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Phronesis

JASPER HØIBY – DOUBLE BASS IVO NEAME – PIANO ANTON EGER - DRUMS

'One of the most exciting bands on the planet!' – Jazzwise

With a reputation for spellbinding roller-coaster live performances, Parliamentary Jazz Award winners & twice MOBO- nominated Anglo-Scandinavian trio Phronesis have captured the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide.

We Are All, the band’s eighth and newest studio album, (Edition records September 2018) offers plenty of emotional range and musical richness for committed Phronesis fans and new listeners alike. But in its title and scope, it also seeks to focus attention on an important message of togetherness and balance beyond the one they demonstrate on the bandstand.

"The musicians’ exceptional technical skills are completely integrated into the fascinating twists and turns of the music, which echoes everything from Liszt to early Soft Machine via bebop while still being unique in its conviction and sheer depth of content." - BBC Music Magazine 5* (2018)

Formed in 2005, they have performed widely across Europe and taken their engaging grooves, irresistible rhythmic energy and breathtaking group interplay to concert stages and festivals across the world from Morocco to Brazil and Australia to North America (where the trio returned in the summer of 2017 for a tour of seven jazz festivals.)

In 2017 Phronesis released their seventh album, ‘The Behemoth’, recorded in Germany with the hr Frankfurt Radio Big Band - a special commissioned project to celebrate the band's tenth anniversary, for which composer/arranger Julian Argüelles created innovative big band arrangements of the trio’s compositions drawn from their entire back catalogue. These arrangements have been performed in the UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands including at North Sea Jazz Festival 2017.

In October 2017 Phronesis won the 'Jazz Ensemble of the Year' award at the UK’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

2005 - 2016

In Spring 2016 Phronesis launched their sixth album ‘Parallax’ (recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London) with concerts at the 950-seater Cadogan Hall in London and at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, plus tour dates in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and France. In the summer the trio were invited to perform at the opening of the Danish Olympic Pavilion in Rio, Brazil alongside dates at the prestigious SESC venues in São Paulo. September saw the trio returning to the studio in Germany to record Julian Argüelles’s arrangements of their compositions with the hr Frankfurt Radio Big Band. This album, titled ‘The Behemoth’ was released in March 2017.

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Radio & Podcasts

Phronesis Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

Read "Phronesis Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam" reviewed by BIMHUIS


This energetic formation from London gives a futuristic twist to the jazz formula of piano, bass and drums. 'A killer live band' (The Guardian). Everything and everyone in the universe is interconnected: this is what Phronesis want to communicate with the album We Are All, the current highlight of their oeuvre according to de Volkskrant. The threesome from London became a big name at (jazz) festivals thanks to their exciting ensemble playing, sometimes close-knit and sometimes disorienting, but ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Phronesis, Art Hirahara, Marcus Klossek and a Posi-tone focus

Read "Phronesis, Art Hirahara, Marcus Klossek and a Posi-tone focus" reviewed by Bob Osborne


Featured on this show are new releases from Phronesis, Art Hirahara, and German guitarist Marcus Klossek. There is also a focus on the excellent Posi-tone label with great music from a selection of artists from their exciting roster. Recent ECM releases and classic cuts from Ornette Coleman and Miles Davis complete two hours of great jazz. Playlist Phronesis “One for Us" from We Are All (Edition Records) 00:00 Art Hirahara “Ruse for Blues Shoes" from Sunward Bound ...

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Album Review

Phronesis: We Are All

Read "We Are All" reviewed by Geno Thackara


You never know where Phronesis will turn next, but you can count on something inventive, surprising, and still true to the identity that's made them one of the premier piano trios on the world stage. They've racked up an impressive round of extracurriculars since their previous original outing Parallax (Edition, 2016): the left-field crossover The Behemoth (Edition, 2017) saw them reinventing past material with Julian Argüelles and the Radio Frankfurt Big Band. Bassist Jasper Hoiby and pianist Ivo Neame made ...

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Album Review

Phronesis: We Are All

Read "We Are All" reviewed by Roger Farbey


The incendiary playing on the opener “One For Us" augurs well for the rest of this, the eighth album by Phronesis. Their previous CD, The Behemoth was released in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim. It seems incredible that Jasper Høiby's brainchild has racked up so many consistently excellent recordings to date. Ivo Neame's “Matrix For D.A." opens with elliptical piano-phrases vying with equally curt percussion, but the duet is rapidly joined by pizzicato bass to balance the piece. ...

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Year in Review

Nick Davies Best Releases of 2016

Read "Nick Davies Best Releases of 2016" reviewed by Nick Davies


In terms of jazz 2016 has been a strong year with a number of solid releases and this has made the task of choosing twelve releases all that more difficult. The selections I have made take the listening on a journey from Matthew Bourne and his experimental sounds of the Moog to Nat Birchall more traditional saxophone playing. 2016 also saw the emergence of young talent such as Elliot Galvin as well as some great independent record labels and it ...

