Reviews of the week

The freshly released album Just by Billy Hart with Ethan Iverson, Mark Tuner and Ben Street is greeted with acclaim by media in the USA, Switzerland and Germany

It’s a beautiful thing when a jazz group stays together for as long as drummer Billy Hart’s Quartet has. Since debuting in 2006, the quartet, featuring tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street, has only grown more entwined; a sentiment they further underscore on their fourth album, 2025’s ‘Just’. […] These are lyrical songs, full of harmonic and rhythmic textures that pull you deeper within the group’s sound as the album progresses. The opening ‘Showdown’ is a delicately soulful Iverson original that spotlights Turner’s burnished tone and wouldn’t sound out of place as a love theme to a late-’60s romantic thriller. Yet more atmospheric is Hart’s ‘Layla Joy,’ a modal-esque tone poem that starts with a rumbling storm of low-end mallet and cymbal work before Turner, Iverson, and Street emerge like a ship cutting through fog.

Matt Collar, All Music

This is a finely crafted – albeit more tastefully subdued than pyrotechnical — session of contemporary small combo jazz. Iverson has four compositions on Just, Turner and Hart three apiece. The pianist exhibits his skills at genre-hopping with impressive stylistic aplomb […] Hart’s pieces (some reimagined older tunes) visit netherworlds (‘Layla Joy’), a mysterious dance (‘Just’), and spiritual convolutions (‘Naaj’).  His drumming often evolves from dainty dabs to push-pull fierceness. Turner, as he often does, mixes a cooler, rounded-off appeal with just enough intellectual bite to fascinate.

Steve Feeney, Arts Fuse

The playing of legendary drummer Billy Hart is distinguished by virtuosic, breezy textures and a refined elegance that imbues the music a graceful, rare dimensionality. His pliable quartet—with saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Ethan Iverson, and bassist Ben Street—was formed in 2003, crafting a sound that blends and dissolves elements like watercolors. […] While ‘Just’ may not be a revelatory departure for the quartet, it is undeniably filled with moments of brilliance, where the musicians’ collective artistry shines. A few tracks even serve as soothing balms for the soul.

Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail

To get these four giants together is something special and worth celebrating. Three of the four are composers: Iverson, Turner, and Hart. Iverson contributes four, with Turner and Hart weighing in with three each, all forward-looking, contemporary compositions that find the balance between tradition and the exploratory. The proceedings commence with Iverson’s ‘Showdown,’ a highly lyrical, lilting piece featuring Turner, who can be bracing and aggressive, blowing in his ‘sweet’ mode and employing every key on his horn. […] Hart shows no signs of slowing down with his elite quartet; once again delivering top shelf contemporary fare.

Jim Hynes, Glide Magazine

Das Quartett unter Harts Namen besteht in gleicher Besetzung seit 2003 und ist deshalb eine sehr kompakte, gleichzeitig wagemutige Einheit. Kompositorisch sind an diesem  demokratisch vitalen kammermusikalischen Unternehmen alle beteiligt (ausser Ben Street), unter dem gemeinsmen Nenner  eindringlicher Melodik und spannender Harmonik. Iversons ‘Showdown’ zu Beginn ist gar ein eigentlicher Ohrwurm, sonst wechseln innige Songs unter Turners Stimmführung, Iversons oft parallel geführten, oft kontrastierenden Pianolinien und gelegentlich  orchestral einschlagenden Akkorden und Harts subtilen Trommelbeats und Becken-Crashs mit knisternden Post-Bop-Flügen. Keine Neuerfindung des Jazz, im Detail aber frisch, bewegend. Die Mittel sind vertraut, die Geschichten neu.

Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche

Die zehn Kompositionen des neuen Albums ‘Just’ – je drei von Hart und dem großen Tenorsax-Stilisten Mark Turner, vier von Pianist Iverson – reichen vom sanft Fließenden bis zum animiert Motorischen. Schnellere Stücke verfallen nie in eitle Virtuosität, langsame bleiben auf ihren lyrischen Kern konzentriert. Billy Hart seit vielen Jahren in unveränderter Besetzung aufeinander eingespieltes Quartett will mit seinem vierten Album nichts beweisen und beweist vielleicht gerade deshalb seine große sensible Musikalität.

