We'll Rise Anke Helfrich

• 1Time Will Tell08:32
• 2Prologue-Colors of Frida01:44
• 3La Oscura05:30
• 4Cos I'm Free08:49
• 5Miniature-La Speranza Di Cabiria01:19
• 6Enfin Dans La Lumière05:22
• 7Secret of Photo 5106:11
• 8We'll Rise06:39
• 9The-Nell-Nica06:07
• 10Sophisticated Lady02:48
• Total Runtime53:01

Info for We'll Rise

Helfrich spent her childhood in Namibia. That's why her music is about positioning, visibility, attitude, her album "Dedication" for example bows to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and her current programme "We'll Rise" in turn is dedicated to making women visible as empowerment and draws the listener's attention to successes of various female artists not only musically but also off stage in their lives as women in different societies.

Anke Helfrich reveals, "I am very excited to announce the release of my new album in October 2023 on Enja Records! With my fantastic trio consisting of Dietmar Fuhr on bass, Jens Düppe on drums and the great special guest Adrian Mears on trombone and didgeridoo, we have recorded exclusively my own compositions."

This album is dedicated to making women visible as empowerment and draws the listener's attention to the lives or successes of various forgotten female artists.

"Ms Helfrich spent her childhood in Namibia. Insiders have known her since she won the national prize at "Jugend jazzt" (1987). Since then, she has been showered with awards and prizes, most recently receiving the ECHO JAZZ in 2016 in the category "Instrumentalist of the Year National - Piano/Keyboards". Her album "Better times ahead" (with the American star trumpeter Roy Hargrove), which was highly praised by the press, stayed at No. 3 in the German charts for weeks. In and with her music, she is also concerned with positioning, making visible, taking a stand. Her album "Dedication", for example, bows to Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Their current programme "We'll Rise", on the other hand, is dedicated to making women visible as empowerment and draws the listener's attention to the lives and successes of various forgotten female artists who have been groundbreaking not only musically but also off-stage through their life's work. The current band consists of Anke and her trio; Dietmar Fuhr plays bass, Jens Düppe drums and special guest Adrian Mears plays trombone and didgeridoo. Ms. Helfrich's singing is primarily sprechgesang, I would have wished for more melody. The pieces seem improvised and spontaneous. The trombone solos are convincing, otherwise "We'll rise" doesn't appeal to me very much." (er-em-online.de)

Anke Helfrich, piano, vocals
Adrian Mears, trombone, didgeridoo
Dietmar Fuhr, double bass
Jens Düppe, drums

Anke Helfrich
Having grown up in Namibia and Germany, the pianist Anke Helfrich is now one of the outstanding female jazz musicians in Europe. After studying at the "Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten" in the Netherlands, she went to New York on a scholarship and took lessons with the renowned pianists Kenny Barron and Larry Goldings. She won numerous prizes, including the "European Jazz Competition", the "Hennessy Jazz Search" and the "Muddy's Club Award". In 2003 she was the first recipient of the "Jazzpreis der Stadt Worms".

Her debut album "You'll see" (with guest soloist Mark Turner on saxophone) was nominated for the Quarterly Prize of the German Record Critics. So was her CD "Better times ahead" (with the American star trumpeter Roy Hargrove), which was highly praised by the press and was number 3 in the German jazz charts for weeks. In May 2007 she was invited as one of five finalists to the M.L.Williams Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, played solo concerts in Luxembourg, Lucerne and Hamburg and toured in China (with the band of Danish trumpeter Jens Winther), Malaysia and Italy. Her 3rd production entitled "Stormproof" was released in 2009 on the renowned label Enja Records (with bassist Henning Sieverts, drummer Dejan Terzic and trombonist Nils Wogram) and was enthusiastically received by the press.

She toured with the well-known New York women's big band "Diva" and presented her trio at the ElbJazzFestival, Jazz Baltica, the Bonner Klaviersommer and festivals in Italy and Switzerland, among others. Anke Helfrich has played with, among others. with Johnny Griffin, Jimmy Woode, Benny Bailey, Roy Hargrove, Mark Turner, Nils Landgren, Tony Lakatos, Jens Winther, Nils Wogram, John Marshal, Stacy Rowles, Robert Bonisolo, J Kyle Gregory, Adrien Mears, Claus Stötter, Dave Glasser, Gianni Basso, Keith Copeland, Johannes Weidenmueller, Jochen Rueckert, Peter Weniger, Martin Gjakonovski, Henning Sieverts, Dejan Terzic, Manu Katché, Lars Daniellson.

Since 1999 she has been a lecturer at the Musikhochschule Mannheim and gives jazz workshops in Germany and abroad. Her tours have taken her to Spain, Italy, France, Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania, USA, China, Malaysia, South Africa and Namibia.

This album contains no booklet.