Herbert Pixner Projekt

The Austrian ensemble Herbert Pixner Projekt fuses longstanding customs with contemporary approaches, delivering a close-knit and animated blend that unites Alpine folk traditions with chamber jazz while also incorporating tango, blues, flamenco, and further styles. Their initial full-length arrived as Blus'n Auf! in 2006, after which the quartet grew markedly more active across the next ten years, issuing multiple studio and concert recordings that examined an array of atmospheres and sonic palettes. After the 2018 outing Lost Elysion ventured into neo-classical rock, the group produced the orchestral concert documents Symphonic Alps Live in 2020 and Symphonic Alps Plugged In in 2021.

Born in Merano, Italy, in 1975, Herbert Pixner grew up on a farm in a modest South Tyrolean settlement. He began with clarinet, then added percussion, the Styrian harmonica (a diatomic button accordion), and eventually tuba and flügelhorn. Numerous orchestras and folk ensembles featured him before he issued his debut solo effort, Frischgepresst, through the Austrian imprint Aktiv Sound Studio in 2002; two tracks included harp contributions from his sister, Heidi Pixner. The siblings subsequently formed Herbert Pixner Trio alongside bassist Werner Unterlercher and delivered Frischgepresst II in 2005. Once guitarist Manuel Randi joined the lineup, Herbert Pixner Projekt came into being.

The quartet’s first full-length, Blus’n Auf!, appeared in 2006, with the holiday collection Frohes Fest! following in 2007. Bauern_Tschäss [Power’n Jazz] emerged in 2010 and Na Und?! arrived in 2012. Pixner established the neo-volksmusik imprint Three Saints Records in 2014, prompting greater productivity from the Projekt, which then issued the studio album Quattro alongside Live Im Konzerthaus Wien 2013 and the double-CD set Schnee Von Gestern, whose narrative was read by actor Charly Rabanser. Two further Projekt releases, Volksmusik! and Summer, surfaced in 2016. Live on Tour came out in 2017, succeeded by the limited compilation Blackboard Edition that gathered the first four Three Saints titles. Geco Tonwaren released Lost Elysion, an ambitious fusion of rock, blues, classical, and polka, in 2018. The Projekt joined forces with the Berliner Symphoniker for the 2020 album Symphonic Alps Live, which was followed in 2021 by Symphonic Alps Plugged In, featuring the Tonkünstler Orchester and Herbert Pichler.