Nils Weinhold: "Calming"

Writing in JazzTimes, Bill Milkowski describes Nils Weinhold as "a technical monster with a warm tone and fluid delivery." According to Milkowski, it is obvious that Nils is "a product of the angular, odd-intervallic, slightly dissonant school of post-Metheny/post-Abercrombie guitar playing." Yet the guitarist has also been shaped by a unique lifelong journey, from his roots in a remote German village to his current rise in one of the world's most vibrant musical cities.Nils was raised in Bad Sachsa, Germany, a small village in the Harz mountains. He picked up the guitar before his tenth birthday, and his passion for the instrument eventually led him to the Netherlands, where he completed his undergraduate studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. After receiving his first degree, the guitarist packed his belongings and relocated once again, this time journeying across the Atlantic to attend the Manhattan School of Music.Since moving to New York in 2008, Nils has lent his sound to both established and up-and-coming artists, including Seamus Blake, Joe Lovano, John Riley, John Escreet, and Justin Brown, among others. The guitarist can be heard regularly with the saxophonist Adam Larson's group, as well as the Danjam Orchestra and The Manhattan Experiment.Milkowski notes that Nils also "impresses with...his writing," which can be heard on his self-released debut album, Shapes. This first effort features like-minded collaborators including the saxophonist Adam Larson, the pianist Fabian Almazan, the bassist Luques Curtis, and Nils' brother, the drummer Bastian Weinhold.We first heard Nils in Adam Larson's group, and we are pleased to his first Jazz Gallery performance as a leader this Thursday night as a part of our debut series. For this engagement, Weinhold will be joined by most of his bandmates from Shapes, with the addition of the bassist Linda Oh.Watch a video of Nils performing "Calming" with the Danjam Orchestra at Manhattan School of Music.