For the 2025 summer garden concerts organized by the Freiburg-based music initiative Jazz am Schönberg, Florian Döling had planned a quartet featuring trombonist Uli Binetsch, who unfortunately had to cancel. He was replaced by the young Spanish saxophonist Juan José Cabillas.

Alongside Cabillas, who hails from Cádiz in Andalusia, the lineup features Czech-born drummer Václav Pálka and pianist Tilman Günther from Müllheim.

Even though all four musicians currently live in Basel and Freiburg, this quartet embodies a European spirit that draws from the musical roots of its members and blossoms fully in the free-spirited world of jazz.

The chemistry among the band members right from the first rehearsal was obvious, prompting Juan José Cabillas to suggest recording the second rehearsal immediately. Over five hours of recording and rehearsal time on August 12, 2025, numerous tracks emerged that were absolutely compelling in their freshness, energy, and spontaneity of interplay. And so it was only logical for Florian Döling to launch the album Schwebend. The album is expected to be released in May 2026 on Döling’s label anflow records.

The live program consists—with the exception of one song by pianist Tilman Günther—exclusively of compositions by the bassist and impresses with a wide stylistic range and varied grooves and textures. Outstandingly interpreted by an exceptional lineup.

Line-up:

• Juan José Cabillas (ESP) - altsaxophon

• Tilman Günther (D) – piano

• Florian Döling (D) – double bass

• Václav Pálka (CZE) - drums

A cycle of seven stylistically diverse compositions by double bassist Florian Döling, performed by a tri-national quartet of musicians appearing together in this lineup for the first time. The fact that the four instrumentalists nevertheless interact completely naturally and as if they had been playing together for years—despite their different musical backgrounds—demonstrates not only their deep roots in the shared great tradition of jazz, but also an astonishing creative kinship of spirit. The pieces leave plenty of room for the individual and spontaneous expression of each of the four artistic personalities, who communicate with one another without creative boundaries and translate their shared vision into sound.

The cover image and title track point to the associative space behind the compositions: for Florian Döling, the churning sea symbolizes the state of a crisis-ridden world on the brink of various, overlapping catastrophes. The seagulls circling above the restless water represent individuals in search of the inner distance from which emotional balance and the possibility of hope for the future can first arise. These two contrasting elements become impressively audible as the musical principle of the title track.

The other tracks on the album expand on this theme. The first composition, “First Dawn,” sets the tone: it imagines the dawn of a new era of unity between nature and its creatures, as a counterpoint to humanity’s destructive works. “Iridescent Drops” contrasts the “seagull’s-eye view” from the preceding title track with a focused gaze on nature’s tiniest wonders: glistening dewdrops in the morning light inspire awe for the planet’s beauty. The ballad “Lullaby,” at the heart of the album, hints at a longing for peace, comfort, and a sense of being held, while the following composition, “Go, Azazruk!,” with its rhythmically driving forward momentum, evokes a sense of combative restlessness. “Somewhere” and “Traumwelten” bridge the gap back to the utopia of a better, more harmonious world that encompasses vitality, but also home and security.

Music that interprets the state of “floating” not as an uncertain “limbo”, but as a positive, powerful landscape of the soul from which fresh impulses for a vision of unity and connectedness of all life can emerge.

Text: Ruth Mader-Koltay, April 2026

Juan José Cabillas is a passionate and accomplished musician from Cádiz, Spain. He fell in love with the saxophone at the tender age of seven. His career as a musician began when he received formal training at the renowned Manuel de Falla Royal Conservatory.

Juan José Cabillas continued his musical education at Musikene, the renowned music academy in San Sebastián, Basque Country, where he realised several successful projects, including Juan José Cabillas with Strings, Ekhilore Quintet and Red Cheeks Quartet, with which he thrilled audiences throughout Spain.

Of special note is that in 2019, Juan José Cabillas collaborated with a symphony orchestra to record his debut album under the name Juan José Cabillas with Strings. In 2021, he continued his studies in Switzerland and began a Master of Arts in Musical Performance (Jazz Production/Performance) at the Jazzcampus in Basel. He also founded his own quartet, with which he released his second album in 2021.

Tilman Günther studied in Munich and lives in Müllheim in southern Baden, where he was also born.

He has played in various formations such as the Stafford James Trio, the Zipflo Reinhardt Quartet, the Rainer Pusch Quartet, the Peter Bockius Quintet, etc.

In addition, he has made various guest appearances in Europe and Asia with musicians such as Herbie Man, Paul Horn, Didier Lockwood, Birelli Lagrene, Silvain Luc, John Schröder, Nigel Kennedy, Philip Cathérine, Bill Elgart, Carla Cook, Dave Peterson, Tony Lakatos, Marcel Papaux, Wolfgang Engstfeld, Joris Dudli, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Gunter Hampel, Janusz Muniak, Leszek Zadlo, and others.

He has enjoyed a musical collaboration and friendship with Florian Döling spanning more than three decades, which has been documented on several CDs, most recently on the live duo CD "Rede vom Glück" (Talking about Happiness), released in 2023 by

Václav Pálka, born in the Czech Republic in 1992, is a drummer, composer, arranger, and educator based in Basel, Switzerland. In addition to his main focus, jazz drumming, he studied classical drums, composition, arranging, and producing in Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland.
Recent projects include various large ensembles - This Is What’s Love Big Band, Poens (self-titled album released in 2020) and What’s Love Large Ensemble (including 7 horn players, a string quartet, and a rhythm section), a sextet, quintet, quartet, and a quartet LOVE with Lionel Loueke, Fabian Willmann and Lukas Thoeni.
Over the years, Vaclav has shared the stage and recorded with artists such as Sullivan Fortner, Mark Turner, Tineke Postma, David Virelles, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Iva Bittova, Guillermo Klein, David Doruzka, Didrik Ingvaldsen, Sam Barnett, Melanie Scholtz and many others.