NICA exchange x CJW: dudek carnival | an empty room, then smiling |

"When I'm walking up and down the streets or when I'm wandering around in museums," saxophonist and composer Fabian Dudek answers when asked where he finds the inspiration for his music. In this case, a stroll through an exhibition by Ursula Schultze-Bluhm in Cologne's Museum Ludwig gave the impulse for the name of the project dudek carnival initiated especially for NICA exchange as part of Cologne Jazzweek 2023. The play with opposites fascinates Dudek and is also reflected in the choice of name for the band. Camel and fencing here, fug and loss of control there. Somewhere between chaos and structure, something new emerges.

The cooperation of the musician development programme NICA artist development and Cologne Jazzweek for this concert premiere enables the 27-year-old to put together an international line-up that matches his idea of sound and artistic collaboration. "Through the power of composition comes the freedom for playing." The individualistic spirit of his fellow musicians is particularly important to Dudek and he wants to give them space to develop through his compositional work.

With Sasha Berliner on vibraphone and drummer Lesley Mok, two upcoming musicians from the US jazz and contemporary music scene are part of dudek carnival, who have already distinguished themselves with their own projects and releases. Sasha Berliner, born in 1998, is working on her third release 'S Theory', inspired by the magical realism of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, following her second album 'Onyx', which received international attention. Mok lives in New York and is currently exploring the collective unconscious through improvisation with the ensemble tombstar, for whose artistic work egalitarian decision-making, friendship and individual autonomy are essential. The Berlin-based Irish Simon Jermyn plays the electric bass. He has already worked with Jim Black, Chris Speed, John Zorn, Ingrid Laubrock, Nate Wood, Satoshi Takeishi and Charlotte Greve, among others. In his band Obsany he plays with Otis Sandsjö, Petter Eldh and Lukas Akintaya. Dudek already has a long and trusting collaboration and friendship with Felix Hauptmann on piano, rhodes and synthesizer; Hauptmann is a member of Dudek's quartet. Hauptmann was awarded the Horst and Gretl Will Scholarship for Jazz/Improvised Music in 2022 and released a second album with his Trio Percussion this year.

For us listeners, dudek carnival | an empty room, then smiling | is first of all just that until the 14th of August 2023 at 9:00 pm: an empty room. Made for imaginations that arise from the exploration of the performers and Dudek's compositional work so far. Made to be experienced in the moment and to discover one's own paths and ideas in the process of listening. For Dudek himself, walking through the chaos and structure of spring in Cologne, collecting impressions and working on his composition, one thing is already clear: nothing. Perhaps a smile at the end.

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Since September 2022, Fabian Dudek has been part of the NICA artist development programme for outstanding musicians from North Rhine-Westphalia, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The programme aims to support artists as individually as possible in their artistic profiling and professionalisation of their careers.