Like a 21st century version of ‘Nature Boy’? There’s a subliminal power to ‘Purple Dust,’ the most persuasive of the tracks.
Tipped by us for the top, breakthrough German duo of saxophonist Darius Blair and guitarist Niko Huber release their debut album Eclipse this autumn via Leiter, the Berlin label associated with composer and producer Nils Frahm. Things are just sounding better and better all the time the new tracks from this certainly indicate.
The nine-track set follows the duo’s debut EP In a New Order, featured above, and continues a partnership that began during the pandemic. Their music draws on the spiritual jazz of the 1960s while looking towards hip-hop and contemporary rhythmic approaches.
Recorded at Berlin’s Funkhaus Saal 3 with engineer Antonio Pulli, a two-time Grammy winner, Eclipse was co-produced by the duo with their long-time collaborator Nicolas Butka. Additional overdubbing took place at Butka’s Soultize Studios in Offenbach. The album features drummer Noah Fürbringer, known for his work with the Moses Yoofee Trio, on ‘Prism Break’.
Blair’s saxophone and Huber’s guitar remain at the centre of the music, with the nine tracks including the title piece, ‘Chasing Down Lessing Street’, ‘Hideaway’, ‘Prism Break’, ‘Interlude’, ‘Purple Dust’ [which is a bit like the melody of ‘Nature Boy’], ‘Titan’, ‘Gamblin” and ’01/01/25’.
The first singles, ‘Prism Break’ and ‘Purple Dust’, are already available. ‘Prism Break’, released in June, features Fürbringer and was recorded at Funkhaus Berlin. The track was written by Blair, Huber and Fürbringer and produced by the trio alongside Butka. ‘Titan’ is also listed among the album’s nine pieces.
Blair and Huber first met as members of Hessen’s State Youth Orchestra and have played together in other line-ups since 2018, including Count Spacey. Huber also fronts the alternative rock band Bird’s View, while Blair is a member of Discovery Collective and leads his own Darius Blair Quartett. Blair, when he was just 18, was the youngest recipient of the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship in 2020 and won first prize at the Future Sounds competition two years later.
The duo play a release concert at Inter60310 in Frankfurt on 9 October. The album itself is officially released a week later.
