeners to her phenomenal range as an artist and composer. Comprised of nine compositions, the album is ingeniously divided amidst three different ensembles that ultimately cater to the varying facets of her musical make-up: Wind's Whispers, river and Feldgrill2.
Fronted by Iranian vocalist Saba Robatjazy, Feldgrill's bass forms a key part of the Wind's Whispers quartet which also finds her compositions catering to a more accomplished and global perspective beautifully captured through 'Blue', 'Shadows' and 'One Day'. While as co-founder of the river four-piece alongside saxophonist Robert Unterköfler, the ensemble embraces more improvisational and free-spirited styles within contemporary jazz generating strong album highlights with 'Turn Left', 'Nobody Wins for Long', 'Hope in Despair' and 'Dear Master'. Feldgrill2 comes with the added distinction of Nina with the opportunity to perform alongside her father, renowned Austrian bassist Werner Feldgrill, in an ensemble that further boasts the inclusion of Cuban percussionist Nelson Williams Herrera who adds a further dynamic layer to the Feldgrill-helmed sextet.
Nina Feldgrill's debut is not merely an introduction — it is a declaration. Across its shifting ensembles and tonal palettes, the album captures an artist deeply attuned to both the collective and the personal, the structured and the free. It's a sensational project and one that solidifies her name as a compulsory voice for jazz today.
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