Sheen Trio (49. Leipziger Jazztage)

"Sheen" is the sixteenth letter in the Persian alphabet. It is the first letter of Shabnam Parvaresh's first name - and a tribute to her native Iran.

Her musical career began at the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. She came to Germany in 2014 to study jazz clarinet. The composer's origins are reflected not only in her name, but also in the trio's music.

She has a love-hate relationship with Iranian music, says Parvaresh. The regime misuses it for propaganda purposes, but she still misses this part of her past. Some of the pieces on her debut "Gozar" are inspired by Persian traditions. At the same time, the album tells of the intercultural influences in an only seemingly isolated regime: of frustratingly slow music downloads in the nineties and the banned Ella Fitzgerald records of her parents.

The composer Parvaresh impressively demonstrates how versatile the bass clarinet is. At times it chirps like a bird or is reminiscent of a flute, only to sound terribly wistful the next moment and then as if it is rebelling against the musician herself.

In English, "sheen" has another meaning: brilliance. And that also aptly describes the three-piece constellation. Together with guitarist Ula Martyn-Ellis and Philipp Buck on drums, new aspects of the compositions, influenced by rock, classical and experimental music, sparkle and shimmer again and again.