Founded at the commission of the jazzahead!
showcase and in co-production with the Jazzdor
Festival, the Thérapie de Couple sextet, led by
Daniel Erdmann, bridges the gap and fosters
lasting musical friendships between the German
and French jazz scenes. On their debut album,
Erdmann’s compositions and two covers capture
the joy that the two countries’ finest musicians
are able to share with one another and with the
audience through their collaboration.
The name of the band Thérapie de Couple refers
to the relationship between Germany and France:
undertaking this musical therapy is saxophonist
Daniel Erdmann, who has been commuting between
the two countries for 25 years, and German-French
collaborations have always been an important part
of his work. In 2023, the organizers of jazzahead!
– Europe’s greatest jazz gathering – commissioned
him to found the Thérapie de Couple sextet, and
the band made its debut that same year at the
Jazzdor Festival, which, with its two main venues
(Strasbourg and Berlin), is already at the forefront
of promoting cultural ties between the two countries.
However, the work of this select German-French
sextet – which bridges the gap and fosters lasting
musical friendships between the two scenes – has
far exceeded the original purpose of the commission:
solidifying into a working band, it has become an
active player on the European jazz scene, drawing in
additional countries and cultures into the therapy.
On their first album, alongside Erdmann’s compositions,
written for the band and developed together, two covers
capture the joy that the two countries’ greatest
musicians are able to share with one another and
with the audience through their collaboration.
In recent years, Daniel Erdmann has been honored
with some of the jazz world’s most prestigious
awards, including the Echo Jazz Award, the Deutscher
Jazzpreis, and the SWR Jazz Award. The saxophonist
has maintained a close and intense relationship
with BMC Records for a decade. In addition to the
three albums by his most successful group, Velvet
Revolution, the label has released the new album
by his trio with Vincent Courtois and Robin Fincker,
the debut album by his Organic Soulfood trio, and
four albums resulting from his collaboration with
Aki Takase. In Thérapie de Couple, we also find two
of his longtime musical partners: one is the French
violinist Théo Ceccaldi, a member of Velvet Revolution
and Kutu, and the other is the French cellist Vincent
Courtois, whose work spans from classical music
to jazz and film scores, and who has recorded four
albums for BMC Records in recent years. Erdmann has
also chosen three musicians with whom he has not
worked before: clarinetist Hélène Duret, who started
out from the Franco-Belgian scene, is preparing for
her second BMC Records album with the FUR trio
formed from members of her Synestet quintet;
German-Romanian double bassist Robert Lucaciu, who
is hyperactive in international collaborations, appeared
on a duo album on the label with Evi Filippou and also
plays on the upcoming album of Clément Janinet’s
Garden of Silences quartet; and German drummer Eva
Klesse, who received the German Jazz Prize as Artist
of the Year in 2025.