LEITER have confirmed details of the much-anticipated debut album by Blair / Huber, the innovative jazz duo formed by Frankfurt’s award-winning saxophonist, Darius Blair, and distinguished guitarist Niko Huber. ‘ECLIPSE’ was co-produced by the band with their long-time partner, Nicolas Butka, and recorded earlier this year with engineer Antonio Pulli, a two-time Grammy winner, at Berlin’s famed Funkhaus Saal 3. Additional overdubbing then took place at Butka’s Soultize Studios in Offenbach, Germany, where they recorded ‘IN A NEW ORDER’, last year’s debut EP. The album is due for release on limited edition vinyl and on all digital platforms on October 16, 2026, and is preceded by the deeply funky ‘PRISM BREAK’ and the elegant ‘PURPLE DUST’.

Friends for well over a decade, Blair and Huber began playing as a duo at the pandemic’s start, nodding as much to illustrious jazz elders as contemporary artists like Immanuel Wilkins, Julian Lage and Venna, not to mention Charlie Hunter and Snarky Puppy’s Michael League and Bill Lawrence. Initially finding themselves inadvertently challenged by the limitations their instruments imposed, they quickly developed a character all their own, distinguished by an intuitive synergy and tight-knit interplay. Since then, they’ve built an enviable reputation, live and on record, for conjuring a brand of discreetly inventive, captivating tunes from an unusually spartan setup, becoming one of the most promising acts in their homeland’s flourishing jazz scene.

‘ECLIPSE’ confirms their immaculate instincts, its intriguing appeal encapsulated in nine succinct, bewitching tunes. Opening with their customary sensitivity, the title track twists mournful sax around gently strummed guitar chords before the understated ‘CHASING DOWN LESSING STREET’ unfurls gracefully, Blair’s effortless craft and Huber’s chiming instrument combining for something far more than the sum of its impeccable parts. Laden with hooks and unforeseen shifts, ‘HIDEAWAY’ provides further sanctuary, Blair’s revelatory performance matched by another on the elegant ‘PURPLE DUST’. Indeed, with the closing ’01/01/25’ as bittersweet as a fleeting romance, the prevailing mood is of rare restraint, blessed by the pair’s appreciation for when ‘more’ is ‘too much’ and ‘a little’ is more than ‘plenty’.

“I really believe in the magic of music,” adds Blair, “and when you create that special atmosphere, when you can hear a pin drop, that’s as rewarding as it gets.” Given they often rehearse in armchairs, Huber naturally concurs. “Sometimes people ask why we play like this, but it’s best to chill out, then see what works.” So, technique enables them to accomplish feats, but it’s not their primary fascination. “There are intellectual things you can do to enhance the chances of those moments,” Blair continues, “but at the end of the day, whenever we achieve them, I don’t care how we got there technically.”

Reflecting their bond, both musical and personal, the title ‘ECLIPSE’ represents the alignment of two forces and the subsequent transformative energy. The album emerged over weeks of rehearsals in the depths of winter, and one track’s name, ‘CHASING DOWN LESSING STREET’, memorialises the aftermath of the brutal night on which it was originally written. Relaxed and content, Blair left their studio only for his car to be totalled by a reckless driver caught up in a chase. Nobody was hurt, but still he only narrowly avoided the ensuing fight as they waited for police in -10º. “It was,” laughs Huber, “a very wild start to the year!”

Otherwise, fortunately, hours in their studio were peacefully spent, whether playing themselves or listening to music, discussing their intentions. They were searching, Blair says, “for a common language between hip hop and jazz, something modern and cutting edge that also hits the same spiritual space as the cats in the 60s.” Huber, in particular, obsessed over string arrangements on Michael Jackson’s records. “I went down a rabbit hole,” he chuckles,” listening to tracks and stems.” Finally, they arrived at Berlin’s Funkhaus, determined to revel in the moment. “Some songs stayed similar,” Blair reports. “Others changed completely.”

Though booked in for longer, recording the album – playing together in the vast, wood-panelled room, seated opposite one other – took just two days, despite Noah Fürbringer’s intervention. They’d met the drummer while supporting Moses Yoofee Trio, and his enthusiasm was such that they “just went nuts, testing stuff,” Huber recalls, mimicking the drummer with a smile. “’Let’s do another take, let’s do another take!’” Still, says Blair, “we’d already got versions of all the songs that felt special. We thought about using a third day to try out different things, but didn’t want to overdo it or ruin the atmosphere just for the sake of trying.” Returning to Butka’s studio, they undertook only subtle refinements, some with Seck (Frankfurt-based, from a Senegalese family), as well as saxophone gilding inspired by trumpeter Roy Hargoves’ work with D’Angelo.

If one quality defines ‘ECLIPSE’, it’s the empathy both musicians demonstrate. Blair may appear to dominate the spotlight, but Huber is crucial to their chemistry, displaying a deft, fluid touch that’s earned admiration for its dynamic range and comparisons with Vini Reilly of the recently revived Durutti Column. Nonetheless, this organic union was as inevitable as the fact that they chose to play music at all. For Huber, the die was cast early, with his father the founder of Nik Huber Guitars, selling handcrafted instruments to the likes of Foo Fighters’ Nate Mendel and Andy Allo from Prince’s New Power Generation, leading Dave Grohl to spend an hour teaching him riffs before he’d even reached his teens. Blair’s father, too, played his role as a soul- and gospel-loving preacher with a Grover Washington Jr. LP that turned his six-year-old son on to the saxophone. He was still a young teenager when he formed his first band, spurred on by a Branford Marsalis masterclass.

They met as members of Hessen’s State Youth Orchestra, and by 2018 were playing together in other line-ups, most notably Count Spacey, purveyors of “jazz reloaded”. They’ve also cultivated other projects apart. Even today, Huber fronts an alt. rock band, Bird’s View, while Blair – the youngest recipient of the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship in 2020, and a 1st Prize winner two years later at Future Sounds – plays a vital role in Discovery Collective’s unconventional, sophisticated rhythms, not to mention his own Darius Blair Quartett.

They’re eager, too, to return to the road, where, they say, their love of spontaneity ensures their music will sound different every time. But wherever they are, with Blair’s flair for an indelible tune (provoked by, among other passions, a love for Donny Hathaway’s and Curtis Mayfield’s vocal phrasings) interwoven with Huber’s singular style (one surprisingly free of effects pedals, it’s worth adding), Blair / Huber always sound different, like nothing or no one else. On ‘ECLIPSE’, furthermore, they outshine themselves altogether.