„City Nights“ ist ein musikalisches Porträt urbaner Nächte. Das neue Album von Ulli Jünemanns International Organ Quartet vereint Groove, Raum und Erzählkraft – inspiriert vom Klang der Hammond-Orgel und dem modernen Geist des Jazz.
Die Kompositionen reichen von lyrisch-poetisch bis kraftvoll-groovend. Dabei begegnen sich vier Musiker aus vier Ländern mit enormer Erfahrung und gegenseitigem Vertrauen – Jeanfrançois Prins (Gitarre, Vocals), Jean-Yves Jung (Organ), Bruno Castellucci (Drums) und Ulli Jünemann (Saxophone, Electronics).
Ob in clubbigen Tracks wie „Maybe Not“, im swingenden Dialog auf „It Ain’t Necessarily So“ oder in atmosphärischen Stücken wie „City Nights“ – jedes Stück erzählt eine Geschichte.
Die Musik ist ehrlich, emotional, ausdrucksstark – und zugleich ein kollektiver Sound, der Zuhörende mitnimmt: auf nächtliche Spaziergänge, durch urbane Lichtstreifen, hin zu Momenten der Stille und Freiheit.
“Jazz with energy and elegance: poetic, grooving, and strikingly clear.”
“A modern organ quartet that doesn’t just accompany – it tells stories, with depth, joy, and masterful interplay.”
“City Nights is a nocturnal soundtrack between city lights and introspection – timeless jazz with groove, atmosphere, and the courage to embrace silence.”
Listen and watch the band live.
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Liner Notes | Tim Armacost | NYC
Having met Ulli Jünemann at the outset of his career, it gives me great pleasure to write about the maturity now present in his saxophone playing, composition and band leading. The decades have been good to him, and he has used the time well.
City Nights is an homage to the life of great cities, and Jünemann’s group has created an atmosphere that Is evocative, deep, clear and inspired. Listening to the title track, I am walking down 2nd Avenue toward the East Village in New York City. It’s November, late evening, the kind of a chill in the air that braces your mind, but isn’t uncomfortable. Just cool enough for those white and orange cylinders to pour their steam out from below the streets. Lights everywhere. There is no more spectacular city at night than New York, and there is nothing more satisfying to hear than a quartet of jazz musicians who are attuned to each other, in sync, and swinging effortlessly.
Clearly, the music engaged my imagination, but it’s also worth saying a few things about the song itself. The groove is relaxed, anchored by master drummer Bruno Castellucci, and both the engineered sound and the way these artists play together is expansive. JeanFrancois Prins takes multiple dives into the lower register of the guitar – it’s a gorgeous, expressive solo. Equally impressive is the way JeanFrancois and organist Jean-Yves Jung accompany Ulli’s alto solo together. It’s no easy task to get the balance right with two comping instruments – these consummate professionals understand how to create the space together – they’re dancing the accompaniment, in perfect step with each other and the soloist.
I want to leave space for your own imagination as you listen, so rather than describe every tune, I’d like to point your ears toward a few highlights.
Ulli gets into some double-timing on “Maybe Not” that is at once modern, drenched in the blues, and rhythmically interesting. His playing here reminds me of the way guys like James Moody and Gary Bartz play – you never know what is coming next, and is therefore continuously fascinating.
Jünemann turns up the edge a few notches on “Blues for Mr. Gone,” his tribute to the late Wayne Shorter. Castellucci gets an extended space here to tell a rhythmic story, with punching accompaniment from Prins. The wisdom of Castellucci’s experience is exhilarating.
“It Ain’t Necessarily So,” is guitarist Prins’ outstanding contemporary arrangement of the classic Gershwin melody. Dig the rhythmic passing of the baton as Ulli takes over from JeanFrancois midway through the track.
“Ornette-Lee” is a great melody! Lots of stretched out blowing on this track.
Four musicians from four countries and multiple generations, glued together by a common love for swinging music and decades upon decades of experience. This is why jazz is alive and well, and is being played with passion in cities throughout the world. It’s not the easiest path to master the tradition and then try to find an individual approach within it, but that’s exactly why it makes for such satisfying listening when it ripens, as it has, in Ulli Jünemann’s art.
Tim Armacost
NYC, Feb, 2025