Three musicians, one shared breath: the Benedikt Jahnel Trio with Benedikt Jahnel (piano), Marc Muellbauer (bass) and Owen Howard (drums) combines the clarity of chamber-music form with the freedom of jazz. Hypnotic patterns drawn from minimal music, subtle rhythms and melodies that stay with you condense into music that is both carefully thought out and deeply moving.
Jahnel’s compositions think in long arcs, closer to classical works than to typical jazz charts. Within them unfolds an interplay that critics have described as moving “like a living being”: composed and freely improvised passages merge seamlessly. With Owen Howard, long-time partner of John Abercrombie, Dave Liebman and Dave Holland, and Marc Muellbauer, known from the Julia Hülsmann Trio on ECM, two exceptional musicians play at Jahnel’s side.
Two albums on the legendary ECM label, celebrated by the international press, concerts across Europe, the USA and Canada, festivals such as JazzBaltica and the Vancouver and Rochester jazz festivals: the trio has earned its place among the most exciting piano trios of its generation. The new album “Amenable” will be released on embab on 27 November 2026, and the trio plays live in Lüneburg the same evening.
Press
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“A preternaturally sympatico rhythm section and Jahnel’s compositional leadership make The Invariant a delight from start to finish.”
Michael Toland, blurtonline (USA), June 2017 -
“Jahnel manages to have pieces balancing musical and mathematical construction but not at the expense of the music.”
C.J. Shearn, Jazz Views (GBR), April 2017 -
“Without question, among ECM’s Top 5 releases of 2012.”
T. Grillo, ecmreviews.com, on “Equilibrium”
More under Press.
Albums, listening and watching
“Amenable” (embab, 2026), “The Invariant” (ECM, 2017), “Equilibrium” (ECM, 2012) and “Modular Concepts” (material records, 2008). All albums are listed in the discography. Audio samples under Listen, concert recordings and EPKs under Video, scores under Scores.
Order CDs: mail@benejahnel.de. Press texts and photos under Downloads.
