As founder and artistic director of Jazzfest Bonn, Peter Materna is ideally situated to pick out, evaluate and assimilate the latest vanguard trends in jazz.

This new release represents an interesting experiment for the German saxophonist in that regard. Materna has 30 years’ experience to his name as a performer and recording artist, and has been leading a quartet for the past couple of decades. Lockdown gave him the time and space to compose the material that makes up The Kiss, and also to assemble a new inter-generational trio which sees him working alongside a young and extremely talented (both have won the Hamburg Jazz Prize) rhythm section consisting of bassist Lisa Wulff and drummer Silvan Strauß. The results are beguiling, low-key in tone but full of great, intricate detail, and boasting some memorable snaking sax melody lines – ‘Dancing-A’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘343’ – which his collaborators help to evolve and elaborate in novel and rewarding fashion.