SUBTONE

All individually accomplished performers, when the members of Subtone come together, their balance and unity are striking. Magnus Schriefl, (trumpet), Malte Dürrschnabel (alto saxophone), Florian Höfner (piano), and Peter Gall (drums) started their collaboration in Berlin. Matthias Pichler joined the group a few years later. Each of them had the opportunity to develop their craft under some of the jazz greats. These associations included Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Wolgang Muthspiel and Randy Brecker.

Through innumerable concerts at home and abroad, as well as acclaimed appearances at festivals like the Bohemia Jazz Festival, Subtone quickly established themselves at the top of the European scene. In 2007, they reached another impressive summit with their performance at the world-famous festival 'Jazz Baltica' in Salzau. In the same month, they published their first album, 'High Tide, ' (Doublemoon Records) which was given superlative reviews. 2008 they won the “Tremplin Jazz d’Avignon” International Jazz Competition, 2009 followed their second album “Echolot” (Skip Records), 2011 their third album 'Morningside' (Enja Records).

With their own imaginative compositions, the five artists offer an inexhaustible selection, from the voluminous big-band sound to a bare-essential chamber music approach. In addition to the apparent mastery over their instruments, it is above all the implicitness with which they communicate that is so striking.

„Style cannot be learned. It develops through originality, experience and the courage to implement unusual ideas of sound aesthetics. The quintet Subtone [... ] has style. They are not only in a position to present complexity with casual ease, but, furthermore, to give the impression that they are a bunch of clever veterans instead of five newcomers to Berlin, who have just begun to work on their own language. […]“

(Ralf Dombrowski, newspaper 'Süddeutsche Zeitung').

It is probably this group sound, so captivating in its homogeneity, which made celebrities like Till Brönner or Peter Herbolzheimer predict a great future for these exceptional artists -already years ago.

What makes Subtone stand out from other ensembles is the impressive artistic connection among the five top musicians. The listener perceives this intense communication and fundamental understanding among all members of the band in the very first notes.