First leader date for prizewinning Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick who has already contributed significantly to ECM discs by Manu Katché, Jacob Young and Iro Haarla, and co-directed the popular jazz-ambient-rock group Jaga Jazzist. Here his melodically intense trumpet sings over fractured rhythms and grooves. Jon Balke’s performance on acoustic and electric pianos is a marvel of supportive invention, Audun Kleive hammers home the beats, and Stian Carstensen from Farmer’s Market guests on pedal steel guitar. The resourceful Eick plays vibes and guitar as well, but it is his trumpet that is the subject of this attractive set, moving through a programme of many colours.
The Door
Mathias Eick, Jon Balke, Audun Erlien, Audun Kleive
- 1The Door
07:52 - 2Stavanger
06:56 - 3Cologne Blues
08:46 - 4October
04:36 - 5December
04:41 - 6Williamsburg
07:20 - 7Fly
04:32 - 8Porvoo
04:13
Dass die Trompete längst eine Führungsrolle bei der Modernisierung des Jazz übernommen hat, unterstreicht Eick mit The Door in der Tat eindrucksvoll. Dank brillanter Technik und architektonischer Fantasie kann er seine Vorbilder weit hinter sich lassen, obschon er nach wie vor von deren Einflüssen zehrt. So braut er mit erlesenen Helfern … einen bittersüßen Zaubertrank aus dunkler Lyrik, eckigen Melodielinien und sparsamer Ambient-Atmosphäre, angereichert durch eine gesunde Portion jugendlicher Unvoreingenommenheit. Jede Wette: Mathias Eick und sein Stil werden Maßstäbe setzen.
Reinhard Köchl, Jazzthing
Mit Verve und Gefühl für dramatische Momente entwickelt der Trompeter bei seinem ECM-Debüt als Leader wunderbar duftige Melodien. Die kommentiert Jon Balke mit feinem Tastenzauber, der zwischen Poesie und Power oszilliert.
Sven Thielmann, Stereoplay
Gibt es fröhliche Melancholie? Mit klarem Ansatz spielt der norwegische Trompeter zum dynamischen Trio aus Jon Balke, Audrun Erlien und Audun Kleive. Unerwartete Ausblicke!
Die Zeit
Die Melodien sind schlicht makellos, die Sounds ungemein weich gewählt. Sie zerfließen … fernab jeder Beliebigkeit zu einer Art akustischem Ambient-Jazz der nordisch meditativen Art. … Hier wurde musikalisches Gewicht mit den Mitteln der Leichtigkeit erzeugt. Musikalisch wie ästhetisch ein Hochgenuss.
Volker Doberstein, Jazzpodium
The Door ist kein Zufallstreffer eines Nachrückers, sondern die präzise Punktlandung eines jungen Meisters, der sich genau auf diesen Moment vorbereitet hat. Die CD beschreibt einen historischen Kreis, der sich von den siebziger Jahren bis heute schließt und einem Trompeter die Pforten der internationalen Wahrnehmung öffnet, von dem in Zukunft sicher noch viel zu hören sein wird.
Wolf Kampmann, Jazzthetik
Man muss nicht die Klischees der Landschaftsmalerei bemühen, um in dieser Musik weite Räume zu entdecken, ein Zögern und eine charakteristische Nachdenklichkeit im Ton. Ohne Scheu greift Eick auf kantable Melodien zurück, die noch das Brandzeichen der norwegischen Folklore tragen, verknappt diese indes zu Kürzeln, in denen er alle Girlanden einspart. Leichten Fußes spielt Eick dann, ganz selbstverständlich, strahlend, bisweilen auch schummrig wie durch Nebel oder – dank Harmonizer – in solipsistischem Zwiegesang.
Stefan Hentz, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
It’s rare to hear instrumental music that is almost poetic in its construction. Trumpeter Mathias Eick has a sound that gently beckons and, like softly spoken conversation, you instinctively lean forward to catch every gesture. One you’ll listen to on repeat to fathom its subtle meanings.
Stuart Nicholson, The Observer Music Monthly
There is a mood of introspection as the musicians work around a delicate pulse, as in the opening title track, seeking out the poignant intervals and harmonies which are something of a trade mark, before raising the temperature with dissonant ensemble chords – and then retreating into sparse, minimalist statements. They surround their sound with silence, creating a spectral kind of beauty. You must listen to this as intently as its creators to experience its understated power.
Anthony Troon, Jazzreview
With his warm tone, selfless allegiance to the collective and personal nexus of lyrical form and freedom, Eick is the most important trumpeter to emerge from the Scandinavian scene since Henriksen and Molvær. Dogmatic in conception, The Door is all human in nature, delivering mightily on the promise of Eick’s earlier ECM appearances.
