Jazzdor Strasbourg-Budapest | Garden of Silences (FR/NO/DE) | Dés András Quartet (AT/JP/HU)

One of the best-known violinists of his generation, Clément Janinet is not only well versed in jazz, but also loves to use the freedom of playing styles and techniques drawn from this genre to explore the realms of contemporary, world, and traditional music. In his European quartet, he extends the aesthetics of his long-standing bands—including Ornette Under the Repetitive Skies and La Litanie de Cimes, both closely associated with BMC Records—by entrusting the new repertoire to musicians from other cultures. Garden of Silences seeks and creates points of intersection between free improvisation, baroque, popular, and repetitive music. Their conversation, inspired by the arrangements on Dave Douglas's album Charms Of The Night Sky, frees itself from the constraints of musical eras and genres: the legacy of Monteverdi, Buxtehude, and Dowland meets the world of the Swedish nyckelharpa, lush improvisations engage in constructive dialogue with microtonal music, and the oral tradition of folk songs and dances enters into a constructive debate with contemporary chamber music. The ensemble's new album will be released in 2026 by BMC Records.

For András Dés, jazz is democracy in action: a collective process based on trust, openness, and deep listening. In Martin Eberle, Philipp Nykrin, and Kenji Herbert, he has found partners who, through their unique voices, curiosity, and creative spirit, form a unified yet freely moving team. Following their internationally acclaimed album Unimportant Things, the quartet returns this March with Decisions We Make, again released by BMC Records. The 49-minute album, conceived as an unbroken musical arc, weaves together composed material with open musical spaces where spontaneity, risk-taking, and playful interactions can unfold in real time. As Gabriel Kahane writes in the liner notes to Decisions We Make: "The album appeals to both the mind and the heart: it is imbued with hummable melodies, danceable grooves, and the color palette of a giant box of crayons. It is as much chamber music as it is jazz, and more than that—it is a formal marvel."