Nozomi Masako Ohta & Matthias Lindermayr

• 1 Hatsuhinode 06:54
• 2 Agora 02:38
• 3 Ostinato 03:56
• 4 Hibari 04:59
• 5 Maya 06:55
• 6 Shizuku 04:40
• 7 Niwa 04:06
• 8 Tio 08:03
• Total Runtime 42:11

Info for Nozomi

Pianist Masako Ohta and trumpet player Matthias Lindermayr are back on Squama with 'Nozomi', the follow-up to their 2022 debut 'MMMMH'.

The Japanese title, which translates to ‘hope’, felt fitting, as the album was conceived during a time of personal loss for Ohta, during and after which music proved itself as a beacon of hope.

The music on Nozomi unfolds gently, with Lindermayr’s airy tone and lyrical playing being wrapped in Ohta’s chordal backing that moves from tender to tense and back over the course of the album. While most tunes were written by Lindermayr, the only exception being an interpretation of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Hibari’, the arrangements are largely improvised, letting the duo’s intuition guide the course and build the form.

Solemn slowness has become a signature trait of the Munich-based duo and it makes listening to their new record a healing retreat from the frantic chatter of the present.

[...] they embody all the elements that make a collaborative jazz project great (synchronicity, spontaneity, subtlety, discipline, spirit), unified in a softened, unassuming stance that gives the impression of two friends having an ad hoc heart-to-heart, as opposed to a studio recording session.

Masako Ohta, piano
Matthias Lindermayr, trumpet

Recorded by Noël Riedel
Mixed and Mastered by Martin Ruch
Produced by Martin Brugger

Masako Ohta
is a pianist and performance artist born in Tokyo. She interprets classical and modern works in solo or with chamber music ensembles, performs improvisations, accompanies silent movies and composes for films and theater.

She studied piano first at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo and then at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin under Erich Andreas and György Sebök, prior to taking master classes with András Schiff and György Kurtág. In 2016, Masako Ohta was awarded the Giesinger Kulturkreis (1st prize), and in 2019 the Förderpreis für Musik of the City of Munich.

Highly interested in the poetry and music of Japan, Europe and other cultures, she frequently collaborates with actors, poets, sculptors and musicians from various countries. Moreover, she develops and performs her own concert series, dance shows and theater roles and participates in intercultural and interdisciplinary projects involving other artists.

Masako’s interpretations of works by composers such as Mozart, Debussy, Karl Bohrmann, Bruno Maderna and David Monrad Johansen have been broadcast by various radio stations, including Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk and RIAS Berlin.

A graduate piano teacher, she gives lessons and master classes for piano and chamber music, combined with tai-chi and Japanese calligraphy. Masako has been living and working in Germany since 1985, starting in Berlin and then moving to Munich in 1988.

Matthias Lindermayr
is a trumpeter and composer based in Munich. He began his musical journey studying trumpet and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. A full scholarship enabled him to further his studies at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston. He continued his academic path at the Jazz Institute Berlin, where he delved deeply into jazz composition and improvisation.

As a solo artist, Matthias released his debut album, “Lang Tang”, in 2015 on the internationally acclaimed enja Recordslabel. In July 2018, he followed up with “Newborn” on enja yellowbird. With his band Fazer, for which he works as both composer and soloist, he released the albums “Mara” (2018), “Nadi” (2019), “Plex” (2022), and their fourth album, “Yamaha”, in 2024. Fazer’s work has been widely celebrated, garnering millions of streams and receiving international acclaim for its innovative, genre-crossing sound.

In recent years, Matthias has focused on smaller ensembles. He released the album “Triptych” featuring percussion and acoustic guitar, “Sequence” in a duo with French saxophonist and ECM artist Matthieu Bordenave, and “Mmmmh” with contemporary pianist Masako Ohta. The latter was nominated for the German Jazz Prize in 2023 and named Album of the Year by Bayerischer Rundfunk. In 2024, Matthias and Masako toured Japan, presenting their music at prestigious venues. Their second duo album, “Nozomi”, will be released in February 2025, further showcasing their compelling collaboration.

Matthias has received numerous awards throughout his career. In 2012, he won the Biberach Jazz Prize with his quartet, followed by the Kurt Maas Jazz Award in 2013 and the Soloist Prize at the International Jazz Week Burghausen in 2017. As a member of the Monika Roscher Big Band, he received an ECHO Jazz Award. In 2018, he was honored with the award for Best Music in a Documentary at the Max Ophüls Festival for his score for the film “Germania”. That same year, he received the Bavarian Arts Promotion Prize, followed by the City of Munich Music Prize in 2019.

Matthias Lindermayr has performed internationally in Canada, Turkey, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Austria, Spain, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Kurdistan, Jordan, and Japan.

The magazine Jazzthetik wrote about him: “...He possesses one of the most mature, structured, and relaxed trumpet tones that has emerged in Germany in recent years.”

It further remarked: “There is no search for a personal voice here—he presents a philosophy of playing the valves that feels as though it has been forged over three decades, shaped by contemporary developments and personal experiences, angular and countercyclical.”

This album contains no booklet.