NICOLAS KUMMERT saxophone
ALEXI TUOMARILA piano
AXEL GILAIN double bass
TEUN VERBRUGGEN drums
Originally based in Belgium, DRIFTER first came to international attention with the release of ‘Voices of Pohjola’ in 1999 on the Brussels jazz label Igloo. The release and live shows prompted both Blue Note and Warner to offer contracts for a 3-album deal. Having decided to go with Warner, the Alexi Tuomarila Quartet, as it was then called, were propelled into the elite international jazz scene, touring extensively through Europe, Australia and Japan. Following the release of O2 on Warner Brothers their whirlwind ascent ended abruptly with the decision by the company to drop their jazz and classical department. A decade later, following the release of Alexi Tuomarila’s trio album ‘Seven Hills’ with Mats Eilertsen and Olavi Louhivuori, the band reformed at the suggestion of UK’s Edition Records under the collective named of DRIFTER. In July 2015, DRIFTER released their highly acclaimed record ‘FLOW’, an album that excites fans across the globe and finally fulfills this fantastic band’s full potential.
“[Drifter] expand on their collective knack for invitingly simple sounding music concealing enticing ambiguities… a palpable warmth and intelligent empathy pervade their set.”
– The Guardian, UK
Flow by Drifter
Flow, the highly anticipated new album marks the re-formation of the Alexi Tuomarila Quartet who achieved inter-national acclaim with their release O2 on Warner France. ‘Flow’ is a highly inventive, original and compelling album from Belgium based quartet DRIFTER, brainchild of Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila and Belgian saxophonist Nicolas Kummert, ‘Flow’ was released worldwide on Edition Records during the summer of 2015.
‘FLOW’ marks an emotional return for the band that appeared to have disappeared. The Alexi Tuomarila Quartet’s album 02 should have marked the beginning of a dazzling career for pianist Tuomarila and saxist Kummert but on the brink of international success the band became a casualty of Warner’s decision to jettison their jazz and classical departments in 2003. 12 years later and Edition Records have persuaded the quartet to get back together under the collective name DRIFTER. The resulting album fuses the youthful energy and vibrancy of a decade ago with the experience of 12 years of touring and playing with the world’s best musicians to create music of inventiveness, originality and diversity combining shifting time signatures, surprising turns of phrase and rhythmic interplay.
“There are very few CDs today that concern themselves with melodic development and it is this sense of musical integrity that makes this album stand apart”
– Jazzwise Magazine, UK
Open Drifter leaflet here ►
Drifter Flow on Soundcloud ►
Drifter “Flow” Album trailer
Booking:
booking@alexituomarila.com
alexituomarila@gmail.com
Record Label:
Dave Stapleton
Edition Records
dave@editionrecords.com
Press & PR:
Mike Gavin, Worldwide
(not Germany, Austria & Switzerland)
mike@editionrecords.com
Uwe Kerkau
Germany, Austria & Switzerland
u.kerkau@uk-promotion.de
Downloads
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