In the organizer's words:

20:00 I Concert I 💿 JAKI

On this evening, NICA artist Fabian Dudek 's time in the NICA Artist development program comes to a strong conclusion with two special sets - an evening full of Dudek's new compositions.

The saxophonist, composer and bandleader will play the first set as a duo with London bassist Ruth Goller, with whom he has already performed several times on the Stadtgarten stage in the past. This set offers several premieres for pieces composed with a so-called "wind controller" (a mixture of the mechanics of a wind instrument and a synthesizer) - Dudek is thus taking the path towards live electronics, lending his playing and his sound creations a broad, new facet.

In the second part, Dudek and Goller are joined by Felix Hauptmann on Fender Rhodes and synthesizer and Leif Berger on drums. The four musicians got to know each other under the name Almost at an earlier NICA live concert by Dudek and have since played together at venues including BIMHAUS Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Acht Brücken Festival and the Tampere Jazz Happening in Finland. The quartet will also premiere Dudek's new compositions on this evening. This is a special event, as the band's first album will be released in 2026 - so if you want to get an exclusive impression of this new quartet's music, you should find your way to JAKI this Monday evening.

Focused on a goal in flux, the path is created by balancing freedom and structure together: Almost, the new band of Cologne-based saxophonist and composer Fabian Dudek, unites four distinguished musicians - Ruth Goller on electric bass, Felix Hauptmann on piano and Leif Berger on drums - who are inspired by Dudek's uncompromisingly contemporary compositional language to create new sonic possibilities. Almost is characterized by flow, tonal diversity and a balance between composition and improvisation. The four musicians combine their individual strengths to create a harmonious overall sound and invite the audience to embark on a journey and discover new things along the way at every moment of their concerts. The band's first album was released in 2026.

At the beginning of 2024, Fabian Dudek was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award with his album Protecting A Picture That's Fading and for the German Jazz Award 2024 in the category "Composition/Arrangement" with the title composition of the same name. This Every Place feat. Ingrid Laubrock, Dudek's latest release, once again demonstrates the urgency of the saxophonist's work and his self-positioning in the present, in which he is energetically carving out a place for himself.

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Fabian Dudek (saxophone, composition), Felix Hauptmann (piano), Ruth Goller (electric bass, vocals), Leif Berger (drums)