The Deadeye trio was founded by three well-known figures on the European jazz scene: guitarist Reinier Baas, keyboardist Kit Downes, and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel. Their third album enhances the colours of contemporary jazz with influences from jazz rock, blues, British folk, and 20th-century classical music. Although they build on traditions, they are also constantly transcending them: Downes often plays the Hammond like a church organ, Baas references the guitar's legacy across genres, and Burgwinkel’s beats lean into the avant-garde and early drum and bass / Squarepusher era. The result is a wide-scope, elusive musical material: ethereal textures, undulating yet danceable rhythms, and angular melodies are complemented by a fondness for improvisation and the unexpected.
Reinier Baas is one of the most prominent jazz musicians of the Dutch middle generation, who has achieved great success as Ben van Gelder's duo partner and as a member of Bughouse and Paradox Dreambox, among others.
Kit Downes, a BBC Jazz Award-winning keyboardist who releases many of his albums on ECM Records, has traveled the world both with his own bands (Enemy, Troyka, Elt, Vyamanikal) and with musicians such as Norma Winstone or Django Bates. In recent years, he has strengthened his collaboration with BMC Records: he plays on the recently released first album and the upcoming second album of the Shadowlands trio, as well as on an album by Szelest, alongside Ronny Graupe and Lucia Cadotsch.
Jonas Burgwinkel worked with such greats as John Scofield, Chris Potter, Uri Caine, and Dave Liebman; he is currently touring as a member of Besson/Sternal/Burgwinkel, the Pablo Held Trio, and Source Direct. He had also appeared in the BMC Records catalogue earlier, as drummer of the first part of Hans Lüdemann's monumental, ECHO Music Prize-winning five-disc release, Die Kunst des Trios.

Artists

Reinier Baas – guitar
Kit Downes – Hammond organ
Jonas Burgwinkel – drums

About the album

Recorded by Clemens Orth at Salon de Jazz, Cologne on January 20 & 21, 2025
Mixed by Kit Downes
Mastered by Martin Ruch at CONTROL ROOM BERLIN

Artwork by Juliane Schütz