Rising Grace Wolfgang Muthspiel

• 1 Rising Grace 05:56
• 2 Intensive Care 10:17
• 3 Triad Song 08:04
• 4 Father and Sun 08:14
• 5 Wolfgang's Waltz 08:02
• 6 Superonny 06:44
• 7 Boogaloo 07:30
• 8 Den Wheeler, Den Kenny 07:50
• 9 Ending Music 01:23
• 10 Oak 04:34
• Total Runtime 01:08:34

Info for Rising Grace

Wolfgang Muthspiel whom The New Yorker has called "a shining light" among today's jazz guitarists made his ECM leader debut in 2014 with the trio disc Driftwood, featuring him alongside two longtime colleagues, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Brian Blade.

For his follow-up „Rising Grace“, which is released on HighResAudio the Austrian guitarist has convened a very special quintet, adding jazz luminary Brad Mehldau on piano and the outstanding young trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire to the subtly virtuosic Grenadier/Blade rhythm section. Muthspiel moves between electric guitar and classically tinged acoustic six-string, his playing by turns grooving ("Boogaloo") and enchanting ("Rising Grace").

The lyrical flights of Akinmusire's trumpet and the probing improvisations of Mehldau run through Muthspiel's rich set of compositions like golden threads, the tracks including a warm tribute to a late, great ECM artist, Kenny Wheeler ("Den Wheeler, Den Kenny"). Rising Grace also includes a deeply melodious piece that Mehldau composed especially for the album, "Wolfgang's Waltz."

Wolfgang Muthspiel, guitar
Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet
Brad Mehldau, piano
Larry Grenadier, double bass
Brian Blade, drums

Wolfgang Muthspiel
was born in 1965 in Judenburg, Austria. He played violin from age 6 and took up guitar at 15. At the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, he studied both classical and jazz guitar, subsequently winning national competitions for classical music as well as the International Guitar Competition in Mettmann, Germany. Interested in improvisation from an early age, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1986 to study at the New England Conservatory. At the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he met Gary Burton, who invited him to join his quintet. While based in New York from 1995 to 2002, he performed with a diverse array of artists: Trilok Gurtu, Youssou N’Dour, Gary Peacock, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine and Rebekka Bakken, among others. Current projects include his duo with Brian Blade, a quartet featuring pianist Jean-Paul Brodbeck, and a trio with Larry Grenadier and saxophonist Chris Cheek. In addition to his jazz projects, Muthspiel writes for contemporary classical ensembles and has received commissions from the Ensemble for New Music Zurich, Klangforum Wien, the Austrian Ministry of Arts, the Boston-based Marimolin ensemble and more.

Booklet for Rising Grace