This passion project by David Helbock, in which the „young lions“ of Austrian jazz meet one of the most sought-after sidemen in the international jazz scene of the past decades, captivates with plenty of percussion and groove, and most notably, with many keyboards and other keyboard instruments, in the spirit of Austria's most successful jazz musician - Joe Zawinul.

The American jazz pianist Peter Madsen, "a well-kept secret favorite among piano enthusiasts" (Jazztimes), can look back on a successful career spanning over 40 years. In 1987, he achieved his first breakthrough when world star Stan Getz invited him to join his band to tour the US and Europe. Since then, Peter has played with the "who's who" of the jazz scene - with traditional musicians such as Benny Golson or Stanley Turrentine, with modern musicians such as Chris Potter, Joe Lovano, or Kenny Garrett, with free-jazzers such as Dewey Redman and Don Cherry, or in his over 30-year collaboration with funk legends such as Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. In 2001, Peter moved from New York to Austria, where he met 16-year-old David Helbock, already an exceptional talent on the piano, and became his teacher, mentor, and friend. 

 In this joint project, Peter Madsen and David Helbock now bring the best rhythm section that Austria has to offer in jazz on board for their "Austrian Syndicate.“ 

Raphael Preuschl and Herbert Pirker have been a well-rehearsed team for over 20 years and the most sought-after bass-drum duo in Vienna, and David Helbock has played hundreds of concerts worldwide with them as a trio.

The quintet is refined by the percussion skills of Claudio Spieler, who has gone a similar way as David Helbock and studied with the Afghan master drummer Hakim Ludin in the traditional master-apprentice relationship at a young age, and now performs as well on the big stages with artists like Konstantin Wecker or Martin Grubinger.

 The new album, which was released by ACT in mid-2023, also features many international jazz stars as guests - companions of Peter Madsen, David Helbock, and even Joe Zawinul himself. Thus, the new album features guest appearances by Alex Acuña, Lakecia Benjamin, Maria João, Fred Wesley & Dhafer Youssef.

This temperament, this voice, this feeling, this mischievousness, this variety - simply ravishing is the French jazz singer Camille Bertault. The 35-year-old is considered one of the greatest European vocal discoveries of recent decades. Today she is celebrated, but her success is actually based on a flop. She made the best of it. When she failed an exam at the Paris Conservatory, she recorded a version of Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' with self-deprecating French lyrics out of spite and posted a video on Facebook. It was shared more than 700,000 times and commented on enthusiastically - the viral start of a huge career.

And now in this new duo, Camille meets Austrian pianist David Helbock - a magician on the keys and inside the piano. David Helbock is a multiple prize winner of the world's largest jazz piano solo competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and in 2011 he was awarded the most important federal funding prize - the "Outstanding Artist Award". He is also very active as a composer and has, among other things, published a "Personal Realbook", a compositional project in which he wrote a new piece every day for a year - 365 compositions and over 600 pages of music.

David Helbock got this idea of a "composed musical calendar" from the legendary Brazilian musician Hermeto Pascoal, who also realized such a project in 1996 - and here the musical worlds of Camille and David meet - in the love for Hermeto's music and Brazilian sounds in general. But not only that - irresistibly the two shuttle between pure jazz numbers, chansons, pop, classical music and their own compositions. At the end of May 2022, a joint album was released on the renowned German label ACT Music, which was celebrated by the international press and even received one of the very rare 5* reviews from the world's most important jazz magazine "Downbeat".

More than 20 instruments on stage, but just three musicians: David Helbock, Outstanding Artist Award Winner in Austria, mainly plays on instruments with keys. Johannes Bär does all the brass, from trumpet to bassflügelhorn and tuba and Andreas Broger plays wind-instruments like saxophones, clarinets and flutes.

For their new program, which will be released as a CD on the renowned Label ACT Music, David Helbock got inspired by his favorite jazzpianoplayers and arranged their most famous tunes for this special line-up. So new, exciting versions of Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock or Bolivia by Cedar Walton emerged - but also soft, atmospheric pieces like Keith Jarrett´s My Song shine like new.

Over the years „Random/Control“ has developed a really distinct bandsound. Always different raw material - Austrian folkmusic, original compositions (in 2009 David Helbock had a big compositional project, where he wrote one piece every day for a whole year) and now these „Pianoplayer´s Hits", the band always sounds like „Random/Control“ - a ride on the rollercoaster for the ear and the eye. 
Or like Roland Spiegel from the bavarian radio wrote already years ago: 

"I think this musician with his „pianocap“ is one of the most exciting players of the young european jazz scene. The listener experiences something new when David Helbock plays. And it ́s never „top-heavy“ music – it ́s music that thrills the body and the mind"

Roland Spiegel - BR

Three renowned bandleaders & solo artists of European jazz come together to form a very special trio.

What unites them is the love for clear themes, melodies, harmonies, with a strong rhythmic grounding. Qualities that originate in the cool jazz of the 40s and 50s which philosophy the trio continues using the jazz vocabulary of today.

The new program „Playing John Williams“ is his 4th solopiano album after the releases „Emotions“ (2003), „Time" (2007) und „Purple“ (2012).
Since 2016 David Helbock is an exclusive artist with the well-known, german jazz label ACT-Music with whom he released already two albums - „Into the Mystic“ (2016) and „Tour d´Horizon“ (2018).
This third CD on ACT now is a solopiano album which is released end of august 2019.

On this album David Helbock deals with the music of John Williams, one of the most famous film music composers of all time, who wrote nearly all the music to Steven Spielberg´s Blockbusters.
David Helbock connects seamlessly to two of his projects in the past.
On the CD „Purple“ (Traumton - 2012) the pianist dealt with compositions of the famous popartist Prince and already back then transfered and reduced Pop Culture into his unique and creative solopiano language and on the CD „Into the Mystic“ (ACT - 2016) David Helbock, who was awarded the most important prize of Austria - the „Outstanding Artist Award“ in 2011, dealt with mystical stories from different mythologies together with his trio with bassukulele and drums.
Already back then the trio touched the music of John Williams and played an arrangement of the film music of Star Wars - a film full of cross connections between different mythological elements.

Film music from blockbusters like „Indiana Jones“, „Harry Potter“ to „Jaws“ or „Schindler´s List“ are reduced to their essence and shine like new in unique, creative and jazzy solopiano arrangements.

List of all Releases

(click on Image for more Infos)