Bernd Konrad - Utopia - Dialogues in Jazz with My Grandparents, Vol. 1 (2022) Hi-Res

The musical conversation between the generations begins with a question. Where? Where are you going? Where are we going? Where is the world going? Where is life taking us?

Like philosophy, jazz raises questions. Not words, but sounds are his vocabulary. The vocabulary for a conversation across three generations. There are young people who clearly articulate the existential threat to their future from the climate crisis. There is the post-war generation that believed fascism was behind them and now has to realize that it was never dead, no - it is even gaining popularity again.

Two musicians meet. Bernd Konrad (75) and Ilja Ruf (21) meet for the first time for these recordings. There is no rehearsal, every track is a one-take. Discussion topics and short sketches serve as templates. They improvise, listen to each other, react, give themselves space for their own thoughts.

Bernd Konrad, pioneer of the free jazz music scene, award-winning composer in the border area between avant-garde and jazz from Tokyo to New York and the first German jazz professor at a music university in Germany meets the hungry Ilja Ruf, pianist, clarinetist, singer and also composer. Life experience meets radical questions.

Together they make their way towards Utopia in terms of sound. This is Dialogues In Jazz With My Grandparents. With Bernd Konrad and Ilja Ruf.