The Project
At the core of biggerPicture is the duo of Tobias Bech and Laurie Rich, whose collaboration and co-working forms the heart of this innovative ensemble. Their upcoming debut duo-album, recorded at Berlin’s legendary Hansa Studios in late 2024, features Swedish vocalist Irma Neumüller and is set for release on Zennez Records in April 2026.
Already in the works is a series of other ambitions for the project, including a Live-Album which features BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024, Ursula Harrison; a second Studio-Album is also on the way, this time in the formation of an international Quintet featuring Seth Sjöström (SE) on bass, Dominik Witte (DE) on drums, and Irma Neumüller (SE) on vocals, bringing an entirely new energy to the existing compositions, as well as the new ones.
Their music effortlessly weaves diverse styles into a coherent whole, drawing on the influences of artists such as Ambrose Akinmusire, Immanuel Wilkins, Shai Maestro, Adrianne Lenker, and Nick Drake.
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About Laurie
Laurie is a pianist and composer working in the idiom of improvised music from the south-west coast of the UK. He co-leads the Berlin-based contemporary jazz collective 'biggerPicture' alongside Danish trumpeter Tobias Bech.
Laurie also features in projects such as BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024, Ursula Harrison’s ‘Orbit Street’, as well as the Liva Strazdina Sextet and Andrey Smirnov’s Turkish Story. Laurie also leads his own nonet project featuring a string quartet named ‘Between the Sky and Earth exists…’ and a new quintet project titled ‘Five of a Kind’. As an arranger, he has had his work performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and as a composer and bandleader, he has had his music played at Copenhagen, Aarhus and Brecon Jazz Festivals.
Beginning his studies at London's Royal Academy of Music in September 2025 with support and funding from Help Musicians, Laurie also received offers and scholarships from the Manhattan School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Growing up in a household with a father as a record collector, Laurie was exposed to an eclectic mix of music from a young age. Some of this music, such as that by artists like Nick Drake, Ravi Shankar, and John Coltrane, has remained among his key artistic influences. Other major influences include music discovered during his studies of classical music, including that of Lili Boulanger, J.S. Bach, and Oliver Messiaen, as well as music encountered on his ongoing journey with improvised music forms, such as Immanuel Wilkins, Kit Downes, and Micah Thomas, to name a few. One of Laurie's key artistic aims is to create and play music in which musicians from all of these worlds feel at home.
He recently graduated with First Class Honours from Cardiff University's School of Music under the tutelage of Welsh pianist Huw Warren. Laurie was featured as a finalist in the audition stage of Jazz Campus Mainz’s Gutenberg Jazz Collective 2025/2026 in September 2025.
Photo: Tobias Bech’s Portrait by Christian Borchers for the Bundesjazzorchester / The National Youth Big Band of Germany.
About Tobias
Tobias Bech is a Danish trumpeter and composer whose music blends contemporary jazz, lyrical sensibility, and free improvisation into a deeply personal artistic language. Originally from Svendborg, Denmark, Bech grew up close to the countryside and the sea in a supportive, musically engaged family. Introduced to jazz at around 14, he was immediately drawn to improvisation and the sense of possibility it offered. Regular jam sessions with professional musicians in his hometown nurtured both his confidence and curiosity, laying the foundation for a lifelong dedication to the trumpet.
A formative visit to Berlin at the age of 15 left a lasting impression, and the city later became his base. There, Bech met English pianist Laurie Rich at a jam session- an encounter that proved pivotal. Their connection extended beyond music, but it was through Rich that Bech’s original compositions fully came to life. Together they founded biggerPicture, a project rooted in shared intuition, emotional honesty, and the idea of music as a way of understanding oneself and the world. Their debut album, recorded within six months of meeting, will be released on April 24, 2026 by Zennez Records, preceded by singles in February and March.
biggerPicture has performed extensively across Europe and the UK, including appearances at Vortex Jazz Club (London), Brecon Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and Aarhus Jazz Festival, collaborating with musicians such as Ursula Harrison (BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024). Drawing inspiration from Ambrose Akinmusire, Shai Maestro, Nick Drake, and Jakob Bro, Bech’s music often conveys specific emotions and inspires visual images - an approach that listeners can hear in its intimacy and intent.
Born and raised on the coast, Bech always surrounded himself with nature, something which clearly shines through in his compositions.
With new releases forthcoming, Tobias Bech continues to refine a voice that invites listeners to step back and see the bigger picture.
What makes Bech's improvisational voice so distinctive is his exceptional flexibility on the trumpet, coupled with a keen sense of timbre and expression. From the gentlest of winds to the piercing cries of birds or the final, bittersweet calls of something passing away, Bech's playing is able to paint pictures full of emotional depth and poetic meaning.
Discover more at biggerpicturemusic.com and on Instagram @tobiasbech.music / @biggerpicture_music.
Meet our featured musicians
Ursula Harrison
Dominik Witte
Irma Neumüller
Seth Sjöström
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