A selection of the hot new music surfacing across the continent this month by the top European jazz magazines and websites
German drummer and composer Oliver Steidle offers a very energetic, electric music with numerous and quality guests. An important group in the dynamic German scene.
This album is a sort of comeback for veteran drummer Eryk Kulm, who has led a group called Quintessence since the early ’90s with a varying lineup, bringing together some of the best young musicians on the Polish scene. This newest CD features a very special guest – the legendary expatriate American trumpeter Rasul Siddik, who has remarkable partners in saxophonist Marcin Kaletka and pianist Marcin Szkil, supported by Michał Jaros on bass and Kulm on drums. With the exception of the opening tune (“Prashana,” by Dolph Castellano), all the remaining pieces are originals, penned by the leader – basic, modal sketches, inviting a conversational approach to free improvisation, permeated by the yearning, melancholy mood reminiscent of early ’60s Coltrane.
The haunting music of Volúpias lurks on the nocturnal edge between all and nothing
Jon Irabagon is based in New York City and manages to be a composer, bandleader and saxophonist as well as a record label-owner. DR. QUIXOTIC'S TRAVELING EXOTICS is recorded while his quartet was on a lengthy tour in South America. Irabagon’s well-established group teams up with trumpeter Tim Hagans and they bop, weave, dance and fly through six of Irabagon's tangled creations. The group move back and forth within jazz history in a daredevil adventure tempered only by a dose of macabre freak-show. The compositions are distinguished by cyclical, interwoven lines, strange meters and intense motivic developments. Irabagon, Luis Perdomo (p), Yasushi Nakamura (b), Rudy Royston (d) and the guest Tim Hagans (tp) blow over these abnormal forms and draw from post-bop, free improvisation and progressive rock. The contagious humor is manifested in delightful, stunning lunacy.
A subtle take on Thelonious Monk, whose style can only be described as literally Thelonious Monk if not überjazz. Two cool and calm virtuosi in the setting of the historical Village Vanguard interpret Monk's tunes and other standards almost in the comfort of your room.
