Book · Harmonik in der Jazzimprovisation (Harmony in Jazz Improvisation)
“This is not only a very well-structured textbook that makes things enormously easier to understand, but also an accomplished survey of everything that has shaped jazz harmony, past and present.”
Jazzpodium 2/2022 on Harmonik in der Jazzimprovisation
CD · World Tour
“ … As on all his earlier recordings, Petzold has once again delivered, with his original and likeable compositions, a slice of grooving and highly intelligent mainstream jazz that meets high standards of quality, without travesty or tacked-on clichés – music that sounds authentic and honest, and in which you can tell that its creator truly felt it this way.
Petzold’s improvisations are listening improvisations; they manage without redundancy, and their inner logic of development can always be followed. He presents his playing with a very direct tone and a sometimes slightly laid-back beat, which lends his improvisations even more tension and a touch of cheek, but never aggression. And a superbly attuned rhythm section does the rest to make this recording a success – Matthias Petzold truly deserves to be better known.”
Jazzpodium 3/2016 on the CD World Tour by the band “Hochhäuser”
CD · Wellen
“Although the band is only a quartet, it creates an extremely varied sound picture, like a large orchestra. In the first part the playing is relaxed and swings pleasantly. It has great clarity and rolls purposefully forward like a train on its rails. The pieces feature strongly varying rhythms, and Petzold’s witty, warm saxophone playing makes the sound very soft and melodic. In the second part the atmosphere is more rock-oriented, but the band takes its time for the wonderfully soulful ballad ‘Die Stunde des Diebes’.
The Finnish jazz magazine Jazzrytmit on the CD Wellen by the band Hochhäuser (6/2013)
CD · Mirrors
[…] The very taut and complex compositions, which work through an almost extravagant wealth of ideas, drive the music forward at a positively breathtaking pace; only the combo improvisations, which act as a kind of reflective layer on the compositions, give the listener a chance to pause and take in what has gone before. […]
At the end of what is probably Petzold’s most demanding and most unwieldy work, a real treat rewards the listener’s concentration: a movement for saxophone quartet that works with a Shakespeare sonnet, with Petzold himself among the players. With its intimacy and lyrical introspection it forms an almost beguiling counterpart to the expressive fury of the orchestral suite.
Jazzpodium 5/2013 on the CD Mirrors
CD · Mirrors
[…] A primal force broke through, unshielded … At first the crushing weight of an aggressive tangle of voices left no room for sensitivity. The power struggle tugged the violins back and forth between sighs and thunder; for a moment the piano (Stephan Becker) tries to bring things to their senses, but fails against the dominant model of ‘Macbeth’. In the end a blues finally manages to resolve the struggle […] Matthias Petzold gave the soloists of the jazz combo the time and space to stretch out in their solos. The whole orchestra was convincing in its focused ensemble playing, its nuanced changes of tempo and volume and its good sense of timing. ‘Mirrors’ can certainly claim to have found a viable path in the category of “symphonic jazz”.
Jazzpodium 11/2012 on the premiere of the orchestral suite Mirrors
“The trio fully lived up to its aim … of expressing an attitude of the spirit. This was due not only to the melodic, varied pieces, which once again bore witness to Petzold’s many-layered approach and his originality as a composer … Guitarist Thiemo Kirberg and Nils Imhorst on double bass played with complete absorption and yet intense concentration, technically spotless and perfectly attuned to each other. The composer himself made his mark effortlessly as a virtuoso on soprano and tenor saxophone and on the cello.”
Kölnische Rundschau, 9 March 2004, on the Franziskusinventionen
CD · Pangäa
“A suite like a seething volcano … Musical layers and facets collide here; loud outbursts and fissures suddenly erupt from the silence like an earthquake or a volcano … The audience was thrilled and broke into storms of applause again and again.”
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 17 September 2007, on the big band suite Pangäa
CD · Elements
“The Matthias Petzold Working Band devoted itself to ‘compositions à la chef’ on the studio stage at the Loft … And the Working Band proved that evening that such carefully thought-out compositions can turn into thoroughly lively music. Bassist Nils Imhorst, drummer Roland Höppner and star percussionist Roland Peil made a superbly attuned groove section, relaxed even in the 5/8 and 6/8 banter of the bubbling ‘Watermusic’ … In the second set the band introduced singer Ariane Baumgartner, an all-round musician with a rich, sonorous voice, an improviser of the post-Jarreau generation and so also an ambassador for touches of sophisticated pop. The delighted audience called for an encore.”
Kölnische Rundschau, 23 November 2002, on the Working Band
CD · Ulysses
“Matthias Petzold continues modern mainstream traditions in an individual and assured way … What stands out above all is the confidently handled variety of moods, ranging from humorous Don Quixotery to an elegiac Chicago adaptation. All in all an imaginative, lovingly conceived CD that you really must hear.”
Jazzpodium, July 1997, on the CD Ulysses
“The great art of ballad playing was practised at length and with mastery … and interrupted by explosive outbursts and sound collages. The clear structure and expressive power of the individual compositions were fascinating.”
“Der Neue Tag”, Weiden/Upper Palatinate, 23 April 1998, on the Matthias Petzold Quartet
“The handling of the instrumental writing is extremely colourful and lively, and the choral settings are varied. With this cycle Matthias Petzold has succeeded in forging a valid bond, one that speaks for itself, between ‘his’ jazz and the relationship between man and God so clearly expressed in the Psalms.”
“Kirchenmusikalische Mitteilungen” of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, March 1996, on the CD Psalmen und Lobgesänge
“Petzold did indeed achieve a brilliant fusion of the two worlds (jazz and the Psalms – ed.) by musical means … The choir showed itself with a beautiful tone, and the personal commitment and joy in the music of its singers were plain to see. The jazz ensemble was outstanding too, with such renowned musicians as Frank Gratkowski and Jochen Rückert making their mark and contributing decisively to the success of the evening.”
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 23 June 1994, on the premiere of the Psalmen und Lobgesänge