Bringing together two acclaimed German improvisers who met in Nuremberg in 1982 as teens--reedist Rudi Mahall and drummer/vibraphonist Michael Griener, "bumbling" around to learn free jazz together, heard now 40 years later as authoritative players recording as a duo in 2020 & 21 in Kotzlin and Berlin for eight energetically creative and buoyantly upbeat dialogs.

Focusing on the compositions of Swedish pianist Per Henrik Wallin, the energetic piano trio of Simon Sieger on piano, Joel Grip on double bass and Michael Griener on drums puts new life into Wallin's 1998 trio album Coyote with the intention of putting Wallin's music in front of a new audience while clearly reveling in his compositions amid their own impressive mastery.

Setting out to explore a standard song format for modern times through the instrumental piano jazz format, the French/German trio of basist Joel Grip, drummer Michael Griener and pianist Simon Sieger present a set of six Grip compositions along with two Sieger/Grip and one Sieger piece, all sophisticated, creative and lyrically infused modern jazz.

A live recording from zentri-fuge in Berlin, led by trombonist Jeb Bishop, with Milan bassist Antonio Borghini (Mike Patton's Mondo Cane) and German drummer Michael Griener (Carl-Ludwig Hübsch' Primordial Soup), in a collective set of free and energetic improvisations, five pieces that "Jounce", "Jitter", "Plumb" and "Dither" through an exciting and expressive concert.

Composer-pianist Satoko Fujii's new Orchestra Berlin, a ten-piece ensemble, presents a powerful work written specifically for this group in thought-provoking compositions of and uninhibited energy, with performers including saxophonists Gebhard Ullmann, Paulina Owczarek & Matthias Schubert, trombonist Matthias Muller, bassist Jan Roder, and drummers Peter Orins and Michael Griener.

German composer and improviser Simon Rummel presents the 2nd release from his 11-piece Simon Rummel Ensemble, blending his interest in acoustic phenomena and improvisational harmonics in an extended work that shifts from beautiful tonal work to disruptive cacophony and back to melodic music, blending jazz and 20th century approaches; a great achievement.

Cologne pianist and composer Simon Russell wrote these compositions, melding jazz, classical, electronic, even tango music into lyrical and joyfully quirky works, performed by his ensemble with Goerg Wissel, Matthias Muche, Udo Moll, Carl Ludwig Hubsch, &c.