“Playground” is the brand new band project by the Cologne-based guitarist Markus Segschneider, who wrote all the compositions for the quartet. Segschneider is mostly known to the public as an acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. And now he has fulfilled a long-held dream to simultaneously expand his expressive spectrum within the context of a larger ensemble again. The music here is individual and modern, and does encompass some ingredients that seek to make contact with all the virtues of classical jazz-rock or progressive rock. Virtuosically concatenated sections melds with lofty melodies, while dense textures produced by guitars and keyboards are driven forward by a variety of grooves. And yet, there is enough space for solo flights of fancy, giving the name “Playground” a double meaning. Segschneider carefully selected his co-musicians. They have all been fixtures in the jazz and jazz rock scene - Clemens Orth (keyboards), Rainer Wind (E-bass), Ulf Stricker (drums).
