Europe Jazz Media Chart - November 2025

A treasure island! Here comes a box with never before released recordings of the great late trumpet player that were recently discovered in the vaults of Polish Radio where they had rested for decades. A selection of 39 tracks with various lineups of top Polish jazz musicians were remastered and issued in a chronological sequence on 6 CDs spanning some 20 years – since the early ’70s until the early ’90s, prior to Tomasz Stańko’s return to the fold of ECM.  So what do we find here? Some of the highlights – Krzysztof Komeda’s “Kattorna” as the symbolic opening tune of Disc 1 titled “Piece for Diana and Other Ballads” and featuring the Great Tomasz Stańko Quintet. The original “Placebo” on Disc 2 called “Unit” with Czesław Bartkowski on drums and Adam Makowicz on electric piano, resembling Joe Zawinul of Weather Report. Disc 3 “Castle of Mist” – a completely forgotten jam with Bartkowski and the saxophone giant Tomasz Szukalski (preceding his appearance on Stanko’s ECM debut “Balladyna”). Disc 4 “Almost Gama” is a mid-80s Freelectronic session full of otherworldy sounds and heart-breaking lyricism. Disc 5 “Rue de la Tour” – a 1991 trumpet and bass duo with Witold (Szczu)Rek, who has since emigrated to Germany. Disc 6 “Jazz Rock Company Live At Akwarium” is surprisingly not a studio date but a sizzling jam session in a Warsaw jazz club from… 1983. Kudos to the album’s editor, Adam Domagała from Polish Radio Music Agency. Each CD is on avarege 30-40 minutes long. The box contains a 48-page booklet with Polish and English annotations, musicians’ comments, quotes, photos, and scores. The official release date is November 17, 2025. The box will be also released on vinyl and available on streaming platforms. A must.

An expanded edition by pianist Mattias Risberg Mining, recorded on a mini-tour in Sweden in May 2024. The line-up this time is Sten Sandell (recitation, voice), Jennie Abrahamson (vocals), Mattias Risberg (piano, keyboards), Leo Svensson Sander (cello), Eva Lindal (violin), Josefin Runsteen (violin, viola, percussion), David Stackenäs (guitar), Susana Santos Silva (trumpet), Stina Hellberg Agback (harp), Fredrik Ljungkvist (reeds), Per Texas Johansson (reeds), Mats Äleklint (trombone), Kjell Nordeson (vibraphone), Mattias Ståhl (vibraphone), Dan Berglund (bass), Morgan Ågren (drums) – such a large band that it is extremely difficult for the bandleader to get anything but good music and a minus in the bank account. But musically this band surpasses most of what is made by larger jazz ensembles today.

Finally a true mainstream album of standards. Jazz, as a music and a scene, seriously needs the Great American Songbook whether it is great or American or a book or not.  The Italian in Paris, pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, with his power(ful) trio carries the torch a few steps further. Bassist Gianluca Renzi, the Italian in NYC, the long time collaborator of Mirabassi ignites the trio's engine. And the Americans, veteran guitarist Peter Bernstein and avid drummer Colin Stranahan give full flavor to the tunes which can still bewitch, bother and bewilder many of us...

Thomas Morgan‘s first own album after long years prominent on the scene. It is a series of 9 duets where WOOD, an instrument designed by Morgan himself plays s major role. It shared characteristics with koto (Japan) gayageum (Korea) and cimbalon (Hungary). I still remember the first time i saw Thomas Morgan playing. It was in May 2011 at Bimhuis in Amsterdam with Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet. Morgan had this typical hesitation moment before he would struck a tone on his bass. As if he had to extra ensure adequacy. He was one of the few young bassists that i never saw using electronics or applying extented techniques. When i asked him about that, he told me that still so much had to be explored at conventional level. After his time in groups of Sylvie Courvoisier I experienced him many times from close by in the becoming and development of the groups of Jakob Bro with Jon Christensen and Joey Baron. And of course i followed him in his collaboration with Masabumi Kikuchi and Paul Motian. Thomas Morgan has written a truly fascinating biographical essay. It is an extraordinary document about mutual relationships of programming strategies and shaping of music which kept Morgan busy from his teens. As far as i can see there are no published interviews with Morgan except the illuminative talk with Jørgen Leth in the documentary “Music For Black Pidgeons”. Morgan’s essay is filling that gap in an excellent way. So, take some time for reading. It’s a guest contribution on Ethan Iverson’s Substack. Morgan plays on this album with Bill Frisell, Ambrose Akinmusire, Henry Threadgill,  mmanuel Wilkins, Craig Taborn, Dan Weiss, Gerald Cleaver, and in a collaboration with poet Gary Snyder.

THUNDA is ten dense original duo pieces recorded in 2020 by a woodwind-player and a bassist that immediately blows me away. Preminger fully meets my high expectations, but the big surprise is the bassist, Kim Cass. His equilibristic and inventive handling of the big four-stringed lady alone deserves a place on this chart. The telepathic interplay of the two New Yorkers is at once freely imaginative and closely entangled in virtuoso unison passages, where the themes transcend what seems possible in terms of intervals, speed, rhythm and harmonic structures. THUNDA is yet another rewarding outcome of the COVID-19 lockdown. The recordings were made privately and, in several layers, so that, among other things, a broader palette with more woodwinds is achieved. Each track begins with an improvised idea.  ―Part of what makes creating the music for THUNDA so thrilling and adventurous is that there are no pre-determined forms, improvisational sections, rhythmic concepts, or sets of chord changes. Each song is constructed linearly while taking into account the mood and textures until we’ve decided that it’s done, Preminger explains in a press release. And Cass adds: ―THUNDA unleashes the best of both our playing with countless maelstroms of exposed lines that defy form, yet are strongly rooted in time and pitch.

Glass Museum is negotiating an important, if not daring, turn. We approve!

New year, new album from Australian cult trio The Necks. Considering the quality of this trio, there is absolutely no objection to celebrating every golden autumn with the brilliant and leisurely absorbing music of keyboardist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton, and drummer Tony Buck. This time the band has released a 3-CD album that is more than three hours long. The numbering of the discs does not matter and they can each live their own life. Rapid Eye Movement has nothing to do with the band R.E.M., but it is most directly related to The Necks’ ability to lure the listener into their musical mantra and unknowingly turn a piece into a rather diverse trip. Ghost Net is more avant-garde groove and makes you sway along for more than an hour accompanied by the organ, the Wurlitzer piano, and bluesy metallic riffs. The third disc is a two-part story. It is introduced by the 26-minute single Causeway, which suddenly transforms from an ambient piece into a kind of free jazz flight, and then continues with the hauntingly warming Warm Running Light. Another masterpiece. Let’s wait and see what the band will offer next year – on their 40th anniversary. 40-disc album, anyone?

An intimate dialogue between human and instrument – that’s perhaps the most accurate way to describe this album. It’s a meeting in which both sides share something with one another, open up, exchange emotions, and arrive at a deeper mutual understanding. Jussi Reijonen possesses an almost mystical connection with his instruments. You can feel how they inspire each other – how sound and silence, strings and breath, enter into a quiet dialogue. Within the resonances, overtones, and pauses, a music emerges that speaks of human experience – of inner movement, the flow of thought, and the search for harmony. “sayr: salt | thirst” is an album of rare poetic strength. There are no spectacular effects here, no display of virtuosity – only a gently flowing sound poetry, born of spaciousness and silence. This music carries the spirit of Finland, infused with Mediterranean warmth and emotional depth. A contemplative journey through space and sensation – calm, sincere, and profoundly beautiful.