Reinhold Unger, Münchner Merkur

The new piano-solo recording Skrifum by Jon Balke fascinates UK and German reviewers

Continuing a line of inquiry that began with the solo piano albums ‘Warp’ (2016) and ‘Discourses’ (2020), Norwegian pianist Jon Balke takes an interesting step further into the world of immersive musical discourse for his latest release ‘Skrifum’. […] In an intriguing and highly fascinating move, Balke’s newest solo music is made with the aid of the electronic audio tool the Spektrafon, live processing software which he helped develop together with technology professor Anders Tveit at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Using this interface, Balke is now able to directly manipulate ambient audio sound from the piano in real-time – pulling out frequencies and sustaining them as chords of harmonics, showers of sparkling overtones, or eerie drones. Activated and energized reverberation thus becomes new material for improvised interaction and dialogue, often with beautiful results. […] So what does it sound like? Well, on this solo piano recording, the use of the Spektrafon creates atmospheric layers that subtly rise and fall in the background, like an ambient soundscape for the pianist to improvise over. Balke uses the sound intelligently, working with it intuitively. […] The fourteen tracks on ‘Skrifum’ find Balke in an inspired mood. Not surprising given the nature of this innovative recording. The pianist teases, searches, probes, pushes, surprises and delights in this compelling musical dialogue with himself. It’s improvisational and demands immersive listening. The overall sound structures created are both captivating and rewarding. As for the use of the Spektrafon, I can only see this being developed even further, with its use being integrated in many different ways by many other artists in the years ahead.

Mike Gates, UK Vibe

Jon Balke’s fourth solo piano album on ECM is a strangely organic affair, no matter how much science from the laboratory may be involved. A little machine called ‘spektrafon’ is extrapolating sounds from the grand piano that inspire in subtle ways Jon‘s playing of the keys. I‘m immediately thrilled by the game he‘s playing here. Like from a shadow world, sounds unheard appear in drone-like clothing, on the verge of vanishing or lingering on – you never know. […] Thanks to Jon’s heightened awareness ranging (to follow the meaning of the Icelandic word ‘Skrifum’) from a sharp pencil to a broad brush (staying away from conversational stylings), every track of this adventurously discreet music is a little world of its own. The whole album is a quietly flowing, exciting journey, a ghost story for an old instrument – delivered with a constant sense of wonder. Welcome to your next favourite ritual of deep listening!

Michael Engelbrecht, Flowworker

The new album Winter Poems by Yuval Cohen is welcomed by UK and German media

If less well known than his trumpet playing brother Avishai, this excellent album that marks his debut on ECM should put Yuval Cohen firmly on the international radar.  The third member of the Cohen family to record for ECM alongside Avishai and sister Anat, Yuval has presented an album that has a broad sonic and dynamic spectrum spread across eight original attractive compositions. Coming from a classical background, this side of Yuval’s musical training is heard throughout the music, what marks the saxophonist out as something special is that he has a highly individual sound on the soprano, his playing in the upper register cuts through with clarity and purity, yet Yuval is still able to colour his tone when required. This gives that overall undefinable quality that just when you think you have a grasp on the music it becomes something else. […] The purity in the saxophonist’s sound is heard in the most overtly classically influenced piece is to be found on the opening ‘First Meditation’, and while essentially a calm and reflective composition Tom Oren’s piano motif hints at the music will loosen and open up. This trait is also a feature of the next couple of tunes in ‘The Dance of the Nightingale’ and ‘Avia’ that the quartet turn into dynamic and excitingly explorative performances. […] A stunningly beautiful album from beginning to end, the emphasis on melody and lyricism that has been prevalent throughout is emphasised most emphatically on the exquisite ‘Song For Lo Am’ in which Yuval’s playing is full of expression with a superbly controlled vibrato, and the following piece for soprano and piano, For Charlie’. Dedicated to Charlie Chaplin, and with Cohen putting down his saxophone half way through and continuing on melodica, the music has a wonderfully nostalgic air to it. A most impressive debut for ECM, and one hopes the beginning of a long and fruitful association.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

Making his debut for the ECM label, soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen brings a new and fresh style on ‘Winter Poems’, offering music that captures innovative musical paths through eight original compositions. Cohen is the brother of long-time ECM traveller Avishai Cohen, and together with pianist Tom Oren, bassist Alon Near and drummer Alon Benjamini, the quartet share a deep, intuitive understanding for the leader’s musical language and improvisational approach. Throughout the album, the saxophonist demonstrates his own understanding of chamber jazz dynamics and explores a broad range of influences – from folk idioms to motif development borrowed from classical music – to passages both lyrical and contemplative, creating some engaging and uplifting results.

Mike Gates, UK Vibe

Ein ruhiges, facettenreiches Jazzalbum in Quartettbesetzung, bei dem Yuval Avishai seine Erfahrungen aus der Klassik genauso einbringt wie Volksmusikalisches aus seiner Heimat Israel und das dennoch klingt wie aus einem Guss.

Martin Kersten, Hessischer Rundfunk

Lyrik ist schon im Titel ‘Winter Poems’ evident, wenn der israelische Sopransaxofonist Yuval Cohen mit Pianist Tom Oren selbstbewusst aus der ‘Winterrreise’ von Franz Schubert zitiert.  Schnell fügen sich die Ondulationen über fragmentierter Rhythmik von Schlagzeuger Alon Benjamini  und Bassist Alon Near quasi zu einem Opernszenario, wobei Yuval Cohen mit stoiischem Sax-Cantus Regie führt. Lebhaft ist ‘The Dance of the Nightingale’, ein Folksong, der in Metarmorphonsen bis in eine Zone freier Assoziation führt und dann von Tom Oren in einer Dramaturgie mit Zäsuren wieder gebündelt wird. Analog hat die Hommage à ‘Charlie’ (Chaplin) mit Melodica nostalgische Qualitäten und die unbestimmte Melancholie der ‘First Meditation’ über ein Levante-Motiv wird in fantastischem Interplay kollektiv gedeutet.

