Enemy
Enemy
KIT DOWNES piano
PETTER ELDH bass
JAMES MADDREN drums
Paul Acket Award 2024 for Kit Downes
German Jazz Award 2024 for Petter Eldh
A breathless, high-wire performance of constant invention.
All About Jazz
On Tour – available dates
ENEMY is the Berlin/London based trio bursting with charisma and energy, consisting of pianist Kit Downes, bassist Petter Eldh and drummer James Maddren. Described as ‘fiercely intense’ and ‘beautifully intricate’ by the UK’s Guardian, their two past records ‘ENEMY’ (Edition) and ‘Vermillion’ (ECM) spotlight three brilliant and creative musical minds, all equally committed to the exploration of constantly morphing new horizons. Their music is the creative counterpart to the often rather romantic piano trio:ENEMY is about intensity and complexity – cryptic rhythms and “wonky beats” with light speed intensity and high energy – written to deliberately push the musicians to their limits – both creatively and technically. The music is powerful, complex and edgy, with changing pulse and dynamics, sweeping piano runs, rip-roaring grooves and polyrhythmic drumming – but then again full of catchy melodies and captivating poetry. ENEMY is uncompromising, physicality, playfulness and extravagance.Each member of ENEMY has achieved personal recognition in the jazz and music world in general (including a Mercury Music Award nomination, an ECHO Jazz nomination, several Downbeat Critics Poll nominations, a BBC Jazz Award and a German Jazz Award).The current album “The Betrayal” (WeJazz), released in September 2023, shows this trio full of contradictions once again searching for the perfect balance of lyrical diligence, intensity, eruptive outbursts and harsh contrasts – playing together live at a level that is rarely heard.
Kit Downes has received the BBC Jazz Award and has been nominated for the Mercury Music Award. The sensitive, versatile pianist and organist has written commissions f.e. for Cheltenham Music Festival, Cologne Philharmonic and the London Contemporary Orchestra. His musical world travels have taken him to the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Cathedral of Lausanne, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin and St. Olaf’s in Minneapolis (USA).
He holds a fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he himself studied and now teaches. He has twice been awarded 1st place in Downbeat’s Critics Poll Rising Star for Organ and Keyboard categories respectively, and his ECM records ‘Obsidian‘, ‘Dreamlife of Debris‘ and ‘Vermillion‘ have been released to much critical acclaim.
The Swedish bass player Petter Eldh was obsessed with Jazz, Classical, Soul, Reggae, Swedish folk music, Middle-Eastern and Hip Hop at an early age and collected vinyl since the age of 7. He initially played the guitar before switching to what became his primary instrument, the double bass. Early influences such as Charles Mingus, Anders Jormin, Charlie Haden, Charlie Parker, A Tribe Called Quest, Monica Zetterlund, Aretha Franklin and Earth Wind & Fire have guided his diverse output as a musician.
Long-standing collaborations include the following erratic and progressive forces:
Kit Downes, James Maddren, Jameszoo, Otis Sandsjö (Y-Otis), Lucia Cadotsch Speak Low, Mette Rasmussen, Peter Evans, Hayden Chisholm, Gard Nilssen, Peter Bruun, Christian Lillinger and Kaja Draksler. He is also a sought-after producer.
In 2024 he won the German Jazz Prize in the category “string instruments”.
James Maddren is a London-based drummer and composer who hails from Horsham, Sussex, where at age 11 started school at Christ’s Hospital performing in many contrasting bands and orchestras. In 2004 while still at school he traveled to London to study with Jim Hart, who Maddren cites as a significant early influence and inspiration. He went on to study jazz percussion at the Royal Academy of Music with Martin France. Graduating in 2009 with a 1st class degree James was also given ‘The Principal’s Award For Outstanding Studentship’. Currently one of the UK’s (and increasingly Mainland Europe’s) first-call young drummers, he enjoys listening to and performing all kinds of music and has shared the stage with many artists and ensembles, including the Gwilym Simcock, Jacob Collier, Marc Copland/Stan Sulzman Quartet, Nikkie Iles, Norma Winstone, among others. James has been working with Kit Downes since his college days and is the rhythmic backbone of most of the pianist’s projects.
…this was a breathless, hight-wire performance of constant invention.
ALLABOUTJAZZ
A strikingly vital, fiery and intense group that will undoubtedly appeal to jazz lovers
WRITTEN IN JAZZ
You could get lost in Downes’ fleeting musings, Maddren’s freewheeling, polyrhythmic guile or Eldh’s athletic Q&A, but it was only when your ears were tuned into the collective Sturm und Drang that the real thrill was revealed.
ALLABOUTJAZZ
They act like atoms searching for each other in infinite space to form molecules. A primordial musical state in whose development the listener can actively participate.
JAZZTHING
Vermillion’ is fuelled by the attentively subtle commonality of the characters, chamber-jazzy and energetic without having to show off. An enraptured and at the same time present music.
RALF DOMBROWSKI
Enemy is a delight in its intersection of artistry and technicality, but it’s even more brilliant in its authenticity.
DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
At the end of the first evening, Kit Downes’ trio “Enemy” summarised the extent of captivating complexity that jazz can offer today. What Downes on piano and Hammond organ, Frans Petter Eldh on bass and James Maddren on drums were up to defies description. As if they were in possession of Jorge Luis Borges’ “Aleph”, each of the three seems to be at every possible point in the harmonic, melodic and, above all, rhythmic universe at the same time. The paradox is that in this web of permanent disorientation, everything seems to be in its right place. You understand nothing and yet everything makes sense. Stunning.
JAZZZEITUNG
a formidable trio – three musicians at the top of their game
JAZZWISE MAGAZINE