Europe Jazz Media Chart - February 2023

When thinking of Viola or Bratsch, composers as Morton Feldman or György Ligeti come to mind. Thelonius Monk is not the most obvious match. Dumitriu has changed it in fascinating ways and sheds a light on Monk’s depth of form and sense for essential detail to make music enthralling and living on. This album is about how the Monk substance emerge from the rich sonorities of the viola. Dumitriu achieve and illuminates it by playing with process and result in a dialectical way. Monk is maybe the most played jazz composer every night on this planet. Dumitriu contributes and gives us a recording that can repeatedly listened to with pleasureful astonishment night by night for a while. 

Phoenix is alto saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin fourth studio album as a bandleader. Terri Lyne Carrington is behind the production and a iconic list of special guests that she respects and has been mentored by as Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, Patrice Rushen and Angela Davis appears on the album.The album is a deeply personal outing for Lakecia and presents mostly all original compositions and arrangements.

A jewel, a treasure for fans of the pianist! (Jean-Pierre Goffin)

Despite all the diversity of inspirations, Tony Lakatos and his fellow musicians always remain themselves, leading a narrative rich in surprising solutions, but at the same time communicative and full of authentic emotions. An inspiring, uncompromising album that will appeal to both avant-garde and traditional jazz fans.

This demanding and daring album is a surprise winner of “Jazz Forum” magazine’s annual Crictics’ Poll 2022 as the Album of the Year. Saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski was voted Musician of the Year. His repuatation had spread abroad as he was chosen as one of the 25 most promising musicians in Europe by the German magazine “JazzThing”. Released by the Portuguese avant label Clean Feed, Polish Composers of the 20th Century is his first effort as a leader. This double album features variations on themes by 12 Polish classical composers, each piece bearing the name of a particular composer: Krauze, Kotoński, Baird, Rudziński, Stachowski, Krenz, Serocki, Palester, Szalonek, Panufnik, Sikorski, Schaeffer. The pieces, arranged by Pospieszalski, are in fact not so much variations but rather new works loosely connected with the original scores. The performing ensemble is an octet including some of the finest musicians of the new jazz scene in Poland deserving wider attention: the leader on saxophones, clarinets, flute and tape, Piotr Chęcki on tenor sax, Tomasz Dąbrowski on trumpet, Tomasz Sroczyński on viola, Szymon Mika on acoustic and electric guitar, Grzegorz Tarwid on piano, Max Mucha on bass, Qba Janicki on drums and soundboard. Almost two hours of compelling music worth a listen.

The Danish trio with drummer Peter Bruun, piano player Søren Kjærgaard and bassist Jonas Westergaard have collaborated occasionally since they left the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen a lot of years ago. But since they do not live in the same city, or country, and all three are very busy with other musical projects, the trio has not been given the highest priority. Thēsaurōs has become one of the finest records I can remember hearing from a piano trio since the records with the Bill Evans Trio from the early 60s. Here we get music that speaks to the inner self, performed by three musicians who know each other very well, who have the same ideas about music, and can manage Peter Bruun's compositions in the very best way. A true treasure trove of a trio recording. And one of the many reasons why we are spending so much time listening and writing about jazz and other strong music for free. Has this year's best record already arrived?

And we thought that we heard everything from him, yet the late Esbjörn had more to teach us. Let's start with the Alpha, Beta, Gamma of it until we roll right down to the Eta, Theta, Iota of it...