Peu de jazzmen européens parviennent à combiner respect des traditions du jazz américain et interprétation personnelle. Jürgen Hagenlocher y arrive avec son cœur et son âme dans ce "Leap In The Dark". Evoluer vers des sonorités encore inconnues n’est pas sans risques, mais le résultat peut aussi être intensément inspirant et excitant comme c'est le cas ici. À travers huit nouvelles compositions amples, sophistiquées mais accessibles, le saxophoniste raconte un authentique modern jazz New Yorkais à apprécier avec tous les sens. Le jazz prend vie quand des musiciens au vécu commun utilisent ensemble un espace sur la base d'un art bien développé de la composition pour le structurer et l’embellir. Quand le leader a également l'intelligence de choisir des musiciens qui partagent sa vision du son, la musique devient un événement.

There are not many European jazz musicians who can deal respectfully with jazz steeped in American tradition and know how to interpret it in their own style at the same time. One person who has dedicated himself to so doing with heart and soul is Jürgen Hagenlocher. He calls his new CD "Leap In The Dark" for a good reason. This leap into the unknown was worth the effort. Getting involved in the unknown and developing music from different viewpoints and backgrounds contains a certain amount of risk, but it can also produce an extremely inspiring and exciting result as is the case here. Each piece tells its own story and fascinates thanks to an authentic New Yorker sound – modern jazz to savor with all your senses. "Leap In The Dark" is proof in sound for a fact that applies unchanged: jazz is created when a group of experts with a lot of shared experience uses the space provided as kindred spirits and on the basis of a well-developed art of composition to structure and adorn that space. When the leader also has a very special gift of selecting his fellow musicians in such a way that they fit into his idea of sound as a matter of course, then music becomes an event.