Jazzitude is the fourth joint project of Anastasia Schmidlin and Denis Zhdanov, the fruit of a multi-year collaboration as a duo. This time, the two musicians turn to works shaped by the language of jazz — its harmonies, its rhythms, its freedom.

The album opens with Alexander Rosenblatt's Swiss Fantasy, a commissioned work dedicated to Anastasia Schmidlin and given its world premiere in Switzerland in 2025. Rosenblatt weaves Swiss folk songs into a diverse and virtuosic fantasy, unfolding as a brilliant dialogue between clarinet and piano, with a profoundly lyrical middle section to an explosive finale.

Daniel Schnyder's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano follows, its tense first movement built on conflict: a stubbornly rigid rhythmic pulse set against an almost Romantic breadth of melody, interrupted by clipped, nervous, improvisation-like episodes. The second movement is beautiful, nostalgic, slightly intoxicated; the third bursts with impatient drive and irritation, like Manhattan at rush hour. The finale is a wild tornado in which both instruments play at the limit of their capacities, fighting for control and struggling to keep their balance in the vertigo.

Richard Rodney Bennett's Ballad in Memory of Shirley Horn is the emotional heart of the album — a deep journey through nostalgia, tenderness, pain, and finally acceptance, told with warmth and sincerity.

The album closes with George Gershwin's Three Preludes. From the very first sounds it is clear how naturally the clarinet takes to Gershwin — this transcription will change the way you hear a set of preludes originally written for piano.