Peter Protschka-Adrian Mears Quintet

 Peter Protschka-Adrian Mears Quintet

Peter Protschka (D), trumpet/ flugelhorn/ compositions

Adrian Mears (AUS), trombone/compostions

Carl Winther (DK), piano

Andreas Lang (DK), bass

Anders Mogensen (DK), drums

This brand new band, which will be touring Europe for the first time in 2024, has a special line-up:  The well-known German trumpeter Peter Protschka - known for his intensive collaboration with tenor legend Rick Margitza over the last ten years - is teaming up for the first time with the Australian trombone virtuoso and accomplished composer Adrian Mears. With this band, they will celebrate a sound reminiscent of the legendary Woody Shaw Quintet with Steve Turre on trombone from the early 1980s. The new program is tailored to this rare front line with trumpet and trombone and consists primarily of original compositions written or specially arranged for this new band. The high-caliber and international line-up is completed by one of Scandinavia's best piano trios, which regularly performs and records throughout Europe with world-class players such as Jerry Bergonzi, Walt Weisskopf and Tim Hagans. A special band that promises a high-quality and very unique concert event.
 

Peter Protschka – Adrians Mears & The Carl Winter Trio | 20.09.2024
Donaukurier | Karl Leitner

There are also fixed, long-term bands in jazz, but they are not the rule. Musicians often only get together for a production, a project or a tour. In a wide variety of constellations and for different reasons. Sometimes there is a concrete plan behind it, sometimes it's more of a chance meeting and the realization that they have similar musical ideas in mind, share common preferences, have the right chemistry or simply like each other.

And then they get going. Jazz musicians can do that. Of course you have to rehearse pieces and sequences, but you can safely assume a basic canon, a common way of thinking or a standard repertoire. Peter Protschka (trumpet, flugelhorn) from Cologne, the Australian trombonist Adrian Mears and the trio of pianist Carl Winther from Copenhagen with Andreas Lang on double bass and Andrers Mogensen on drums, who have all been guests in Neuburg several times in recent years, but each with different partners and never all together, are playing only their eleventh concert together at the Birdland Jazzclub. And they are already harmonizing perfectly, playing powerful sets with plenty of “oomph” and are an example of how contemporary, modern hard bop or post-bop can sound, namely not at all dusty, but rather rousing, fiery and extremely exciting.

The common basis are the pieces of the two brass players, who usually introduce the almost ravishing themes of pieces such as “Mina”, “Dear Conrad”, “Stairway Down” or “Black Forest” in the movement, then take off into their solos, evoking memories of Woody Shaw, Albert Mangelsdorff or, in the case of the pianist, Bill Evans, while bassist Andreas Lang develops his own melodies in the background and the immensely agile Anders Mogensen comments on the wide arches of the wind instruments as a permanent source of unrest with constant rumbling and provides an incredibly dense rhythmic carpet. The fast-paced pieces repeatedly contain crooked bars and fairly complex harmonies, while the ballads, such as the touching “Transition”, which Protschka wrote in memory of his mother, really get under your skin.

After the collective went full throttle for the last time this evening on the occasion of the Mears composition “Illusion” and the audience was amazed to witness for the last time how perfectly and seamlessly the cooperation worked - not under the motto “one for all” and not under “all for one”, but under “all for all together” - the only adaptation of the evening followed with the encore. “Invitation”, written by Bronislaw Kaper and made famous by John Coltrane, fits seamlessly into the overall concept and fits in perfectly with the rest because it speaks a similar language to the Mears and Protschka pieces. Should one of these five musicians ever be a guest in Neuburg again, with whatever colleagues, then a visit is highly recommended. You don't hear musicians like these every day. Not even in Birdland.