Europe Jazz Media Chart - September 2021

It was August 2019. Marcin, Sławek and Michał came early for a recording session in the French La Buissonne Studios with a breathaking view of the Alps. They had spare time before the arrival of their special guest. The American saxophonist Joe Lovano was to join them the following day to record “Artic Riff”, which came out in 2020. While the seasoned trio were warming up in the studio, producer Manfred Eicher kept the tapes rolling. The recorded material, however brief, yielded an extra album, now released as „En attendant”. It is their seventh album in the ECM catalogue, not counting four recorded as part of the Tomasz Stanko Quartet. The axis of the new album are three different parts of a collective free improvisation called “In Motion”. There is “Variation No. 25” from Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” and new takes of two pieces found in their previous outings – Marcin’s “Glimmer of Hope” and Carla Bley’s “Vashkar”. And then there is one special gem – “Riders on the Storm”, which they had occasionally performed at concerts. The Doors’ mega hit is one more in a series of their rock covers, including Björk’s “Hyperballad”, “Message in the Bottle” (The Police) and “Diamonds and Pearls” (Prince). This autumn, with an extra load of recorded material, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio will hit the road for an extensive international tour – at first in support of „En attendant” and then “Arctic Riff” with their special guest Joe Lovano. In this particular case, extra load will mean extra adventure and musical excitement.

The usually busy bridge over the Narva River lies between the two 17th century strongholds, the Narva Castle built by the Swedish kings, and Ivangorod Fortress built by Russian tzars. For the last 30 years, the river is the state border between Estonia and Russia. The bridge, once full of tourist and commercial traffic, became silent and empty when the pandemic erupted. However, on April 30, 2021, two jazz musicians - guitarist Jaak Sooäär on the Estonian side and saxophonist Alexey Kruglov on the Russian side - performed together, each remaining in his own country, standing on top of the respective castle's wall, some 130 meters from each other. They toured and recorded together for years until 2020, but by the 2021 International Jazz Day they haven't seen each other for more than a year. The resulting album is deeply symbolic as it's signifies exactly what the IJD is all about: that music defies walls, bridges, borders, and even pandemic quarantines.

Trio is much more than the album title suggests. It is a super rich jazz album that optimally highlights Lassy's great ambition as a songwriter and musician. The perfect chemistry between him, bassplayer Ville Herrala and drummer Jaska Lukkarinen, combined with the beautiful stringarrangements of Marzi Nyman, create a phenomenal album on which strings and electronics further enlarge the magic of the compositions.

The Norwegian uncompromising trumpeter, composer and producer Nils Petter Molvær is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in the  electroacoustic, improvised, composed musical hybrid that has become its  own genre since the 1990s In this domain, sometimes called future jazz or Nu-jazz, Molvær is both a pioneer and a veteran. He is one of the first jazz musicians to embrace the new digital and electronic trends. Nils Petter Molvær's changing tonal landscape includes sampled sounds as well as acoustic and electric instruments.  In Molvær's hands, the sounds flow together with deep intensity far beyond the given patterns.  Stitches, released on the BMG label is Nils Petter Molvær's 10th album as bandleader. More than ever before, Molvær has given the musicians full artistic freedom, and everyone in the ensemble has been involved in the entire process. The bandleader adds his trumpet with electronics and vocals, Erland Dahlen plays drums, percussion, synths and electronics, Jo Berger Myhre treats bass, electronics and shares the production role with Molvær, Johan Lindström treats pedal steel, guitar and organ.