Reviews of the week

The freshly released album A Sun That Never Sets by Ralph Alessi is greeted with great acclaim by US, UK and German media

This is the first time Alessi has fronted a quintet since 2019 and with the addition to the quartet of a fifth voice in that of his brother Joseph on trombone, the trumpeter has offered up an album of eleven new and contrasting pieces that explore multiple aspects of music making in a wholly satisfying set. If Joseph Alessi is more often to be found in a classical orchestra, he is certainly no slouch as an improvising musician and brother Ralph is quick to identify where best use to deploy the sound of the trombone in his intricate compositions that often have an appealing openness and sense of space and freedom that brings the quintet together with some inspired music making. The sense of space is furthered by Ches Smith doubling vibes in addition to drums and partnered with bassist John Hébert provides delicate and sympathetic backdrops to the horns as well as digging in when required.  […] A forward-thinking album from Ralph Alessi who now very much has his house in order as both a composer, improviser and trumpeter of real note.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

Trumpeter and composer Ralph Alessi cuts a distinctive figure in contemporary jazz, with a remarkable ability to use the same tools as most – acoustic instrumentation, quartet and quintet formations, bop vocabulary – and still come up with something that sounds like no one else. ‘A Sun That Never Sets’, his fifth album as a leader for ECM, bears this out. Fronting a fivesome made of friends and family, including his brother Joseph on trombone, Matt Mitchell on piano, John Hébert on bass, and Ches Smith on drums and percussion, Alessi carefully and calmly sculpts environments that feel like a singularity in the middle of post bop, chamber jazz, and some sort of sonic language unique to the leader himself. […] Joined by his band’s essential contributions, Alessi’s songs and performances make ‘A Sun That Never Sets’ an exceptionally strong record.

Michael Toland, The Big Takeover

Comprising seven originals, ‘A Sun That Never Sets’ opens with the title track, a highly rhythmic clarion call marked by precise staccato attacks in a restless atmosphere suspended between a ceremonial procession and a hallucinogenic trip. The piece gradually attains dreamy proportions, its porous soundscape stirred by Hébert’s animated bass plucks over Smith’s shimmering vibraphone tapestry. Hébert and Smith, entwined in a finely woven rhythmic mesh, welcome Mitchell’s exploratory excursions before the theme is reintroduced with Ralph back in the foreground. The trumpeter solos over a vamping chordal sequence, following a notable piano riff in five embellished with thoughtful drum fills. Ralph has mentioned that writing for trombone was a challenge, yet the arrangements emerge compelling and full of character. On ‘Relaxed Misery’, the blended sonorities of plunger-muted trumpet and trombone shimmer with remarkable freedom before converging into unison lines. Before that, a six-beat piano motif takes shape, supporting conversational bass interaction and soft, tickling cymbal work. […] The quintet’s chemistry feels immediate and organic, resulting in music that is both intricate and refined. Another strong offering by Alessi, ‘A Sun That Never Sets’ explores fascinating tonal possibilities while injecting fresh impulses into the currents of contemporary jazz.

Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail

Alle fünf umkreisen die Musik des Albums ‘A Sun That Never Sets’, das in Mont Vernon nahe New York in hinreißend ausgewogener Klangbalance aufgenommen wurde. Es ist improvisierende Musik, die komponiert und offen zugleich wirkt, eine fünfstimmige Kommunikation rund um melodisch orientierte Motivverschränkungen – zart zu Beginn, dann immer substanzieller.

Ralf Dombrowski, Audio + Stereoplay (‘Jazz-Highlight’)

La precision parfois horlogère de l’écriture ne prend jamais le pas sur sensualité sonore ni sur le groove.

Vincent Cotro, Jazz Magazine (‘Choc’)

More enchanted early reactions to Winter Songs by Steve Swallow

Recorded at Sear Sound in New York, the album features a distinguished sextet whose members bring decades of shared experience to a project shaped by loss, memory and renewal. Swallow rejects virtuosic showmanship, delivering instead a warm, chamber-jazz suite that recalls the lyricism and conversational interplay of late-1950s hard bop. Writing the music sustained Swallow through the empty months following Bley’s death in late 2023. One of the most influential bass guitarists in modern jazz, Steve Swallow has spent more than six decades redefining the role of the instrument, first on double bass and later on electric bass guitar. His long artistic partnership with Bley produced some of the most distinctive music in contemporary jazz, making ‘Winter Songs’ both a personal statement and a memorial. The bassist structures the album as a seamless sequence of tracks titled simply ‘One’ to ‘Nine’. His distinctive pick-style bass provides a supple foundation rather than a vehicle for solo display. […] Listeners will find comfort in this deeply reflective, beautifully recorded document. ‘Winter Songs’ stands as a masterclass in understated ensemble playing and a moving tribute to a shared musical life, demonstrating how grief can be transformed into music of quiet grace and enduring warmth.

