Jason Lindner’s Now vs. Now

Written by | Concerts, News

The New York-based keyboardist and pianist Jason Lindner recorded with David Bowie on “Blackstar” (2015), Bowie’s final album, a jazz-infused, melancholic yet soaring swan song to this world.
Bowie chose Lindner along with Lindner’s circle of first rate New York hipster jazz players including saxophonist Donny McCaslin and percussionist Mark Guilliana for those remarkable studio sessions.

In an interview for Rolling Stone, in December 2015, done a few weeks before “Blackstar” was even released, Lindner (born 1973) said, “The feeling in the studio was like, ‘This is rock & roll.’ That’s what I came away with. It has that energy, that rebellion and that intensity. I think genres, to me, are more about energy and the type of feeling you get than technical stuff. There’s definitely some jazz artists that have that feeling. Above and beyond a certain level of artistry, genre just falls away completely when someone can be that intense as an artist.”

For Lindner’s own trio project Now vs. Now, the approach seems to be the same, and the formidable drummer Mark Guilliana was previously the core of the rhythm section. Now the group includes Justin Tyson on the drums, and Panagiotis Andreou, an electric bassist who brings a Latin and Middle Eastern influence to the group’s expansive electronic cosmic-jazz meets old-school groove. Andreou is also an occasional vocalist, bringing in a World Music sensibility, while other songs can serve as counterpoints, with pre-recorded live hip-hop vocalists, as Now vs. Now is from New York, after all.

At times, Jason Lindner’s Now vs. Now recalls a much mellower version of the seminal 1970s jazz-rock band Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke, or Herbie Hancock’s “Mwandishi” sessions without the horns section, but Linder’s Now vs. Now is not a backward-looking, retro outfit.

They are all about forward march.

Jason Lindner’s Now vs. Now kicks off their short European tour in Prague, at the Czech Radio Broadcasting Jazz Festival, Dec. 6th .

Jason Lindner / Now vs. Now from yusuke shibata on Vimeo.

Jason Lindner’s Now vs. Now tour in Europe, in December.

December 6—Jazz Dock, Prague, Czech Republic

December 7—Paradox, Tilberg, Netherlands

December 8—Tivolivredenburg, Utrectht, Netherlands

December 9—State-X New Forms, The Hague, Netherlands

December 10– State-X New Forms, The Hague, Netherlands

December 11—Moods, Zurich, Switzerland

December 12—Gretchen, Berlin, Germany

All Images and Video courtesy of:
The Good Music Company Music Agency

 

Last modified: July 15, 2018