About the concert
The quartet around drummer Lucas Johnson from southern Germany has formed at the renowned music college “Jazzcampus” in Basel. A place where musicians from all over the world come together and are taught by world-famous musicians such as Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire, Lionel Loueke. Today, the four musicians live in the metropolises of the European jazz scene and use jazz as a universal language that does not stop at national borders.
Influenced by the cultural and musical diversity of their respective origins, their sound encompasses the full breadth of the contemporary, modern European jazz scene.
Lucas Johnson’s edgy and idiosyncratic compositions radiate a young force and energy. Thus, the band plays risky and imaginative, inspired by the individual personalities of the musicians. Each musician brings his own very own character, which constantly reinvents nju:zone. In addition, the compositions were inspired by the collaboration with Mark Turner, Guillermo Klein, Miguel Zenon and Larry Grenadier, who have been Johnson’s mentors since 2015 and were instrumental in the musical development.
With his debut album “nju:zone” 2019, Lucas Johnson was selected as the cultural ambassador of the Jazzverband Baden-Württemberg to represent his state at the international music fair “JazzAhead” 2019. The quartet was presented at the international Copenhagen Jazz Festival, the Langnau JazzNights, the Offbeat Basel Jazz Festival and the JazzOpen Stuttgart. With his composition “Through The Hourglass”, Johnson was able to open this year’s Elbphilharmonie concert in Hamburg.
This year, Lucas Johnson presents his new program in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
- Igor Osypov - guitar
- Alex Ventling - Piano (New Zealand, Auckland)
- Niklas Lukassen - Bass
- Lucas Johnson - drums