Stephen Graham, Marlbank

Le nove composizioni di questo album hanno la prerogativa di conquistare lentamente l’attenzione, con un’espressività che sembra aver accettato il trascorrere del tempo senza nostalgia e senza risentimento, trasformandolo in un’efficace forma musicale retta dall’equilibrio e dalla consapevolezza. Swallow sembra affidarsi a una sapienza antica, quella che riconosce nella levità una conquista e nell’ascolto reciproco una forma di conoscenza. ‘Winter Songs’ non propone rivelazioni, ma qualcosa di più raro come una lenta riconciliazione con la complessità del reale. E in questo suo procedere discreto, lontano da ogni enfasi, trova una profondità che molti lavori più ambiziosi finiscono soltanto per inseguire inutilmente.

Riccardo Talamazzi, Offtopic Magazine

The duo recording Feebles, Fables & Ferns by Mick Goodrick and Fresh Hersch is recommended in a US music magazine

Mick Goodrick is a musician who deserved wider recognition during his lifetime, but there are multiple reasons why he is not better known. He recorded infrequently as a leader, but his gift as an innovative improviser made him an important mentor who influenced many guitarists, including Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Lionel Louke, Julian Lage and Wolfgang Muthspiel. This previously unissued duo session with Fred Hersch came about at the invitation of the pianist, recorded in the studio that Fred operated for a time in the mid-1980s. It was an informal date without a planned set list, coming together naturally. […] Goodrick’s intricate ‘Feebles, Fables and Ferns’ inspires great interplay between the musicians, with rich harmonies in a delightful musical conversation. Bassist Steve Swallow’s ‘Falling Grace’ has become a jazz standard over the years and the duo’s brisk setting expands its horizons without losing sight of its theme. The tantalizing ‘Five excursions’ is a brilliant series of free improvisations, often conveying a tense, mysterious mood, yet never losing its grip on the listener. […] It is a mystery as to why Mick didn’t release this session during his lifetime, as his partnership with a then-rising talent like Fred deserved to be heard long ago.

Ken Dryden, Hot House

The debut recording of Joe Lovano’s new Paramount Quartet continues to attract great acclaim in US, UK and German media

That the musicians on this new recording from Joe Lovano can maintain such exquisite sensitivity in their interactions, even while all four of them are practically bursting with creative energy, tells what kind of mastery we’re dealing with here. But don’t confuse sensitivity with softness. ‘Paramount Quartet’ comprises tenor/soprano saxophonist Lovano, guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Asante Santi Debriano and drummer Will Calhoun, none of whom are whisperers. Most of the album finds them driving, asserting, grooving, even — as on ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’ — pushing into free territory. On the set’s three ballads, where the players do don kid gloves, we can still hear the ideas coming fast and furious. […] So attuned are these musicians that Calhoun can sketch out a quick rhythmic phrase; Lage and Debriano can grab and melodize it in unison and without hesitation; and Lovano can invert and extend it before they’ve even finished it. On the soul groover ‘Congregation,’ Calhoun seems to anticipate Lovano’s every solo shape; when Lage’s solo follows the saxophonist, Debriano shares a similar telepathy with him. It’s listening that thus becomes the paramount part of ‘Paramount Quartet’.

Michael J. West, Downbeat

This album is primarily about texture: the warmth and vulnerability of Lovano’s tone, the bright splashes of colour from Lage, the calm authority of Debriano’s bass and the endless inventiveness of Calhoun’s drums, which keep time only rarely. […] Joe Lovano constantly surprises you with the variety and – at times – sheer off-centredness of his ideas, and new discoveries are waiting around the corner each time you listen.

Peter Jones, Jazzwise (‘Editor’s Choice’)

Man setzt auf offene Formgebung, ein thematischer Kern ist in den sieben Stücken oft schwer auszumachen, Rockeinflüsse werden zwar verschleiert, aber doch vor allem durch die Präsenz des kaum zweideutig trommelnden Will Calhoun erkennbar. Nur ‘First Song’ und  ‘Lady Day’ kommen nicht von Lovano, sondern von Charlie Haden beziehungsweise Wayne Shorter. Lovano spielt Saxophone, aber auch Tarogato – seine Statements sind überlegt gestaltet und kompakt im Ausdruck, als hätte er keine Zeit für Nebensächliches zu verlieren, fallen dabei aber nie abgebrüht aus […] In der Ausdruckspalette ihm ebenbürtig Gitarrist Julian Lage, den äußerste Musikalität steuert und der gleichermaßen für Fluidität wie eine gewisse Lässigkeit sorgt. Kontrabassist Asante Santi Debriano vervollständigt eine Band, die sich in spontane Aktionen verstrickt gibt, aber allzeit zu Wissen scheint, was sie wie nachdrücklich aussagen möchte.

