Julius Gawlik | It’s All In Your Head | November 20, 2025

Berlin-based saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Julius Gawlik announces the release of his debut album It’s All in Your Head, out on Unit Records on November 20th, 2025.

Already making waves as the youngest-ever member of the renowned NDR Bigband, Gawlik now steps forward with a strikingly mature musical statement – an album that fuses sharp-edged melodies, layered counterpoint, and open-ended improvisation into a sound world that balances intensity with lyricism.

Over the past several years, Gawlik has established himself as a distinctive voice on the European jazz and improvised music scene. From his early recognition with awards such as the Temple University Outstanding Soloist Scholarship and the Soloist Prize of the Karl Hofer Gesellschaft Berlin, to appearances at the North Sea Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and venues like the Elbphilharmonie and Bimhuis Amsterdam, he has steadily built a reputation for fearless creativity.

His debut brings together a longstanding circle of collaborators: drummer Jim Black, vibraphonist Evi Filippou, and bassist Phil Donkin. Gawlik’s ties to each are deep and personal, forged through years of playing in each other’s bands. That sense of trust fuels the record’s spirit of exploration, allowing the group to move effortlessly between rubato melodies, abstract soundscapes, angular uptempo lines, and grooves that flirt with shuffle and swing.

Gawlik explains that the compositions were conceived as sketches – short, pointed fragments of melody and rhythm that spark improvisation without constraining it. Much of the music plays with contrast and layering: quiet clusters against high-energy improvisation, free-floating melodies over structured bass lines, and abstract textures evolving into clarity. The result is music that is alive in the moment, unpredictable yet cohesive, and deeply personal.

For all its complexity, It’s All in Your Head is less about virtuosity than about honesty and expression. Drawing on the influence of his personal heroes like Andrew Hill and Jeff Buckley, Gawlik’s music carves its own path. It’s a debut album that doesn’t feel like one, marking the arrival of an artist already in full command of his voice.

Line up

Julius Gawlik | Saxophone
Jim Black | Drums
Evi Filippou | Vibraphone
Phil Donkin | Bass

Track Listing

There Are No Ugly Dogs
You Wish
Fuchs
Glow
Chicago
TSCH

PR Quotes

Concerto Magazine (AT)
“the four musicians shine through their captivating interplay — whether they are pushing forward or retreating into quiet sounds”

Jazz Views (UK)
“can shift from a whisper to full drive in a heartbeat, but it always feels alive and in the moment”

Donos (PL)
“Colorful watercolors, minimalist settings, and six tracks that spark emotions and imagination. Julius Gawlik’s debut album is for those who enjoy listening intently and perceiving more than just sounds”

Era Jazzu (PL)
“a strikingly mature musical expression: an album that combines sharp melodies, multi-layered counterpoint, and open improvisation, creating a sonic world that balances intensity with lyricism”

Esensja (PL)
“Perhaps the delay of his solo debut made perfect sense—because when it arrived, it did so fully formed.”

Vintage Cafe (MK)
Some pieces simmer with quiet tension, others erupt into angular momentum. What ties these contrasts together is a consistent interest in transformation—how a whispered phrase can evolve into something urgent, how silence can feel as deliberate as sound”

Jazz thing (DE)
“The amorphous sound of his tenor saxophone readily locks into the crystalline tone of Filippou’s vibraphone, while Donkin and Black often set the rhythmic foundation pulsing”

Salt-peanuts (DK)
“a mature composer, a commanding and powerful soloist rich with ideas, and a confident bandleader, always searching and pushing forward”

All About Jazz (US)
“music that feels genuinely exploratory without tipping into aimless experimentation”

Jazztrail (USA)
“Gawlik’s music is to be taken seriously—rooted in creative idioms and supported by an accomplished tone on both saxophone and clarinet. His narratives are unpredictable, full of intriguing turns as he and his bandmates search for contemporary musical frameworks. It’s an outstanding debut.”

Paris Move (FR)
“To understand Julius Gawlik, one must begin not with his virtuosity as a performer, but with his depth as a composer”