Julian Hesse - Wheel of Life (2020)

Most of the albums that appear in the Corona era were created before. So also the debut "Wheel of Life" by the 32-year-old Munich trumpeter Julian Hesse - a returnee after studying in Amsterdam, Bern and New York, who is busy here with two of his own bands, with saxophonist Matthieu Bordenave and in the Jazzrausch big band. The record was already recorded in October 2018, in the Oberhachinger Kyberg studio by Jason Seizer, the former mastermind of Pirouet, where the album would have been released, the label shouldn't have stopped. For example, Hesse's fabulous duo with Cham pianist Stephan Plecher, who comes from Cham, has now come out on the label of the traditional Villinger MPS studio. As a homage to the infographic pioneer Fritz Kahn and his interwoven cycles (which cover designer Konstantin Kern also did well), twelve miniatures nestle around the ten-minute title track - always surprising, virtuoso and surprisingly lyrical despite the minimalist duet.