NICA presents: Trio Heinz Herbert

Nomen est omen – or not, in the case of the Trio Heinz Herbert. The band’s name suggests a clear position within the jazz tradition. As Heinz Herbert is an imaginary figure however, this liaison is exposed as a mischievous flirt with the jazz tradition, in which the three sound-alchemists have now cheerfully dallied for nearly a decade – duping it with their own, constantly changing universe of sound. Appearances at jazz festivals such as London Jazzfestival (2020), Unerhört Zurich (2019), Jazzfest Berlin (2018) or unlimited 31 (2017) in Wels, Austria – at the invitation of curator Mary Halvorson – along with unconventional concert locations and forms such as the multidisciplinary performance weeks in Lucerne and Zurich, established their reputation as hip, risk-taking sound researchers.

Welcome to transgressive zones of sound, multifaceted sonic structures, diverse aggregate states, moods and colliding rhythms. YES: enter the cabinet of mirrors, reflecting influences, material, colours and double (dance) floors. More closely intertwined, and loosely interlocked, the Trio Heinz Herbert sound comes apart in the sum of the threefold individuals and in an interplay based on blind trust, on YES (Intakt Records, 2018) they celebrate music which is always in motion, constantly building new forms, reminiscent of the shifting, morphing multiple body of a flock of birds" In 2019 at 12points Festival Trio Heinz Herbert has won the “Zenith Award for Emerging Artists”, bestowed annually by European Jazz Network in association with 12 Points. The band has released four albums, celebrates this year its 10th anniversary and is currently working on the 5th album.