There’s a smile tucked into Sullivan Fortner’s music. It lives beneath the technical brilliance, in his agile hands and deep jazz intuition – and it carries all the way from New Orleans to our stage in Stockholm. His latest album Southern Nights, recorded after a weeklong residency at the legendary Village Vanguard, is a dreamy Southern homage – to Allen Toussaint and Clifford Brown, to ballad drama and Monkish angles. His playing moves with ease between featherlight lyricism and sharp-edged complexity – always with a musical presence and laid-back authority that only comes from total command.
Fortner arrives at Fasching with two of the most compelling voices on the New York scene right now – bassist Tyrone Allen and drummer Kayvon Gordon. Named Rising Star Jazz Group in the 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll, this trio doesn’t play it safe – they play with ears wide open and full-force intent. This won’t be a polished jazz recital. It’ll be three artists twisting, stretching and testing the material until it glows. And creaks. Just like it should.
Line-up
Sullivan Fortner – piano
Tyrone Allen – double bass
Kayvon Gordon – drums
