| Jazz |
Vincent Meissner and the Rise of a New European Jazz Voice
In the ever-evolving landscape of European jazz, a new generation of artists is quietly redefining the soundscape, less bound by genre, more focused on expression, experimentation, and storytelling. Among them is Vincent Meissner, a pianist and composer born in the year 2000, whose latest album Eigengrau stands as a compelling testament to both his musical originality and emotional sensitivity. It is not simply jazz that Meissner explores, but a world where borders between classical lyricism, rock-infused intensity, and global rhythms blur into a language entirely his own.
From the first notes of Eigengrau, one senses the presence of a musician not content to imitate his forebears, but driven by a desire to chart his own course. The melodies are carefully sculpted, the aesthetic of each line as considered as a brushstroke in a painting. Meissner surrounds himself with a trio that feels less like accompaniment and more like a tightly interwoven fabric: Josef Zeimetz on bass, Henri Reichmann on drums, two musicians whose interplay with Meissner doesn’t just complement but completes his vision.
His journey began in earnest at the age of sixteen, when he moved to Dresden to attend the State Gymnasium for Music, a crucible for young talent. There, Meissner fed his inner fire with a voracious appetite for musical discovery. His influences are as diverse as they are telling: the cerebral textures of Andrew Hill and Craig Taborn, the searching lyricism of Geri Allen and Marilyn Crispell, the genre-defying energies of Vijay Iyer and Kris Davis. But perhaps most significantly, he’s steeped in the legacy of German jazz, Pablo Held, Achim Kaufmann, Joachim Kühn, voices that have shaped an aesthetic rooted in introspection, rigor, and unorthodox beauty.
Recognition came early. In 2018, Meissner was awarded first prize at both the Jugend Jazzt Solo competition and the Bechstein Piano Competition in Berlin. More accolades followed: in 2020, he took top honors at the International Jazzhaus Piano Competition, and in 2022, he added the Langnau Jazz Piano Competition to his growing list of distinctions. Still, awards only tell part of the story. What sets Meissner apart is not the glitter of trophies but the gravity of his musical voice.
With Eigengrau, his third album, Meissner delves deeper into a language he’s been developing steadily over the years. The word itself refers to the “intrinsic gray” one perceives when the eyes are closed, a darkness that, when pressed by fingers to eyelids, reveals fleeting shapes, shifting forms, images that may or may not be real. “Everyone sees something different,” Meissner explains. “Structures, objects, sometimes nothing at all. That’s exactly what our music offers—a unique image for each listener.”
And it’s true: Eigengrau doesn’t impose meaning; it invites it. With a minimalist sensibility, Meissner and his collaborators, alongside producer Andreas Brandis—favor restraint over excess. The textures are spare yet evocative, the melodies unhurried but urgent. Each note is given space to breathe, to shimmer in the silence before and after. The result is a kind of musical chiaroscuro, a conversation that balances playfulness and precision, levity and depth.
The trio’s live performances crackle with energy, improvisation, risk, and unfiltered emotion. But in the studio, they aim for clarity. There’s an intimacy to this album that feels almost cinematic. One hears not just the notes but the intention behind them. Every chord progression, every rhythmic shift becomes a small act of storytelling.
It’s tempting, as critics often do, to compare Meissner to others, to cite The Bad Plus, Esbjörn Svensson, or his mentor Michael Wollny. Yet ultimately, such comparisons fall short. Meissner’s world is singular. His perspective, shaped by a lifetime of sounds absorbed since childhood, draws from, but transcends, his influences. While he honors the artists who shaped him, he goes further, folding genres into one another with ingenuity and grace. He doesn’t just blend forms—he absorbs them into the fabric of his creative identity.
In the pages of Alexis, or the Treatise of Vain Struggle, the late Marguerite Yourcenar writes: “Music carries me into a world where pain does not cease to exist, but is widened, stilled, made at once calmer and deeper, like a torrent turning into a lake.” These words come unbidden when listening to Meissner’s compositions.
There is pain, yes, but not despair. There is struggle, but also illumination. His music touches something elemental. It reaches the quiet corners of the soul and brings back not answers, but better questions.
With Eigengrau, Vincent Meissner has crafted not just a record, but a space, intimate and infinite, where listeners are free to wander, reflect, and, perhaps, see something of themselves in the shadows.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, June 1st 2025
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Musicians :
Vincent Meissner – piano
Josef Zeimetz – bass
Henri Reichmann – drums
Tracklist:
01 Supernumb
02 Gemeinsam Erkunden
03 Nothing Compares 2 U
04 Manja
05 Be Yellow
06 Oknok
07 Palma Amore
08 Anthem
09 Separator