Saxophonist and composer Muriel Grossmann, born in Paris in 1971 but raised in Vienna, worked as a waitress at the Porgy & Bess jazz club at the start of her musical career—perhaps not the worst place to launch a career in jazz. Things really took off, however, when the musician settled permanently on the Balearic island of Ibiza and began building her networks from there. After a wild start in free jazz and free improvisation, she found her artistic calling in the spiritual jazz that John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders had established in the late 1960s. With her internationally diverse quartet—which has remained quite stable over the years—she developed a unique take on this style: expansive Hammond organ sounds, precisely plucked single-note guitar lines, and, in the background, drones often pre-mixed from exotic instrumental parts.

Since Muriel Grossmann’s albums have been released by the Estonian label RR Gems in luxurious 180g vinyl editions, her career has reached the next level. The leading jazz magazine “DownBeat” wrote: “A listening experience that can be compared to a transcendental experience.” (Thomas Mießgang, Ö1 Radiokolleg, August 3, 2026)