A selection of the hot new music surfacing across the continent this month by the top European jazz magazines and websites.
Isach Skeidsvoll is unique both as a jazz organiser, entrepreneur and pianist. On this vinyl, he, together with like-minded, young, skilled musicians from Bergen, makes music that I feel is a wonderful tribute to jazz music from South Africa and especially Chris McGregor and The Blue Notes, but made in his own unique and free way.
The cool Dutch fifties and sixties in jazz captured by Ghent-based record label sdban, for many years the best label for this kind of cool compilation. Jazz fans Lander Lenaerts and Stephan Raab made for the label with Hip Holland Hip an 18 track top-notch collector that offers a very nice look at those twenty years in Dutch jazz. They dive from Herman Schoonderwalt and the Diamond Five to the brothers Ruud and Pim Jacobs, Rita Reys (once again heard on this collector extremely cool and of international class), Wessel Ilcken and Tony Vos and again and again with exciting groovy pieces. A delightful collection of jazz tunes is the result. Hip Holland Hip is an excellent dive into Dutch jazz history and with the strong and extensive liner notes by Lenaerts and a beautiful photograph by Hans Buter of Café Reynders, the cool jazz spot in those years on Amsterdam's Leidseplein, on the front cover, a basically mandatory purchase for any jazz lover. Hip Holland Hip is a very important Dutch document in music and jazz history.
Northern Norway is home and Jan Gunnar Hoff is always homeward bound. This is distilled solo piano album by the Northern virtuoso who finds solace by touching the keys for his homely originals as well jazz standards.
The Selva is a trio comprising Ricardo Jacinto (cello), Gonçalo Almeida (double bass) and Nuno Morão (percussion). The group released their fourth album on Clean Feed, enigmatically entitled “Camarão-Girafa” (shrimp-giraffe): the essential ingredients are here – minimalism, repetition, solemnity – joined by new sonic experiments and a dance appeal that moves and challenges everything.
With this new program and an astounding double bass-cello line-up (Claude Tchamitchian and Clément Petit) that I recently saw live, flautist Naïssam Jalal evoked a clearly to sense high inner emotional seizure of listeners’ souls. Together with her deeply immersed fellow-musicians she led her audience through connecting ritualistic musical projections in the sense of the healing music of Alice Coltrane along zones of internal and external vibrations. It happened on the basis of a strong inner trust and peace of mind connected with great creative power that deeply transformed the experiential space. Masterfully the passages combined tonal colors and subliminal driving rhythms of the Middle East and India. The interaction of her flute playing (traverso and new) with the bass of Claude Tchamitichian and the intense cello playing of Clément Petit as well as the the intensity of Zaza Desiderio’s part owed to his masterly restraint and timed drumming were simply of dreamlike quality (in both senses of the word). It is music that we are in need of in a time of loud attention-grabbing overkill and times of war and military conflict. The inner calm and attention with which Jalal led through this seance, testified to enormous musical maturity of rank. It was also an extraordinary new way of sharing personal things with the audience. You will find all these ingredients on the record.
Medna Roso brings together the 5-member choir PJEV, Kit Downes playing church organ and Hayden Chisholm playing alto saxophone, plus shruti box and analogue synthesizer. They perform songs from the Balkans, notably from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, creating a unique and engaging set of music. The album was recorded live at St Agnes Church in Cologne as part of the Cologne Jazzweek.
This 37 min. gem recorded back in 2017 surfaced from the piles and from now on the brothers Fabian (keys) and Josef Kallerdahl (b) plus Michael Edlund (d, glockenspiel) have my attention. And there are plenty of releases with these Swedish gentlemen to discover. Fabian Kallerdahl writes modern and catchy themes with spicy time signatures. The complexity does not compromise the accessibility and moments of straight swing. There is often space and a relaxed feeling when he improvises with various twisted piano and other keyboard sounds. And it goes without a doubt that the other two musicians contribute equally to the dynamics of this superb trio. Skip the dense and overcooked #5 Mrs. Music and enjoy the other five pieces – or find your favorite MusicMusicMusic-release…
Yet another example of the Helsinki's label WeJazz being in the right place at the right time. With the trio of German drummer and vibraphonist Tilo Weber, the Berlin scene is once again well represented. Together with the Swedish bass player Petter Eldh and the Austrian keyboard player Elias Stemeseder, they embark on a journey into the baroque music of the future. Thanks to the presence of instruments such as harpsichord, celesta, guitar and vibraphone, it's a highly hypnotic, spinning music. It gently blurs space-time reference points to create the illusion of time travel. And the elements never settle down in the rhythmic shifts and cadences.
Finally, an album in his name. For those who think they don't like jazz... (Pierre Dulieu)
The bass notes are very round and warm, the rhythm is fine and alert, and the saxophones (tenor and soprano) and flute in particular play an incredibly harmonious game, with Luppi finding pleasure in switching from one instrument to another. (Eric Therer)
One of the markers of London’s modern jazz wave is Alfa Mist. Both as a musician and as a producer and publisher. Trumpeter JSPHYNX’s debut album Reflex is released under his Sekito Records label. It’s a double vinyl wrapped in calmness and bassy electro-jazz, featuring several prominent musicians on the London scene – Rudi Creswick on bass, Richard Spaven on drums and also the publisher, mixer and executive producer of the album, Alfa Mist on keyboards and a little bit of rapping as well. The tone setter this time is JSPHYNX or Johnny Woodham, who mostly dominates with the trumpet and flugelhorn here, crafted some loops during the pandemic times at home and later invited his colleagues to create a great and groovy summer evening musical mood. Well done!
Anna Margolina sings these songs with incredible suggestiveness. Her excellent voice, warm, ethereal timbre, pulse, passion and phenomenal sense of rhythm make this a great listen. The accompanying musicians bring jazzy freedom, improvisational elements and a contemporary sound aura. Everything fits together. The result is beautiful, touching music between genres and cultures. A wonderful album, we are thrilled!
At nearly 83, piano virtuoso Adam Makowicz is one of the last survivors of the golden era of Polish jazz and the last of those who dared to conquer America in the ’70s and still living on the other side of the Atlantic. His newest venture marks the 45th anniversary of his first American solo album released on Columbia. Adam was a turning point in his career. Arriving in New York, Makowicz was was hailed as new Art Tatum, but then worked hard to find his own style, with traces of Tatum and Chopin. Over the years his breathaking technique gave way to a more relaxed approach, with depth, maturity, and a dose of subtle humor. Welcome Back, Adam was recorded last year live in a Warsaw concert hall without an audience. Of 17 pieces, nine are standards and ballads from the Great American Songbook (“Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me”, „East of the Sun”, “Dreamy”, “Fascinating Rhythm”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, “The Shadow of Your Smile”, “The Very Thought of You”, „Get Happy”), alternating with his won compositions. Performing solo, Adam is in his element. In great form, as ever.
There is no shortage of emotions in the trio’s music. Sometimes strongly condensed, more often packaged in longer forms. Intimate, but not falling into balladic moodiness. Dark, rather than delicate or atmospheric. This is not music you can listen to while doing other things. It absorbs too much, attracts too much, forces one to give it one hundred per cent of one’s attention. And since it is an exceptional work, it is definitely worth it.
