Reviews of the week

More international acclaim for the new duo recording Memories of Home by John Scofield and Dave Holland

John Scofield and Dave Holland have crossed paths many times, notably on albums by Herbie Hancock and Joe Henderson and in the supergroup ScoLoHoFo with Joe Lovano and Al Foster. Most recently they have been touring as a duo and this understated studio recording is a welcome souvenir of that partnership. The Ohio guitarist and the Wolverhampton bassist pour years of thought and feeling into this symbiotic session. The mood might be subdued but their decades of experience in everything from bebop to fusion make this the most richly textured two-piece you are likely to hear.

Chris Pearson, The Times

Given their long association, the duo display an easy musical language. Their conversations are warm, open, and rife with stylistic innovation. […] ‘Memories of Home’ is a gem; its creations reflect intimate dialogue, sophisticated harmony, and rhythmic lyricism – the hall marks of innovation in modern jazz.

Thom Jurek, All Music

John Scofield and Dave Holland have about a century of combined experience making jazz. They have played with everybody and created deep bodies of work that span bebop to today. ‘Memories of Home’ sounds like an intimate reflection on two musical lives. […] ‘Memories Of Home’ is a welcome addition to the guitar/bass canon. It finds two legendary jazz musicians at the height of their powers reflecting on the decades of music behind them. Past compositions are stripped down to their essence and reinterpreted by the passage of time. The result is at once starkly minimalist and musically rich.

Frank Housh, All About Jazz

Scofield and Holland push each assertively into groovy territory. No matter what they play, they always find a way to pull focus and draw you in. This joint effort is a must-have for any jazz lover.

Filipe Freitas, Jazz trail

This is a fascinating recording that features two musicians whose paths have crossed frequently over the years, and in many different contexts. Having played together with bands led by Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson and the marvelously titled ‘ScoLoHoFo’ with Joe Lovano and Al Foster. The two musicians are of course also well known for their association with Miles Davis, albeit at different periods of the trumpeter’s career. In addition to their collaborative work, they have their own distinctive solo careers, and both are well documented on ECM, but this is the first duo record that they have made in a collaboration that has an air of inevitability. Having two tours under their belts in late 2021 and 2024 this recording captures the duo in fine form and sounding as if they were treating the session as they would a live gig. The music sounds fresh and Scofield and Holland sound as if they are enjoying themselves throughout. The tunes selected from the recording, five by Scofield and four by Holland are drawn from their respective band books, and are played with a refreshing lightness, ease and natural swing that is intoxicating.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

John Scofield has always been more like a songwriter for me, whereas Dave Holland, like Mingus, favours ambiguous chord structures in which the soloist must create their sense of place. Where Holland’s sound is full, round and even, Scofield’s is wilfully choppy and revels in its inconsistencies. […] The biggest surprise for me was Dave Holland’s ‘Memories Of Home’, a tune I could have sworn was written by the guitarist until I looked at the sleeve notes. It moves simply but never where you think it will, the guitarist injecting it with all kinds of emotion, then wailing through a solo, and in doing so questioning those ‘jazz values’ so prevalent these days: evenness of sound, consistency of attack and uniformity of rhythmic feel. Holland’s solo is almost a whole new melody that darts across the whole range of the instrument without losing itself or resorting to histrionics. As the final statement of the tune ends, it feels like a wrapping up of the whole album, as if some mysterious process of symbiosis between them had been unfolding throughout and culminated here, in a tune that could have been written by either musician. The casual nature of this encounter belies, or perhaps creates the iconic status of the music.

Liam Noble, UK Jazz News

Their musical association of course goes back almost a lifetime. Yet curiously this is their first duo release. Many of the songs are familiar from previous releases, but despite the album’s title, this is no nostalgic stroll down memory lane. Instead, it’s recorded hot and dusty from hard miles on the road together, and this is music refined to its essence, each note rigorously apposite: lean, but never mean. […] At eight minutes-plus, Scofield’s bitter-sweet ‘Easy for You’ is the emotional heart of ‘Memories…’, evocative, understated, resonating with musical memories yet enduringly in the present. Fabulous.

