Maria Faust Group

The talented Esthonian composer and alto saxophonist has handpicked her septet from the best young Danish jazz musicians. Her band succeeds in combining experimental attitude and free improvisation with refined and intelligent structures into a seamless and appealing whole, which also includes classical and modern rock elements.

Maria Faust comes from the Saarenmaa Island. In 2002 she exchanged classical conductor studies in Tallinn for the jazz department of a Danish conservatoire and has since worked mainly with Danish musicians. On top of The Group, which has so far produced two much-praised albums (Bitchslap Boogie and Warrior Horse) Faust also has a duo and a small combo Pistol nr. 9. In The Group she channels, with original compositions, on one hand Charles Mingus, Ken Vandermark and even Frank Zappa, and on the other classical modernists, like Arvo Pärt, while not forgetting Esthonian folk music and current rock bands, like Radiohead. So the intimately intense band deals simultaneously on several levels.