With his trio with double bassist David Helm and drummer Dominik Mahnig, pianist Philip Zoubek has once again inscribed unexpected facets and forms into what is perhaps the most classical jazz format - with remarkably conclusive results.

Seamless transitions between composition and improvisation characterize the albums released so far, "Outside" (2016), "Nonplaces" (2020) and "Labyrinthus" (2022). Between contemplative calm, repetitive patterns and high energy improvisations, the musicians also create atmospheres beyond the usual by incorporating electronics, preparations of the grand piano and extended techniques.

For their new album "Mirage", the trio has grown: expanded to a sextet, it presents its most radical work to date. With the addition of cello, woodwinds and percussion, the sextet creates luminous and at times orchestrally charged character pieces between jazz, new music, electronic and ambient. Kaleidoscope-like, this music shimmers in many colors that emerge from and merge into each other. In tonal fine work a pointed ensemble music is created, a group sound that is originally unspent - full of tension and elasticity.

Nina Polaschegg on “Mirage”

“The album is shot through with pulses, patterns, additively assembled gestures, and their variations. Again and again we encounter a new perspective, yet another way of doing difference and repetition. Philip Zoubek innovatively interrogates this convention. How to work with pulses, repetitions and patterns without simply going for drive? How to form short gestures into building blocks that are shaped rhythmically and structurally? How to arrange, vary, and develop them with finesse and subtlety? Extend and contract them, rhythmically, tonally and through its motif? What functions do pulses, patterns and gestural elements assume in the respective piece?

Developing pulses or drones serve as a basis over which further events are layered, as in The Buzzing where they allow for cohesion and tension. But they also facilitate friction for sonic-gestural commentary. As collective productions (tutti), pulses and drones form compound patterns that – in the course of the track – some instrument gradually abandon. This transforms a linear progression into a multi-layered sound image. Pulses work as triggers, initial ignitions that make chords blossom. In other moments, they craft a tranquil surface of sound, not through layering of contiguous lines but through the ingeniously interlocking actions of individual instruments. But are pulses really always the starting point, the ignition? Or are they not rather always the result of the sonic events? The answers depend on the listening perspective. Philip Zoubek’s ingeniously constructed compositions offer an opulent listening experience, which the band interprets, enriches through improvisations and carries further.

He calls it a "cubist way of dealing with material". Blocks, gestures, short lines are strung together, repeated, layered, only to reappear later in variation. In Labyrinthus and Robotics they vary in form and timbre. Different instruments as well as a repertoire of traditional and extended playing techniques contribute to the variety of tone colors.

Whether calm or energetic, colorfully dark or sharpened, whether seemingly static or contrastingly moving - the six musicians never seem to run out of ideas. They also have a good sense for duration, interspersing short miniatures lasting up to just under a minute in-between tracks ranging from about 3 to 8 minutes. No sooner do you think you've understood the principle than it's over.”