Andy Robson, Jazzwise

Die beiden Saitenkünstler sind ‘a couple made in heaven’, gerade deshalb, weil sie ganz selbstverständlich zwischen sich nicht nur die gemeinsamen Nenner, sondern auch Spannung hochhalten. Holland ist ein Bassist, der sein warmes, volltönendes und weit schwingendes Vorbild Ray Brown nie verleugnet, während Scofield auf eine eher trockene Intonation achtet. Jedenfalls beherrschen beide die hohe Schule der Intimität. Von Scofields Eröffnungszug mit ‘Icons at the Fair’, einer Variante von Herbie Hancocks Arrangement von Simon & Garfunkels Hit ‘Scarborough Fair’, über mal bluesige, mal balladeske Originals der beiden bis zum Schluss mit ‘Memories of Home’ achten beide gleichzeitig auf Finesse und Hochspannung. Meisterhaft, diese Quadratur des Kreises.

Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche

Was bei diesen Aufnahmen sofort auffällt, ist die Gelassenheit der beiden Hauptakteure. Wirkt die Musik auch noch so diffizil, greifen die instrumentalen Stimmen auch noch so komplex ineinander, ist das Tempo der Stücke auch noch so beschleunigt – John Scofield und Dave Holland klingen immer besonnen und würdevoll. […] Zwischen ihnen gibt es auf ‘Memories Of Home’ noch immer musikalisch Ungesagtes zu spielen, entwickeln sich weiterhin dramaturgische Spannungsbögen. Sie sind nach wie vor in der Lage, spontane Gedanken und Ideen umzusetzen, Musik als ein Experimentierfeld, als ein Abenteuer zu begreifen. Eine immense Neugier ist ihnen auch jenseits der siebzig geblieben. Mehr noch: Sie bestimmt jeden musikalischen Dialog. Hier paaren sich Intelligenz, Können, Respekt und Ästhetik.

Jörg Konrad, Kultkomplott

L’eleganza sinuosa, felpata, attenta è il tratto che unisce i due musicisti. In questa occasione attingono a piene mani da due scrigni ricchissimi del jazz contemporaneo e ne traggono perle di saggezza musicale, costruttiva, emotiva. Schiettamente ancorati al proprio stile originale, che li rende riconoscibili e maestri, eppure sempre pronti alla sfida, al dialogo profondo. Con attenzione reciproca e persistente impronta personale, i due musicisti influenzano costantemente le proprie direzioni, si modellano in una simbiosi creativa. L’atmosfera è di calda, calma intimità.

Giuseppe Segala, All About Jazz Italy

The album Topos by Sokratis Sinopoulos and Yann Keerim also garners more international acclaim

Of these two exploratory Greek musicians, Sinopoulos (lyra) will be known to ECM buffs for his work on the 2011 ‘Athens Concert’ headed by Maria Farantouri and Charles Lloyd, as well as his later contributions to the music of Eleni Karaindrou, e.g. ‘Tous Des Oiseaux’. His quartet with Keerim (p) recorded twice for ECM (‘Eight Winds’ and ‘Metamodal’) but here these two genre-bridging artists offer a duo programme of singular rhythmic resonance and poetic clarity. […] Sinopoulos and Keerim contributed four pieces while the majority of the 10-piece recital was inspired by Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances. […] So, if the many striking moments of ‘Topos’ can be seen as a classic example of ECM’s exploration and documentation of the hinterland of jazz, they are also a stimulus to reconsider the import of Bartók in today’s world of jazz-inflected, genre-crossing fluidity and exploration.

Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal

The exquisite material on ‘Topos’ braids together warm Greek folk roots, elegant chamber-jazz interplay, and world music influences with Béla Bartók’s ‘Romanian Folk Dances’ as a recurring thread. The dances appear in newly formed versions that highlight Sinopoulos’s splendid lyra lines and Kirimkiridis’s agile, spacious piano. Original pieces such as ‘Vlachia,’ ‘Valley,’ ‘Mountain Path,’ and ‘Forest Glade’ are featured alongside the Bartók material. Titles such as ‘In One Spot,’ ‘Slash Dance,’ ‘Dance For Bucsum,’ and ‘Romanian Polka’ show how the duo can quickly shift from high energy to hush.

