Europe Jazz Media Chart - December 2024

The German 37-year-old pianist and composer has several times throughout his career drawn on references to written classical music (i.e. Maurice Ravel). On ADVENTURES, he takes the plunge with an improvising quartet/quintet together with 22 chamber musicians. The task is difficult, and there are a few blemishes from the chamber orchestra, but it is nevertheless generally excitingly solved. It is relatively easy for Niels Klein to arrange four chords for strings over which Held can improvise, as he does in Bernstein Fantasie – the first of the CD’s four sequences. But after a few minutes, Held increases the complexity considerably with Nelson Veras (ac-g), Robert Landfermann (b), Jonas Burgwinkel (d) – and the chamber orchestra comments in between. And this alternation between combo and orchestra takes place continuously, smoothly and organically throughout all the sequences. It’s not sweetish stuff but sometimes scratchy and demanding music. Ascent is wild and dynamic. How Veronika Morscher manages to sing the intricate themes and the large intervals completely in unison and synchronously with Held’s piano is a mystery. But it sounds good! Veras’ dreamy run on the acoustic nylon-stringed guitar ushers in Nocturne, the release's tranquil breathing space. The last piece, Meta, seems to be both the most compositionally well-worked and the most improvisationally liberated from the combo.

Listening to these intertwined breaths (the tenor, the bansuri, the flute) and vibrations (the waves...), we feel both beauty and peace.

Kristaps Vanadzinsh is award-winning and one of the most unusual Latvian pianists who has his own drive. This is also reflected in his sixth album Latviskā elegance (Latvian Elegance), in which compositions by a wide variety of Latvian composers are arranged. But they are not simple pop, rock, folk and classical overlays in jazz. These are new compositions based on nostalgic memories of old hits and their melodies, and thus conjure up a new Latvian elegance, as seen by Kristaps Vanadzinsh. He is a fearless walker of his own path, who does not lack strong associates. In this case, double bassist Jānis Rubiks and drummer Kaspars Kurdeko. Perhaps this is the album that best expresses the Latvian mentality that has been made in jazz so far. And the painting on the cover of the vinyl record does not depict Italy. It is a completely Latvian landscape near the resort town called Sigulda. So to say – welcome!

This is how you play jazz! That is blues, that is groove, that is jazz! The magic of what is most important in jazz: emotions expressed through sound and rhythm, played with relish and a full, juicy sound. Maik Krahl plays here in the natural, unpretentious way that characterises all his work to date, leaving plenty of room for his bandmates, especially Seamus Blake. The effect is simply electrifying! The album is a revelation!

Alfred Vogel, drums- Camilia Nebbia , sax – Leo Genovese, piano. If a minimum common denominator had to be established between Leo Genovese, Camila Nebbia and Alfred Vogel, it would perhaps be the elusive and unclassifiable nature of their conception of improvised and free music, and Eyes to the Sun gives a good account of this: a recorded album, mixed and mastered in a single day in Buenos Aires; without prior rehearsals, without set directions or clear intentions. The only plan: capture a session of pure improvisation between three figures that are difficult to classify.

When the Polish pianist Leszek Możdżer, Swedish bassist Lars Danielsson and Israeli percussionist/vocalist Zohar Fresco first met together 20 years ago, they were instantly referred to as the dream team – for their virtuosity, lyricism and uncanny communication. They have since given countless performances and recorded several bestselling albums. The newest one, made last year and released this November, has been promoted on a tour of sold-out concerts to enthusiatic audiences. The three co-leaders are all exceptional musicians, Leszek Możdżer being a genius, a true innovator. On Beamo he presents a completetely new idea, playing simultanously on two and sometimes three different pianos with three different systems of tuning – 440 Hz, 432 Hz, and a decaphonic tuning with an octave divided into ten even intervals – creating a sound environment that has never been heard before. The new reportoire is based mainly on Możdżer’s compostions. There is an uneasy feeling of  music played out of tune, but the beautiful melodies and harmonies prevail, cemented by deep basslines and colored by subtle percussion and enchanting vocals. But whether this experiment is not merely an innovator’s whim and will be pursued in the future remains to bee seen.

Lars-Göran Ulander is a veteran on the Swedish free jazz scene. On this compilation with recordings from 1965 to 1977, where we meet him and his alto saxophone with his own septet (from1965), Lars Lystedt Kvintett (from 1967) and Per Henrik Wallin Trio and duo from 1977. He is still active on the concert scene at the age of 81 years young, and he still plays a type of free jazz that goes straight to the soul and to the heart. This is the second release in the series Öppet, where saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Roger Bergner at the Center for Swedish folk music & jazz research have selected various archive recordings from the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, they received assistance from jazz researcher Jan Bruer and drummer Peter Olsen, all selected in close collaboration with Ulander. The result is a fantastic collection of Swedish free jazz in absolute top class. And after this release I am waiting for examples of his releases after 1977.

Musicians who are constantly searching for new sounds, atmospheres and musical colors are without a doubt the most interesting. Music that is as boundless as it is challenging is how the trio Thunder has been doing it for years. It produces, as it does again with their new album The Wonders, extremely surprising and intriguing music. Pianist Harrison Steingueldoir, bassist Stan Callewaert and drummer Casper Van De Velde have an exciting chemistry that has impressed them right since they entered the music landscape in 2015. With by now four albums to their credit, surprising collaborations (Lars Greve (Girls in Airports/Bon Iver) and harmonium player Sigbjørn Apeland) and ample touring schedules across Europe. Where on their previous album Het Verdriet they gave Flemish folk new depths, De Wonderen is again a completely free record on which the three musicians' idiosyncratic musical paths take them into the contemporary through free jazz. Again and again discovering new atmospheres with challenging then atmospheric sounds. The Wonders tells stories about the mundane. Something that never sounds mundane in the musical world of Thunder. Listen to that exuberant percussion connecting the beautiful piano sounds and lovely vocals of Callewaert in Fragmented and you'll totally understand what I mean. Just like that beautiful album finale Oh My Love. Working so straight across emotions from the piano with percussion and bass is equally addictive.

Led by the bassist Zé Almeida, Analogik is an unconventional quartet that features a lineup of bass, voice (Mariana Dionísio), cello (Adèle Viret), and drums (Samuel Ber). Their debut album showcases the leader's distinct compositions, blending structured forms with expansive improvisation. Dionísio’s remarkable vocal range stands out, Viret’s cello adds a chamber-like, dramatic dimension, while Ber's dynamic drumming provides a provocative rhythmic foundation. Almeida’s bass anchors the compositions, adding depth and structure.