Hans-Dieter Grünefeld, Neue MusikZeitung

A UK reaction to the album Relations by Thomas Strønen

This album is also a fine contemporary take on the micro-tradition of drummer-plus-one-other, a small but robust element in the development of (mostly) modern jazz that has attracted sticks players from Max Roach to Stu Martin and beyond. The programme sees Strønen working on a set of concise but often intense near-miniatures with various individual partners, including saxophonist Chris Potter and pianist Craig Taborn, alongside some thoughtful solo pieces. The results are highly satisfying.

Roger Thomas, BBC Music Magazine

The album Spindrift by Benjamin Lackner is reviewed in Germany and Italy

Auch auf seiner zweiten Einspielung für das Münchner ECM-Label kann der Pianist Benjamin Lackner auf ein illustres internationales Begleitpersonal zurückgreifen. Wobei ‘Begleitung’ das völlig falsche Wort für das organisch-ineinanderfließende Zusammenspiel von Lackner, Mark Turner am Saxofon, Mathias Eick an der Trompete, Linda May Han Oh am Bass und Matthieu Chazarenc an den Drums ist. Selten hat man eine nicht schon seit Jahren aufeinander eingestimmte Zusammenstellung von Musikerinnen und Musikern gehört, in der derart aufmerksam auf das von den anderen Gespielte geachtet wird. In den zehn Stücken auf ‘Spindrift’ gibt es keine längeren solistischen Alleingänge, man wechselt sich entweder dialogisch in einem Frage-Antwort-Modus ab oder findet zu einer vielstimmigen Einheit. Paradebeispiel ist Lackners Komposition ‘More Mesa’, in der Saxofonist Turner im Verlauf von Lackners Klaviersolo gewissermaßen zunächst höflich anklopft, um anschließend den Weg für eine ungemein behutsame Kollektivimprovisation freizumachen. […] Seine neuen Kompositionen wirken ausgesprochen zerbrechlich und vermitteln oftmals ein unterschwelliges Gefühl der Bedrohung. Sei es durch das vom Schlagzeug evozierte Ticken einer imaginären Uhr in ‘Anacapa’, sei es durch die schroffen Akkorde und die sirenenartigen Warntöne des Saxofons in ‘Fair Warning’. Und wer bei dem von verschatteten Klaviertönen umrankten Basssolo im Stück ‘Murnau’ zuallererst an den Regisseur von ‘Nosferatu’ denkt, dürfte wohl nicht ganz falsch liegen. Dennoch vermittelt ‘Spindrift’ kein Gefühl von Mutlosigkeit. Ganz im Gegenteil: Das Album ist vielmehr ein eindringliches Statement für die Notwendigkeit von Zusammenhalt und Gesprächsbereitschaft in Zeiten anschwellender Misstöne.

Josef Engels, Rondo

Difficile non rimanere ammaliati dal flusso sonoro che avvolge e accarezza l’ascoltatore coi suoi toni morbidi e accattivanti. Lackner guida con mano sicura, limitando i suoi interventi solistici per fungere principalmente da elemento coesivo della musica del gruppo. Ai due fiati sono lasciati l’esposizione dei temi, talvolta dopo una introduzione del piano, spesso in dialogo tra loro o sostenendosi in un reciproco controcanto.(…). In definitiva un album ottimamente riuscito come il predecessore, e decisamente raccomandabile non solo agli amanti del suono ECM.

Mario Calvitti, All About Jazz Italy

A new US reaction to the vinyl-reissue of  Amaryllis by Marilyn Crispell within the Luminessence-series

Accompanied here by legendary free jazz bassist Gary Peacock and sensitive, melodic drum virtuoso Paul Motian, Crispell’s enigmatic but emotional playing embodies the ECM Records ethos and casts a spell on the listener. Each trio member brought tunes to the February 2000 sessions at Avatar Studios in New York City. Peacock’s ‘Voice from the Past,’ ‘Requiem,’ and ‘December Greenwings’ are the most immediate. The bassist’s compositional style typically incorporates strong, epigrammatic melodic phrases punctuated by dramatic pauses. The interplay between Peacock’s deep-toned bass, Motian’s decidedly non-linear percussion, and Crispell’s playful piano soloing on ‘December Greenwings’ is a highlight of the album, evoking the darting flight of birds hinted at by the title. […] In addition to the songs prepared for the session, producer Manfred Eicher also captured four stunning, completely free pieces that represent the most beautiful sounds on ‘Amaryllis.’ […] These abstract performances demonstrate the players’ astonishing ability to listen and complement each other in real time, and Eicher is to be commended for capturing such explorations for posterity.

Joshua Weiner, All About Jazz