VINCENT MEISSNER TRIO

 

Vincent grew up in a small village near Dresden. Essentially, the story starts with what he found lurking on the shelves of a chain-store in the nearby university town of Freiberg. The young Vincent – at that point he was not playing the piano yet – found a selection of jazz CDs. Here was music to discover, to make his own, to become increasingly deeply involved with – to the point where what started as a passion became a life-goal. At sixteen, he went off to Dresden to the Landesgymnasium für Musik. It was there that he met drummer Henri Reichmann, and their friendship flourished: both of them were finding music to animate and inspire them. And so they listened, they practised, they sparked off each other, fanning the flames of their enthusiasm by continuing to make new discoveries: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck and Bud Powell were followed by Paul Bley, Monk, Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer. And there were German musicians too: Pablo Held, Joachim Kühn and Michael Wollny. Making the journey brings its own rewards. Vincent has remained a seeker and discoverer, immersing himself in the piano music of our time.

Recognition for this major talent has started to grow, however, and the prizes are rolling in. Meissner has so far won six: the Bechstein Piano Competition, the Concert Prize of the Jazzopen Stuttgart, the Förderpreis of the German Jazz Union, the Jazzhaus Competition Freiburg and the Central German Jazz Prize. And he is also already showing quite some capacity to make smart decisions and follow them through. When he was chosen to represent Saxony in the prestigious “Jugend jazzt” event in 2019, he opted to take a new approach to presenting his music. Rather than building pieces out of fragments or sketches, as he had done until then, he created a suite of connected pieces. This mature quality, the desire to present a coherent programme is also a hallmark of his debut album “Bewegtes Feld” isued in June 2021 with his trio, with Henri Reichmann (drums) and Josef Ziemetz (bass).

From: “Bewegtes Feld” cd Liner notes by Dr. Ulrich Steinmetzger