Sonic River Tobias Meinhart

• 1 This Is Water (feat. Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 07:04
• 2 After the Rain (feat. Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 04:30
• 3 Mr. Vertigo (feat. Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 07:31
• 4 Sonic River (feat. Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 04:24
• 5 Fugue Y (feat. Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 03:21
• 6 Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (feat. Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 04:45
• 7 The Panther (feat. Sara Serpa, Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 04:26
• 8 Silencio (feat. Sara Serpa, Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 05:47
• 9 Pinball (feat. Charles Altura, Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 05:59
• 10 Korean Chant (feat. Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 04:00
• 11 Dark Horse (feat. Eden Ladin, Matt Penman & Obed Calvaire) 06:17
• Total Runtime 58:04

Info for Sonic River

Rivers have always played an important role in Tobias Meinhart's life. While the saxophonist, who grew up in a small town near Regensburg, had to cross the Danube every day during his school days, today it's the East River in New York. Meinhart has lived there, in the world capital of jazz, for over 15 years.

He has achieved something that very few musicians from Germany have managed: He is an integral part of the New York jazz scene, regularly appearing as a bandleader in the city's most important clubs and festivals, such as the Blue Note, Birdland, Smalls, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Winter Jazzfest.

With "Sonic River" (album release: April 18, 2025), his tenth album under his own name, Meinhart underscores his ability to confidently navigate the tides and rapids of modern jazz. At the same time, the recording also proves to be a leap into the deep end. Not only is it the first release on Meinhart's newly founded label, "Sonic River Records," but it also marks a turning point for the 1983-born saxophonist in terms of his musical self-image.

For the first time, he feels like he has nothing to prove, explains Meinhart, who regularly appears in his projects with stars such as trumpeter Ingrid Jensen and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

"The album is about the spirit of jazz. I dare to express what's going on inside me at that moment," says the New York resident. And so, on "Sonic River," one witnesses how the musician, once called "one of Germany's greatest tenor saxophone talents" by Jazz Thing magazine, has blossomed into a master of the highest international caliber.

The key to this is: Don't worry, let it flow. Like casual surfers, Meinhart and his top-class fellow musicians glide on the waves of the melodically finely meandering pieces. Under the leadership of their Bavarian bandleader, Eden Ladin on piano, Charles Altura on guitar, Matt Penman on bass, and Obed Calvaire on drums, with their Israeli-New Zealand-Haitian roots, perfectly embody the melting pot character of New York. You can hear that these five get along well beyond the studio and stage.

Another innovation in Meinhart's oeuvre: For the first time, he collaborated with a producer. It's Matt Pierson, who has worked with Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, among others.

"I looked through my favorite records and noticed: his name always pops up," laughs Meinhart. The Grammy Award winner's presence and authority during the recording session at Sear Sound Studios proved enormously helpful. "He knew immediately when a take was perfect and also helped with the piece selection. He encouraged me to let go," the saxophonist describes the beneficial influence of the producer's reputation on the recording.

While the album's predecessor, "The Painter," listed by the renowned US trade magazine Downbeat as one of the best jazz recordings of 2022, explored the interplay of music and painting, the palette on "Sonic River" is now even broader. In addition to the water theme, the recording is dominated by numerous literary references that served as inspiration for the avid reader Meinhart's compositions and arrangements. The connection between sound painting and words is most evident in the poem settings sung by the Portuguese singer-songwriter Sara Serpa. One example is the haunting "Silencio" by the Argentinian poet Alejandra Pizarnik, and the other is one of Rainer Maria Rilke's most famous works. It's fascinating how Meinhart transports the famous "Panther" to Brazil, the land of saudade, and the lurking longing in his version seems to burst his chest. "This Is Water" and "Mr. Vertigo," in turn, are heartfelt wordless tributes to David Foster Wallace and Paul Auster, while "Korean Chant" is based on a transcription of monks' prayer chants that Meinhart once heard on a tour of South Korea. Finally, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", the only other composition on "Sonic River," is a spirited, gospel-inspired update of an old ballad by blues and folk singer Leadbelly in 5/4 time.

As if something of them still hovered in the air above the East River, many great predecessors with a New York connection, such as Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, have left their mark on Meinhart's agile playing on tenor and soprano saxophone, as well as alto flute. Yet he heeds what jazz legend Wayne Shorter once advised him, both clearly and poetically: "Keep doing your thing. Thunder and lightning."

Meinhart now lets his own voice resonate with fullness: in solos full of sophistication, warmth, and honesty. In compositions that, despite their rhythmic complexity, sound like poems that have reverberated in the mind for a long time. And, last but not least, in the courage to let himself drift – in the sure knowledge that the water will carry him. With "Sonic River," Tobias Meinhart has created an album that will endure in the flow of jazz.

Tobias Meinhart, saxophone
Eden Ladin, piano
Charles Altura, guitar
Matt Penman, bass
Obed Calvaire, drums

Tobias Meinhart
Born in a small village in rural Bavaria, Tobias Meinhart has spent the last 15 years carving out a career for himself in the international jazz scene. Since his modest beginnings in Woerth, the tenor saxophonist has garnered acclaim in both Europe and the United States, earning a nomination for an ECHO award in 2016 and claiming residency at renowned New York City jazz venues such as The Blue Note, The Jazz Gallery, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Birdland.

Tobias began his musical life as a drummer before switching to the saxophone at age thirteen. He found inspiration in his grandfather, a classically trained bassist who began playing jazz in many of the U.S. Army clubs after World War Two. This early and intimate exposure to the music had a profound effect on young Tobias, leading him to hone his skills to a tee and win first prize in Germany’s Jugend Jazzt competition.

After touring throughout Germany with his quartet Fourscore, Tobias went to study at the Basel Music Academy in Switzerland, where the renowned European saxophonist Domenic Landolf served as his mentor. His teachers included Adrian Mears, Jorge Rossy and Wolfgang Muthspiel. He then went on to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Bern University for the Arts to study with Ferdinand Povel and Andy Scherrer.

While still a student, Tobias caught the attention of critics and audiences throughout Europe. His band won first prize at the 2009 Startbahn Jazz Competition, as well as the “Audience Award for Best Group” at the 2009 Getxo Jazz Festival in Bilbao, Spain. Already endowed with more real world experience than many musicians have long after leaving school, Tobias graduated with honors and received a diploma in Jazz Performance and Music Education the same year that he won the prize at Getxo.

Shortly after Graduation, Tobias moved to New York City and quickly became immersed in the city’s highly competitive music scene. In 2012 he received his Master’s Degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music, where he studied with Antonio Hart, John Ellis and Seamus Blake. 2012 was also the year that Tobias returned to Getxo, now with his quintet, and earned not only first prize for the band’s outstanding performance, but also the “Best Soloist” award, and the opportunity to open for of his most forceful inspirations, Wayne Shorter.

He has five albums out under his own name, with his newest effort, Berlin People, released in Spring 2019 on Sunnyside Records. It is a new band including guitar icon Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Aside from the numerous accolades already mentioned, Tobias has also toured Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Italy and Poland and opened for renowned saxophonist Chris Potter. He has been featured at many European jazz festivals including GetxoJazz and Elbjazz, and was part of a national Next Generation All-Star Orchestra. His 2015 album Natural Perception was praised by European and American critics alike, hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “jazz at it’s finest” and as “graceful and organic… subtle colors and delicate rhythms” in a five-star review in the New York City Jazz Record. In 2017, Tobias released Silent Dreamer which got a DOWNBEAT feature article describing him as “Not only a commanding saxophonist but also a keen composer”.

This album contains no booklet.