The multi-award winning pianist/composer/teacher Maria Baptist was born in the early 70's in what was then East Berlin in to a family of musicians. Her grandfather was an orchestral musician and composer and her father a pianist and so her fascination with music at a very early age (she was composing music at the age of 11), seemed quite natural. Initially her interests lay in becoming a classical pianist, but in her mid teens an introduction to the music of Keith Jarrett and Dave Brubeck heralded a life long interest in Jazz improvisation. During her music studies in Berlin, when she won the first of several International piano competitions, the Wall came down, which suddenly allowed her to extend her musical horizons well beyond the confines of East Germany. It wasn't long before she was studying in New York with the iconic jazz pianist and composer Maria Schneider, the start of a lifelong love affair with that City and its music that continues to this day....
read more
The multi-award winning pianist/composer/teacher Maria Baptist was born in the early 70's in what was then East Berlin in to a family of musicians. Her grandfather was an orchestral musician and composer and her father a pianist and so her fascination with music at a very early age (she was composing music at the age of 11), seemed quite natural. Initially her interests lay in becoming a classical pianist, but in her mid teens an introduction to the music of Keith Jarrett and Dave Brubeck heralded a life long interest in Jazz improvisation. During her music studies in Berlin, when she won the first of several International piano competitions, the Wall came down, which suddenly allowed her to extend her musical horizons well beyond the confines of East Germany. It wasn't long before she was studying in New York with the iconic jazz pianist and composer Maria Schneider, the start of a lifelong love affair with that City and its music that continues to this day.
Maria returned to Berlin in the mid 90's to significant accolades as both a performer and composer, winning in quick succession a series of internationally renowned competitions including the Leipzig Jazz Prize, the HR Big Band Composition Contest, the Thad Jones Competition for full orchestra with the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra in Copenhagen and the NDR Composers Competition. These high profile awards established her at Festivals and concert halls throughout mainland Europe as both a performer and composer of considerable note. Since that time Maria has grown in stature as an artist of the highest calibre, performing as a soloist, in the intimacy of the jazz trio or with her own and other Big Bands and Orchestras in the United States, China, South Africa, Cuba, France, Iceland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary and Spain.
With 11 CD's to her name her music is characterised by an openness that breaks down genre boundaries, mixing classical and jazz influences to create a variety of music, from lyrical melodies to heavy grooving tunes full of intensity and drive. And if all that wasn't enough, as well as a performer Maria is also a highly respected educator and has been a professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin since 2001, where she teaches composition, arranging, improvisation and jazz theory. These days Maria splits her time between Berlin and New York, so it is with great pleasure that we welcome Maria tonight on a rare visit to London, appearing here at the Club this evening with an, unsurprisingly, terrific UK based rhythm section of Yuri Goloubev (Bob James, Ralph Towner)-bass and James Maddren (Gwilym Simcock, Norma Winstone)-drums. This is a rare opportunity to catch this remarkable musician in the UK and well worth the effort.
"in a league with the key figures of modern Jazz“ All About Jazz; "cool groove & cultivated touch with a great effect“ Piano News; "a listening pleasure" Jazzpodium; "In her 25-year career, Berlin-New York based composer-pianist Maria Baptist has developed a stand-alone sound" Jazz Halo; "Her music is a gift, infused with all the creativity, power, emotion, generosity and warmth that she exudes in life" Maria Schneider
show less
