Poesias Fiona Grond

• 1 You Call Me 03:46
• 2 In Motion 03:20
• 3 Lamento 03:57
• 4 I Have Died 03:18
• 5 Gewitter 02:59
• 6 Consolation 03:49
• 7 Alpabzug 02:50
• 8 Simpler Times 04:19
• 9 Quest 03:47
• 10 In Motion Reprise 01:36
• 11 Allas Steilas 02:27
• 12 Sarabande 02:11
• Total Runtime 38:19

Info for Poesias

"It has always been really important for me," says Fio- na Grond, “not just to be the singer with the melody while the other musicians are doing everything else." So, on her ACT debut album "Poesias", the Swiss-born voca- list's voice functions as one of three instruments acting as equal partners, her singing closely intermeshed with Moritz Stahl's tenor saxophone and Philipp Schiepek's guitar. The trio first met in Fiona Grond's adoptive city of Munich, where the local scene has been steadily gaining profile and visibility for a few years now; this trio counts as a significant new discovery on the Munich scene.

Fiona Grond's music draws the listener in with its hushed tones, its awareness of the spaces between the notes, its contrasts and frictions, and the way it both defies expectations and breaks with convention. The charm of this music only really reveals itself when one lets it work its magic, when one listens carefully and most importantly of all, truly feels it. There is a saying that people from the coast tend to look into the distance whereas people from the forests and mountains turn their gaze inward. In this respect, Fiona Grond's Swiss origins seem to have been formative for the narrative perspective: "Poesias" - meaning ‘poems’ in Switzer- land’s fourth national language, Romansh - is an inner search for thoughts and feelings, sometimes with, sometimes without words. "When something affects me, and I find the right words and phrases for it, then I write them down, says Fiona Grond. “But if the music doesn't want any lyrics, then it doesn't need any." Furthermore, she reflects, "I try, especially at the begin- ning of the composition process, to let myself drift and not to judge, but rather to let the music simply happen."

This process of listening to the music and reflecting on it continues in the interplay with Philipp Schiepek and Moritz Stahl. It can be heard very clearly that here are three people playing together who are very close to each other both artistically and personally: guitarist Philipp Schiepek proves once again quite how versatile and stunningly musical he is, whereas saxophonist Moritz Stahl - otherwise to be found in rip-roaring jazz-with-electronica settings such as "Ark Noir" or the "Jazzrausch Bigband" - impresses with how subtle and delicate his sound can be, with a particularly fine feeling for colour and texture.

Grond, Stahl and Schiepek form a trio which interacts naturally and organically. The depths of concentration which they find are as unusual and original as their voice- saxophone-guitar ensemble. The music which they explore also covers a wide musical field - from Fiona Grond's own compo- sitions to a piece by the duo of Sidsel Endresen and Bugge Wesseltoft, which, she explains was especially influential for her, to arrangements of folklore from the Graubünden region, and the"Sarabande" from Johann Sebastian Bach's B minor Partita for solo violin.

Hearing this group live in concert, one often has the impression of eavesdropping on their creative process as it happens. So, what producer Andreas Brandis wanted from the sessions at the renowned Artesuono Studio in Udine was to distil the experience, to capture a concentrated form of its essence. Although the trio, through the experience of per- forming the material live, know every twist and turn of the pie- ces on the album, there was practically no piece that was not re-evaluated and focused on its core during the production process. Fiona Grond remembers: "Andreas and I talked a lot beforehand and exchanged demos again and again. And also during the recording session we revisited everything and changed quite a lot, especially in the arrangements. In the end we had often gone quite far from the original versions, but all these changes felt organic and logical. Most of the tracks on the album are first takes of the new versions."

This remarkable recording is particularly touching and affecting for its depth, warmth and transparency, and for its glorious sound. This is almost spiritual music, and listeners who allow themselves to enter this magical world will find that spaces open up that they will be keen to explore again and again.

Fiona Grond, vocals
Moritz Stahl, tenor saxophone
Philipp Schiepek, guitar

Fiona Grond
is a sought-after young vocalist and composer on the young German jazz scene. With her trio "Fiona Grond / Interspaces" she released her debut album in 2021, which was very well received by audiences and press alike. With this project she was the winner of the Women in Jazz Next Generation Competition and the Jazz Prize of the City of Halle, as well as a prize-winner at the international Jazzbeet Competition of the Jazzfest Bonn. In 2020, she received the Leonard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Music from the City of Munich.

She regularly performed with the award-winning Svetlana Marinchenko Trio, with whom she toured Russia, among other places. In addition, she was and is active in bands such as the Jazzrausch Big Band and the Christian Elsässer Jazz Orchestra and was selected by New York Voices as a scholarship holder for the New York Voices Vocal Camp 2019.

Born in, and raised near Zurich, Fiona Grond showed great interest in music at an early age and initially received lessons in flute, guitar and classical singing.

In 2014, Fiona Grond moved to Munich and studied jazz singing with Sanni Orasmaa and Anne Czichowsky at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, followed by jazz composition with Gregor Hübner and Christian Elsässer. So far she has enjoyed lessons and collaborations with various international musicians such as Bobby McFerrin, Sheila Jordan, The New York Voices, Theo Bleckmann, Ben Monder, Diana Torto, Jen Shyu and many more.

Booklet for Poesias