Faces in Places

One can appreciate Timo Vollbrecht's new album Faces in Places without the background stories. With them, however, his great music turns into a profound experience. Timo Vollbrecht on saxophone combines with Keisuke Matsuno on guitar, Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizers, Martin Nevin on bass and Jason Burger on drums. The ensemble that goes by the name Fly Magic has produced a fluid, intricate and original body of work. Each track is inspired by or dedicated to someone that I've encountered, explains Timo. In the last years the band has toured worldwide. Everywhere we kept running into these amazing people who one way or another touched our souls. I came back from these trips and was inspired to write music about them. The first thematic song was the piece Muhammad. After a concert in Aleppo, Syria in 2010, Timo took an early morning walk through the streets as people were opening up shop and promptly got lost. He turned to a friendly looking man, Muhammad, who immediately stopped work. He gave up an hour of his time, remembers Timo, not only to guide me back on track but to show me around the city. I wrote the piece for him and tried to incorporate his pride and dignity into the melody. We never exchanged contact information. Ever since the terrible bombings, I've been wondering what became of him.