Reflection is the latest recording from the Ed Neumeister Quartet and features the great Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer and New York stalwarts Drew Gress and John Hollenbeck on bass and drums. We have been together for more than seven years, so this is a “band”. “New Standards”

MeisteroMusic, released last year, was our first recording. It’s no mystery that players get to know each other by playing together, so when the vibe is great from the first note you can imagine how it feels to be playing together over years. All of the music on the CD is original with Drew, Fritz and John contributing one piece each. What’s amazing is that I asked each of them to contribute a piece for the CD. We hadn’t yet played what I recently wrote and I didn’t describe a vibe or mood that I was looking for, but all three pieces fit the CD perfectly. The pieces by Drew, Fritz and John are spread out evenly on the CD and they act as great supporting contrasts to my pieces. The CD was recorded while on tour in Europe, November 2004 and February 2005.

The term reflection has several possible meanings. It can mean Mirror Image, a technique frequently used in music and is incorporated here in the tune Reflection where the 2nd half is a mirror of the 1st half. Watch out Bach. Reflection can also mean Indication (sign or signal). And, reflection can mean consideration or contemplation. Take your pick.

Another working concept of this CD is transparency, which means clearness, simplicity or intelligibility. All cool concepts in music and life.

Buy on artistShare

Ed Neumeister Quartet - Reflection

Trees

Osmosis

Coping Song

Reflection

It Was After Rain That the Angels Came

Yanagumi

Lumuria

Gobblers Nob

Ed Neumeister has composed for classical and jazz ensembles in the US, Europe, South America, Australia and Israel and performed extensively as a trombone soloist throughout the World. As a leader, Neumeister has recorded twelve albums, ranging from large ensembles to small groups to solo trombone. Neumeister’s arrangement for the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992. He recorded multiple albums in Europe, leading large ensembles and small bands; he composed for various jazz ensembles, plus classical chamber pieces and large-scale concert works. 

Neumeister has recently established a new jazz orchestra in New York, the diverse, multi-generational Assembláge, which is the third such large group of his career. Ed Neumeister received a 2020 Composer Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.