VEIN is formed by pianist Michael Arbenz, by drummer and percussionist Florian Arbenz and by bassist Thomas Lähns, instrumentalists of solid musical culture and remarkable technical abilities. Michael Arbenz is a pianist with a relevant career as leader and in collaboration with both jazz musicians and classical composers, having performed in concert with Pierre Boulez, a contemporary classical music luminary. Florian Arbenz, Michael Arbenz’s brother, is a very active musician in the European jazz scene, having collaborated with musicians such as Kirk Lightsey and Claudio Pontiggia. Thomas Lähns studied music in the City of Basel Music Academy, and since then he has established itself as professional musician, both as a sideman as well as in orchestra contexts, having been directed by reputed conductors such as Heinz Hollinger or Peter Eötvös.

Recognizable by its melodic and rhythmic subtlety, and by the precision and rigor of its compositions, VEIN’s music uses Rick Margitza’s tenor saxophone sound as a vehicle of sound expansion and as a mean of exploring emotional shades and intensities which are usually absent of the group’s music. The impressionist tone of VEIN’s compositions is therefore reconfigured by the expressive abilities of Margitza, an experienced improviser of remarkable technical ability. In that sense, in Guimarães Jazz it is legitimate to expect from this concert a music which allies the sophisticated jazz of European sensibility to the vibrant pulse of the jazz of North-American tradition.