There is no doubt that Germany is the sleeping giant of the European jazz scene; there are just so many exceptionally good, original and, yes, exciting young musicians plying their craft under the radar of international attention it only seems a matter of time before recognition comes their way. In 2010 Edgar Knecht seemed poised to make a breakthrough with Good Morning Lilofee, an elegantly crafted, well-executed album that marked him out as someone to watch. He was also a quiet revolutionary since elements and inspiration from German folkloric themes flowed through the eight pieces on the album. So what’s new about that? Sweden, Norway, Finland have been doing it for decades you might say. Well, in Germany this has long been a no-go area, because the Nazis commandeered much of Germany’s folk heritage for propaganda purposes and ever since it has been considered beyond the pale to go near the stuff. One leading German musician, a featured soloist in one of the radio big bands and an ACT recording artist told me it may be two or three more generations before German musicians would feel comfortable using folkloric sources. Instead, many German jazz musicians have tended to take inspiration from their not inconsiderable classical tradition – until Knecht. With Dance on Deep Waters – I suspect there is more in that title than initially meets the eye – he again turns to the German folkloric heritage, but this time kicks the door down flat to open a shaft of sunlight on a centuries old tradition. Conceptually this album is faultless – some of the tunes are refracted through the prism of bebop, ‘Früling’, or the latin inspired ‘Gedankenfreiiheit’, but the album’s centre is Knecht’s interpretive mastery, eloquent musicianship and sheer creativity that makes this album sing. In Europe, the critics have been falling over themselves with delight since this album came out a few months ago, “Sometimes it’s so good, it makes you cry,“ said Hessische Allgemeine, and you can understand where the reviewer is coming from. Edgar Knecht is a special talent.