About the album

With his project 'plays greatest hits', Gero Koerner forges a link between the traditional playing of swing era master pianists and the contemporary stylings of a "classic" jazz line-up. In doing so, he uses his own arrangements of pop hits from the last 40 years.

By using such an unusual repertoire for this style of music, he has managed to present the pieces in a much clearer light. The pianist has never been one for compartmentalised musical thinking, and he feels at home in all popular musical styles. He is inspired by the technically masterful yet understated and thoroughly witty attitude found in this form of music.

For the album Gero Koerner Trio 'plays greatest hits', he managed to get two musicians from the WDR Big Band on board: John Goldsby on double bass, and Hans Dekker on drums. This excellently rehearsed and totally adaptable rhythm section forms the perfect complement to the pianist's communicative playing style. With their free-thinking but stylistically impeccable playing, the trio are constantly showing the pieces in a different light, and revealing new aspects which the listener would not expect at all.

It's clear that this type of music isn't dependent on the so-called "standards", those pieces which have been around for sixty years or more. Even contemporary hits – and that's exactly what jazz standards were in their day – allow you to create up-to-date swing jazz. It's music that bases itself on traditions, but which doesn't close itself off from modern developments.