One of the most potent and creative voices on Germany’s modern jazz scene, saxophonist Johannes Enders has brought a profound understanding of the jazz tradition and an urge to swing to his previous 12 albums as a leader. With Dear World & Hikikomori , he takes things up a couple of notches. A dynamic double-album documenting his concurrent interests in both acoustic jazz and electronic experimentation, Enders’ latest Enja outing finds him pushing the envelope in two wildly different directions. And the results are equally rewarding on both ends. For the past 15 years, Enders has been experimenting in his home studio with an ongoing project he dubbed ‘Enders Room.’ As he explained, “I started recording kind of like Steely Dan, overdubbing a lot of tracks myself at home and then inviting people to overdub. The music was both on the electric side and the acoustic side. Then two years ago I put together a touring band that could fit the vibe of both kinds of music. So now I have this great band that combines all the sounds I have in my head.” Throughout the Double Album, Enders strikes an organic balance between intelligent writing and more freewheeling sections that highlight his versatile crew. “Over the years, jazz became so intellectual,” he explained. “And for this project I wanted to capture that feeling of when I was 16, 17 and was so on fire for the music. I had all these heroes back then like Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker, Steps Ahead and Gil Evans. They all had this fire that I miss sometimes in modern jazz today.”