In the organizer's words:

Julian Lage

Presented by Emerged Agency
11.05.2026 Cologne, Die Kantine
Event: 19:00 hrs | Start: 20:00 hrs

In the last days of 2024, Julian Lage began what he calls a "writing sprint". Lage has long been prolific: In the three decades since the documentary "Jules at Eight" identified him as a child prodigy, Lage has recorded a dozen albums with his own bands and duos and three times as many with leading figures in his artistic milieu such as John Zorn, Gary Burton and Charles Lloyd. But Lage was preparing for a four-day residency at SFJAZZ, as well as the premiere of a new quartet of old colleagues and friends who, oddly enough, had never recorded together: Lage with dependable bassist Jorge Roeder, dynamic drummer Kenny Wollesen and acclaimed keyboardist John Medeski. Thinking about their qualities as musicians and hypothesizing how they might interact, he set a timer for 20 minutes, wrote a melody, recorded it once and then started over.

Lage named a particular tune he liked during this sprint "Storyville". Its fast, flickering riff felt like an invitation to conversation, exactly what he hopes to get out of such a sprint. "My dream in composing is really to have something to talk about when we're together," he says. "It's not the be-all and end-all, but it's important." Listening to what the quartet created with the piece in the studio is like watching a pot of boiling water, seeing not the chaos but the order, the way each molecule pushes against the other with a purpose.

That's the spirit of Scenes from Above, Lage's second full-length album with producer Joe Henry and his first with this formidable quartet. While 2024 Speak to Me was Lage's big statement as an improvising bandleader capable of leading a relatively large ensemble through a diverse set of pieces, Scenes from Above is about being a band member himself, about Lage exploring the pieces he's written with a crew he's assembled for that very purpose. The nine tracks provide a framework for a brilliantly open experience, with four amazing musicians giving and taking space in equal measure as they explore these songs in one room and in real time.