Tyler Bennet, Worldmusic Central

An Italian reviewer on the album El Viejo Caminante by the Dino Saluzzi Trio

‘Y Amo A Su Hermano’ e la title-track, entrambi del bandoneonista, giocano sul filo del lirismo sonoro con leggerezza e grazia uniche. L’omaggio Dino ‘I Here’ e ‘Old House’, tracce opera del chitarrista scandinavo, evocano atmosfere e rituali da camera e le antiche nenie nordiche. Infine l’altro standard jazz ‘My One And Only Love’, portato al successo nel 1953 da Frank Sinatra e poi ripreso da moltissimi, chiude con acquerellate evoluzioni e ‘variazioni sul tema’, che testimoniano – come succede in tutto il lavoro – un feeling fatto di lanci e rilanci, di battute, di spunti raccolti l’uno dall’altro, di stimoli, di suggerimenti, suggestioni, idee. Da ascoltare e riascoltare più volte, perché a ogni riascolto si scopre una sfumatura che prima era sfuggita.

Raffaello Carabini, Spettakolo

The new recording of Johannes Brahms’ op. 51 by the Zehetmair Quartett enchants a German radio reviewer

Was mich an dieser Aufnahme immer wieder staunen macht: das Zehetmair Quartett entwickelt jeden Gedanken von innen. Da ist kein Takt für die Galerie oder fürs Schaufenster. In den dramatischen Momenten wird nichts beschönigt. Die Agilität, die Intensität, die ich von der Aufnahme der Brahms-Sinfonien mit dem Dirigenten Thomas Zehetmair her kenne, finde ich hier aufs Kammermusikalische reduziert. Die neue Einspielung lebt von großem Detail- und Farbenreichtum und einem sicheren Gespür für diese Musik.

Christoph Vratz, WDR 3

Another German reaction to the new trio recording Tokyo by Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley and Brian Blade

War da für Wolfgang Muthspiels Trio nach ‘Dance of the Elders’ (2023) noch Luft nach oben? Sie war seinerzeit schwer auszumachen. Zusammen mit Scott Colley am Bass und dem Schlagzeuger Brian Blade hat der österreichische Gitarrist ein Level kammermusikalischer Feinabstimmung erklommen, das schwer zu toppen schien – bis jetzt. Nun ist die neue Platte ‘Tokyo’ (ECM) da. Und siehe da: Dieses Trio legt in Sachen lauschenden Reagierens noch eine Schippe drauf. Muthspiel pendelt auch hier zwischen akustischer und elektrischer Gitarre. Beiden entlockt er mit zartem Anschlag butterweiche Klänge, die in dem Tokioter Aufnahmestudio bis in subtilste klangfarbliche Details abgenommen wurden. ‘Tokyo’ ist, wie auch schon der Vorgänger, ein Fest der leisen Töne. […] Höhepunkte dieses musikalischen Feingewebes sind indes einmal mehr die lyrischen Nummern, zum Beispiel das ruhig fließende ‘Pradela’. Die zart schmelzend gezupfte Melodie hat großen Atem, ist sehr sanglich angelegt und bietet mit klassisch inspirierten Spielfiguren und perlenden Läufen reichlich Variation. Auch ‘Christa’s Dream’ ist auf balsamischen Klang aus, bewegt sich harmonisch indes ganz frei und stellt Akkorde wie Farben nebeneinander. Dabei ergänzen sich Muthspiel und Colley in enger kammermusikalischer Interaktion, während Brian Blade das Schlagzeug dazu verwendet, weich punktierende Klanggesten drunter zu setzen. Was damit gelingt, ist eine klanglich vor allem auf der weichen Seite verortete Trioarbeit, die von enormem Feingefühl getragen ist.

Tobias Pfleger, Fairaudio

The album And I heard a voice by Vox Clamantis with works of Arvo Pärt thrills Swiss and Italian reviewers

Die Vokalkunst des am gregorianischen Choral geschulten estnischen Ensembles bewegt sich auf allerhöchstem Niveau und die Akustik des Albums lässt keine audiophilen Wünsche offen.

Burkhard Schäfer, Musik & Theater

Una nuova, preziosa tessera nel mosaico di quelle ‘preghiere in musica’ che, fuori del tempo, sembrano destinate a risuonare all’infinito.

Andrea Milanesi, Avvenire