Daniel Manrique-Smith: flute
Ben Tai Trawinski: double bass
Philipp Ullrich: guitar
Simon Scheibel: drum
"Vertical Lift-off" was how broadcaster NDR described Jin Jim's rise on the German jazz scene. These words are justified, considering the relatively short background that culminated in their debut album Weiße Schatten. Founded in 2013 by Peruvian-born flutist Daniel Manrique-Smith, bassist Ben Tai Trawinski, guitarist Johann May and drummer Nico Stallmann, in its first year as a band Jin Jim was voted by the public for the final of the JazzTube Festival in Bonn. The following year, the quartet won the 'Future Sounds' competition at the Leverkusener Jazztage festival and stood out among almost 200 participants, and also released their first album "Die Ankunft" (The Arrival). Their meteoric rise is based on the innovation they bring to music. Latin jazz and rock collide with maximum impact. The group's repertoire has defined its essential direction: "Rhythmically very complex but harmonically accessible, and with influences ranging from flamenco to Indian music and pop." This is what catapulted Jin Jim to the attention of the "Young German Jazz" series, ACT's initiative dedicated to developing the talents of young German musicians with out-of-the-ordinary talents and turning them into success. Meanwhile, in 2016, Jin Jim embarked on their first major tour with the support of the German international cultural organization Goethe Institut. They first traveled to Peru, Daniel Manrique-Smith's native country, and in the fall toured five countries in Africa. In 2017, their time came. "We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time," says Manrique-Smith. That 'right place' was the Jazz Baltica Festival where the four performed on the main stage. "We received a standing ovation. I had goosebumps for the next three days." And among that ecstatic audience was Siggi Loch of ACT, who signed Jin Jim to the label. In February 2018 they entered the studio to record "Weiße Schatten". Jin Jim proved once again how refined and original their sound is. It's really rare for a young band to be so close. One explanation for this is that, although Jin Jim was founded in 2013, when all four of its members were in their mid-30s, the common threads that unite them go back much further. Trawinski comes from a music-obsessed family with ancestors in Poland and Croatia and had played guitar, flute, and piano before the bass became his instrument. May is a musician whose deep commitment to Latin American music intensified by spending a period of study in Havana. Stallmann has played drums in various bands, from folk to rock n' roll, from modern jazz to world music, as well as working on dance and theater productions. All three studied at the Arnheim Conservatory in the Netherlands and have been playing together ever since. These common connections explain the naturalness with which May, Trawinski and Stallmann prepared the rhythmic bases for complex, rapid and complicated pieces such as "Duende" or "Mankafiza", allowing Daniel Manrique-Smith's flute to fly free. The flute is a rare instrument in jazz, most often inserted from time to time to add an extra tonal color. In Jin Jim, his function goes much further: he plays the main solo role. Manrique-Smith, who had studied in Frankfurt and at the Musikhochschule (Conservatory) in Cologne before performing with stars such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Samuel Rohrer and Halo Schifrin, plays the instrument in an unusually virtuoso and versatile way. In "Weiße Schatten" he combines a whole range of expressive possibilities, from a classic silvery tone, or the constantly but lightly breathed attack and bright colors of Latin America, to completely free jazz solos. And when Manrique-Smith hums, blows and sings into his instrument, the shadow of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson hovers nearby. What's more, the good old days of art rock are reborn, not only with Stallmann's rousing drum beats, but also with May's guitar sound. This is new music for the belly – and for the feet – created totally in the spirit of jazz.
