Michael Riessler, jazz legend from Munich, has gathered old and new friends around him and created a playful, surprisingly bizarre new album.

Is he allowed to do that? Associations with the large orchestral works of Frank Zappa strike you when you listen to 'Big Circle', the latest album by Michael Riessler. That is more than intended too. However, while other musicians are awestruck faced with Zappa's work and try to copy his compositions note for note, Riessler succeeds in that he integrates these associations consciously into his own work. And it is precisely for this reason that you can honestly maintain that he is allowed to do that! This is especially true when we briefly describe the music career of the clarinetist and composer Riessler, which leaves no doubt about his talent:

Composer and musician of the French 'Orchestre National de Jazz', member of the 'Kölner Saxophon Mafia', recordings and tours with Chris Newman & Janet Smith, concerts in The Kitchen and the Knitting Factory (both New York) and at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, solo tours with a Karlheinz Stockhausen program (among other places, in Russia, collaboration with David Byrne, Carla Bley, Michel Portal, Eberhard Weber, Henri Texier, Renaud Garcia Fons, Steve Reich, John Cage, Otto Sander, Michel Godard, Tomasz Stanko & Michael Gibbs.
And he has had an intimate music friendship with Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio for more than 10 years, who also lets his drumsticks whirl on the track 'Hemis'. Above all, 'Hemis'. On one hand, it is the final piece on 'Big Circle'. On the other hand, it concludes a 'work in progress' of Riessler, or perhaps it is 'only' a provisional statement, because the career of Michael Riessler is far from over. Contrary to the rest of the album, which was recorded completely in Nuremberg, Hemis is a work created over a period of 10 years, in which many fellow-travelers of Riessler were able to contribute their creative input. In addition to the already mentioned Bozzio, these included Mike Svoboda, Bobby Rangell, Bill Forman, Klaus Burger & JJustafré, among others.

Track Listing

• Introduction
• Raster
• Double
• Circle
• Tthh
• Indy
• Net
• Aruno
• Berenice
• Hemis

Additional Details

Label: INTUITION

Genre: Jazz

Run Time: 50:09 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 09/12/25

UPC: 750447343528