John Kelman, All About Jazz
His tone is plaintive and spare; like all good bandleaders, his focus is on the interaction of his musicians, who include pianist Jon Balke, drummer Audun Kleive, electric bassist Audun Erlien and pedal-steel guitarist Stian Carstensen. Eick … is still in his 20s, but his patient style suggests maturity beyond his years. So, too, do his eight original compositions. … Eick seemingly resists the urge to wail. The contrast of his restraint and the energy around him constitutes the album’s driving tension.
Steve Greenlee, JazzTimes
While many still search for a personal voice at 28, Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick has developed a distinctive esthetic while working with a homegrown team. With The Door, his ECM debut as a leader, he’s taken a group of well-known Norwegian musicians … and fashioned a sound that capitalizes on individual strengths while using a dogmatic approach to discourage falling into comfort zones.
John Kelman, DownBeat
Der Norweger Mathias Eick gilt als großes Talent des europäischen Jazz. Zu Recht: Mit seinem Debüt The Door knüpft der Trompeter dort an, wo er sich zuletzt mit Manu Katché auf dessen Album Playground bewegt hatte: in den gediegenen Songstrukturen eines innovativ instrumentierten Jazz, der nur selten die Funktionsharmonik verlässt. Eick ist kein Freund schneller Läufe oder eines gequetschten Tons. Lyrische Artikulation und konsequente Entwicklung seiner zuweilen an Garbarek gemahnenden Melodiebögen sind ihm das Entscheidende.
Alessandro Topa, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Ein überragender neuer Jazztrompeter aus dem Norden: Mathias Eicks Debüt versinnbildlicht aufs Schönste den Generationen überbrückenden Zusammenhalt der norwegischen Jazzszene. … Nichts eilig Beflissenes oder gar Effekthascherisches, stattdessen souveräne Gelassenheit, milde Lyrizismen, wundervoll wachsende und sich einfräsende Melodien, die Magie weiter, nicht zugestellter Räume mit Startrampen für schwelgerische Improvisationen und ein individuell charakteristischer, klar identifizierbarer, markanter und neuer Ton.
Ulrich Steinmetzger, Rheinischer Merkur
Trumpeter Mathias Eick, in the first album released under his own name, focuses all the qualities that have made him a musician to be reckoned with in and around jazz of the last decade. “The Door” is distinguished by vaulting lyricism and clear-edged melodies, a strong sense of ambient space in the writing, and edge and excitement and openness to improvisation. The 28-year-old Norwegian cites Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvaer as influences upon his stylistic evolution as a soloist yet “The Door” (recorded in Oslo’s Rainbow and Cabin Recorders studios in September 2007) also confirms that Mathias Eick has found his own characteristic and readily-identifiable voice.
Eick’s spacious pieces allow plenty of free range for Jon Balke, whose resourcefulness as pianist, always taking the path less trodden, is in evidence throughout the album. Balke’s playing, in a rare sideman role, is one of the pleasures of “The Door”. Orchestrator par excellence in presentations of his own music (particularly with Magnetic North), Balke the pianist is effectively an arranger-in-action here, continually opening up fresh perspectives inside Eick’s robust ballads and mid-tempo pieces.
Eick’s spacious pieces allow plenty of free range for Jon Balke, whose resourcefulness as pianist, always taking the path less trodden, is in evidence throughout the album. Balke’s playing, in a rare sideman role, is one of the pleasures of “The Door”. Orchestrator par excellence in presentations of his own music (particularly with Magnetic North), Balke the pianist is effectively an arranger-in-action here, continually opening up fresh perspectives inside Eick’s robust ballads and mid-tempo pieces.
| YEAR | DATE | VENUE | LOCATION | |
| 2026 | August 28 | Musica Sulle Bocche | Alghero, Italy | |
| 2026 | October 21 | Fasching | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| 2026 | October 22 | Unterfahrt | Munich, Germany | |
| 2026 | October 23 | Enjoy Jazz Festival | Schwetzingen, Germany | |
| 2026 | October 24 | Jamboree | Warsaw, Poland | |
| 2026 | October 25 | Triskel Arts Centre | Cork, Ireland | |
| 2026 | November 13 | Jazz Festival | Nowy Sacz, Poland | |
| 2026 | November 14 | PalmJazz Festival | Gliwice, Poland | |
| 2026 | November 15 | Philharmonic Hall | Jelenia Góra, Poland | |
| 2026 | November 20 | Ullensaker Kulturhus | Jessheim, Norway | |
| 2027 | May 10 | Lutoslawski Concert Hall | Warsaw, Poland | |
| 2027 | May 11 | NOSPR Concert Hall | Katowice, Poland | |
| 2027 | May 12 | Theatre | Lublin, Poland | |
| 2027 | May 13 | Zamek Cultural Center | Katowice, Poland | |
| 2027 | May 15 | tba | Den Bosch, Netherlands | |
| 2027 | May 28 | KAAP Kunstencentrum | Brugge, Belgium |
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