Europe Jazz Media Chart - April 2022

Unusual, spiritual and expressive music that is irresistible. From the first moments Under The Surface draws us into its world full of mythical landscapes, musical spaces and beautiful improvisations. It is like a path that leads through different landscapes and evokes picturesque
associations.

O.N.E. is one of the most interesting new groups on the Polish jazz scene. “Entoloma” is a follow up to their debut outing of two years ago called “One”, released on the same label. Since then this all-female collective has shrinked in size from a quintet to a quartet (sans the violin), now featuring Monika Muc - as, Paulina Atmańska - p, Kamila Drabek - b, and Patrycja Wybrańczyk - dr. The album includes entirely original material written by the members of the band. The melodies maintain the Slavic trail, but there’s  more space in improvisations, the playing is more assured, sometimes a little rough and daring.

The Finnish trio, PLOP, with saxophonist Mikko Innanen, bassist Ville Herrala and drummer Joonas Riippa, are celebrating their 15th anniversary as a band this year. In connection with the anniversary, they release this album which was recorded at the end of 2020, where they collaborate with the Finnish jazz legend, flutist and saxophonist Juhani "Junnu" Aaltonen. With this recording, PLOP has added new elements to their story. And together with maestro Junnu, they have made a magnificent record that should provide the four with access to any jazz festival with respect for themselves in the coming years.

Mariana Sadovska plays harmonium and keyboards and she sings, as well. Yet, her main instrument is the Ukrainian language that she uses in an utmost profound and penetrating way. Christian Thomé is one of the least loud drummers in jazz and beyond. His musicality is empathetic, sympathetic as well as philosophical. And Vesna means Spring in many Slavic languages. And today it might as well be spring instead of war and destruction in Slavic languages...

The enterprising Finnish We Jazz Records has another excellent release in this album, the third by Petter Eldh's Koma Saxo working together with vocalist Sofia Jernberg.  Jernberg adds vocal textures to the ensemble passages, and there is some excellent writing for the two string players, violinist Maria Reich and cellist Lucy Railton.

Born in the Paris Area, keyboardist Marc Benham is a self-taught musician, who teaches jazz piano, contemporary and improvised music. Excerpts from the cover notes: "the love of swing and the bizarre" – "A jazz standard is a material that everyone can model as they see fit" –  "From 10 o'clock in the morning to 8 o'clock in the evening, they [that is Marc Benham (p), John Hébert (b) and Eric McPherson (d)] recorded without looking back" – Martial Solal: "Genuinely nurtured by the entire history of jazz..."

Because all very good music is previously unreleased and donated with love by the artists. 100% of album proceeds go to humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Let's be Jazz Citizens!

Violinist Jeff Gauthier and cellist Maggie Parkins’ The Smudges: Song and Call is a collaborative experiment 15 years in the making and marks the second act for famed West Coast jazz/new music label Cryptogramophone (Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Mark Dresser, Bennie Maupin, Ben Goldberg, Jenny Scheinman and others). Featuring compositions by accordionist Guy Klucevsek, composer Tom Flaherty, and Gauthier, the album mixes in adventurous duo improvs to create a genre defying experience with electrically altered sounds.