If one were to describe Martin Reiter with just a few words, the most fitting would be multitudinous, innovative, and virtuoso. The native-born Viennese musician is a musical free spirit, considered essentially an instrumental composer who is not afraid to perpetually cross boundaries and reinvent himself and evolve his music without qualm. His sonic language is without parallel and finds infinite expression within the acoustic, as well as, the supra- and sub-acoustic spheres of the audible spectrum—he is does not think much about repeating himself. He confronts the listener with unconventional sonic landscapes and is never content to wallow cautiously through popular and conventional musical forms or expectations. Driven by his ambition and curiosity to create something unusual, he finds himself in the company of only a select few, which can, with the same implicitness so easily and masterfully, open the listener into an undiscovered world of his musical expression.
Martin Reiter is multi-faceted performer who finds expression through a plethora of projects. He is the master of providing exactly the called for nuance and style of playing, in whichever position he may find himself in; whether it be a virtuoso performance right up front, experimental meanderings, or mellifluous and sensitive underscoring, Reiter can both dissolve and catalyze seemingly any musical pathway called for or necessitated by mood, composition and group. One thing which he doesn’t do: follow and copy traditional and over-used standards, which he has continually proven throughout his career and which has been reflected by the many illustrious awards he has received. These include the “Austrian Young Lions” Award in 2002, in 2005 he received the Hans Koller prize in the category “Newcomer of the Year” and in 2008 “best CD of the year” (“ALMA”). He continues exploring styles and modes of expression through any and all genres and classifications of music, and it is this openness and also capriciousness, which puts this pianist in his a class-to-himself.
Since 2008 he has been active in three main projects: Firstly, the 2008 co-founded with Andi Tausch collective, THE FLOW, a groove-based Jazz oriented group. Secondly the group THE OULIPIANS, a Soul/Jazz-Fusion ensemble founded by Austrian-born, in New York active drummer and composer, Gernot Bernroider. Lastly, his solo project, from which he most currently released a CD “ Impressions & Inventions”(2011). When he isn’t involved in a project Martin Reiter dedicates his time to arranging and composing, most recently the preparation of songs from Kurt Weill, for the Universal Edition.
It is clearly ecident that Martin Reiter is talented, and no matter as a solo artist , as one musician in a group, or even only as an arranger, he is always an artist and often one step ahead of his time. With his ability to always re-invent himself and stay fresh, we can except to hear more enticing music from him long into the future.
http://www.martinreiter.com/