Live Review

Fano Jazz By The Sea 2016

Read "Fano Jazz By The Sea 2016" reviewed by Libero Farnè


Fano Jazz by the Sea Fano Varie sedi 22-31.07.2016 Fano Jazz By The Sea trova ogni anno formule nuove, anche per far fronte a esigenze contingenti. Per quanto riguarda le sedi dei concerti di questa ventiquattresima edizione si è in parte rinunciato all'atmosfera marina, avendo abbandonato i luoghi storici all'aperto: l'anfiteatro Rastad sul lungomare, mentre la Marina dei Cesari presso il porto turistico è stata toccata solo marginalmente. Quest'anno si è optato per prestigiosi ...

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Album Review

Phronesis: Parallax

Read "Parallax" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Parallax (noun) “the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer." This phenomenon is exactly how the listener new to Phronesis' oeuvre would perceive this, their sixth album recorded within the last decade.“67000 MPH" for example, is a whistle stop tour of musically-defined gravitational resistance. The mad tempo changes and frequent erratic structural modulations characterise this frenetic opening number penned by Anton Eger. But in spite of this wild compositional ...

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Performance / Tour

Phronesis Embark On Six-Date Irish Tour, 4-9 February

Phronesis Embark On Six-Date Irish Tour, 4-9 February

Source: All About Jazz

Brace yourself for a slice of Nordic noir as jazz trio Phronesis - hailed as “the most exciting and imaginative piano trio since EST” (Jon Newey, editor JAZZWISE) - bring their intelligent and dynamic sound on a Music Network tour from 4-9 February. Expect explosive live performances packed with intricate bass lines, hypnotic grooves and spiraling piano patterns. Making live music happen across the country, Music Network provides an opportunity to see some of the world’s foremost musicians at affordable ...

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Event

Phronesis Plays One Off Belfast Gig May 30

Phronesis Plays One Off Belfast Gig May 30

Source: All About Jazz

Phronesis will play a one-off jny: Belfast gig at the Crescent Arts Centre, Friday May 30. Formed by Danish bassist Jasper Høiby in 2005, the energy and individuality of Phronesis comes from an extraordinary democracy of expression and intuitive empathy between the musicians - British pianist Ivo Neame and Swedish drummer Anton Eger come together with Høiby to create a propulsive groove-driven sound that is utterly accessible despite its underlying complexity. Their vibrantly-titled new album, Life to Everything (Edition Records, ...

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Performance / Tour

Phronesis - USA/Canada Tour: June-July 2011

Phronesis - USA/Canada Tour: June-July 2011

Source: Jazz Services UK

June 14: Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival June 18: Chris' Jazz Café, Philadelphia, PA June 21: Jazz Standard, New York, NY July 1: Montreal Jazz Festival July 2: Ottawa Jazz Festival Described as ..."the most electrifying experience to be had in British jazz" by The Telegraph and"the most exciting and imaginative piano trio since EST" by Jon Newey, Editor of Jazzwise, London-based Danish bassist Jasper Høiby's Phronesis have become the ...

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Recording

"Alive" By Phronesis Released in USA and Canada

Source: Jazz Services UK

Phronesis have the ability to excite, inspire and move people in a way that few bands are able to do. Since the release of their second album Green Delay in 2009, Phronesis, led by Danish doublebassist Jasper Høiby, have captured the hearts and minds of British audiences and have developed a fierce reputation as one of the most formidable trios in the UK. With recent acclaimed performances at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris and the North Sea Jazz Festival ...

“One of the most exciting bands on the planet today” JAZZWISE

"Look out for Phronesis - they might change your life!" SEAN RAFFERTY ('IN TUNE' BBC RADIO 3)

“...the most electrifying experience to be had in British jazz” THE TELEGRAPH

“The most exciting and imaginative piano trio since EST” JON NEWEY (EDITOR JAZZWISE)

“Anyone who doubts there’s a UK jazz scene worth taking note of should listen to Phronesis, who are proof positive that we have bands that are worthy of jazz’s premier league right on our doorstep” BASS GUITAR MAGAZINE

“As the pile of talented and exciting piano trios continues to grow ever higher, it takes a very talented and exciting threesome to rise to the top and stay there. Enter Phronesis.” ALLABOUTJAZZ

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

We Are All

Edition Records
2018

buy

Parallax

Edition Records
2016

buy

Life To Everything

Edition Records
2014

buy

Walking Dark

Edition Records
2012

buy

Alive

Edition Records
2010

buy

Green Delay

Loop Records
2010

buy

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