Susanne Müller, Jazzpodium

Another German reaction to the vinyl re-issue of Bill Connors’ album Of Mist and Melting within the Luminessence series

Musikalisch und klanglich strahlt diese LP wie zu Zeiten der Erstausgabe. […] Connors spielt eine mit Nylonsaiten bespannte akustische Gitarre,  was nach seinen elektrischen, harten Fusion-Ausflügen in der ersten Hälfte der 1970er nicht wenige seiner Fans überrascht. Aber in den sechs Eigenkompositionen überzeugt er mit kammermusikalischer Zurückhaltung und feinsinnigem, akkuratem Spiel. Garbarek drückt den langsameren, meditativeren Stücken mit seinem typischen, manchmal klagenden Ton zwar oft den Stempel auf, doch insgesamt überzeugt die Leistung als Ensemble. DeJohnettes variables, fast schon melodisches Spiel ist wie immer ein Genuss, Peacock legt am Kontrabass unteitel das Fundament. Am meisten überzeugt das herrliche, fast zwölf Minuten lange Uptempo-Stück ‘Melting’ gleich zu Beginn, das die Fähigkeiten der Musiker nahezu perfekt zusammenbringt. […] Die überragende, trotz leichtem Hall auf der Gitarre wunderbar transparente Klangqualität zeigt sich sich unbeeinträchtigt durch die lange Spielzeit der A-Seite mit über 24 Minuten.

Lothar Brandt, Mint

The album Thee They Thy by Judith Berkson is reviewed in a UK music magazine

This new trio set with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Gerald Cleaver, coming 16 years after her ECM solo debut ‘Oylam’, is enticing and beguiling for its multi-faceted character as well as ensemble dynamics that are as subtle as they are stark. Berkson has a finely controlled voice, sculpting high peaks with great discipline, while her keyboard work strikes a welcome balance between brio and restraint. Her two musical partners weave skilfully around the sonic and emotional axis of this accomplished, pleasing set that unveils largely minimalist, melodic themes and wily improvisation amid a constant spiritual undercurrent. […] Interesting work from an artist with a clear, wholly personal vision.

Kevin le Gendre, Jazzwise

The duo-recording Reaching For The Moon by Elina Duni with Rob Luft is hailed in a UK magazine

Casting a typically wide stylistic net and focusing on just the core duo rather than the quartet setting, Elina Duni’s third recording with guitarist Rob Luft elicits supremely subtle performances from the two protagonists. Immortalised on ‘Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook’, the opening title track is one of the most ethereally beautiful standard interpretations I’ve ever heard, one which distills the songs yearning quality into something transcendent. […] The first of three Duni/Luft originals, ‘Foolish Flame’ is a Joni-esque delight, with Luft’s 12-string guitar providing additional textural weight. […] The lovely coda appended to Ornette Coleman’s ‘Lonely Woman’ presents yet another example of the duo’s utterly seductive music-making. Recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France, the album’s sonic quality is outstanding.

Peter Quinn, Jazzwise (‘Editor’s Choice’)

The vinyl re-issue of Tomasz Stanko’s album Balladyna within the luminescence series is recommended in a UK music monthly

This recording is one of Stanko’s finest and helped to build his reputation on the international stage. Holland’s playing on ‘First Song’ is masterly, and he then brings in some tonal colour with bowed segments in ‘Tale’ which follows. Central to the album is ‘Duet’ – just Holland and Stanko – in a considered, reflective mood. […] It’s a small but perfectly build album and having these 40 minutes of music available again is a real treat.

Alyn Shipton, Jazzwise

Mark Turners quartet recording Patternmaster excites more reviewers in the US and UK

The saxophonist’s long-established quartet thrives on his deeply intuitive partnership with trumpeter Jason Palmer, creating or implying harmony in a way that’s almost spooky. You simply forget that there’s no chordal instrument. […] The sound is relaxed, reverberant but well balanced and natural. So although it might seem that nothing’s changed, Turner and his quartet just get better and better.

Steve Harris, Hi Fi News

The group features trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson. That’s the same lineup that appeared on ‘Return From The Stars’ (ECM, 2022), which took its name from a sci-fi novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem. They create impelling and insistent music that mixes bebop and post-bop with contemporary harmonic ideas, as well as elements from swing and blues. That intensity is present from the start of the album, where saxophone and trumpet deliver a squirming and pirouetting melodic line for the off-kilter title track. The two instruments enunciate together but slightly apart to give the written material a smudged quality. It Very Well May Be is a similarly high-energy piece with a chirpier character. Turner offers a garrulous solo packed with vocabulary that reflects the breadth of his musical influences and experiences. […] Listeners get invited to feel the vibrations, perceive the non-verbal communications and admire the collective inspiration of Mark Turner’s revered quartet on ‘Patternmaster’. Amid a constant buzz of activity, the group’s hive mind generates nourishing output – with a powerful sting in its tail.

Matty Bannond, Jazz Journal