Reviews of the week

The upcoming album After The Last Sky by Anouar Brahem with Anja Lechner, Django Bates and Dave Holland is acclaimed in a French magazine

Au long de onze compositions, toutes signees Anouar Brahem, se déploie une musique de chambre planante, meditative où se mêlent aux modes traditionnels de la musique arabe les influences variées de la musique occidentale, voire du jazz et des musiques issues d’autres cultures. […] Saluons ce retour inspiré.

Thierry P. Benizeau, Jazz Magazine

The freshly released album Renaissance by the Nicolas Masson Quartet is reviewed in a  Swiss magazine

Die Stücke verströmen diese eigentümlich vereinnahmende Mischung aus kühler Gelassenheit und emotionaler Tiefe, wie sie seit einiger Zeit dem modernen europäischen – vielleicht ‘nordisch’ geprägten – Jazz zugeschrieben wird. […] Noch immer hörbar ist sein Drang nach Freiheit und nach dem Eigenen in der Musik. Das Ergebnis ist weniger explosiv als explorativ. Und es passt vielleicht gerade deswegen in den Katalog des bekannten Labels.

Christof Thurnherr, Jazz’n’more

The album Just by Billy Hart with Ethan Iverson, Mark Turner and Ben Street impresses a UK reviewer

Hart’s subtle, understated style brings nuance to the straightahead pieces here. The buoyant bebop of ‘Aviation’ is elevated and propelled by his fierce yet featherweight drumming. ‘Top of the Middle’ is ascending postbop with emphatic solos. […] When it comes to freeer pieces, Hart’s tastefulness sweetens some startling sounds. On the abstract, hesitant ‘Chamber Music’ his brushes flutter like a bird caught in the frozen branches evoked by Iverson’s piano. […] Global rhythms add even more variety, but are used counterintuitively to create more anxiety than elegance. ‘Layla-Joy’ becomes a sinister samba as Hart’s drums ramp up the tension. ‘Naaji’ oscillates between creepy calypso and Afro-Cuban agitation. And on ‘Showdown’ sultry New Orleans beats are slowed to a melancholy crawls in contrast to Turner’s florid flow.

Chris Pearson, The Times

The new album Winter Poems by Yuval Cohen enchants a French reviewer

Cohen et son saxophone soprano s’entourent d’un quartette alliant naturel et lyrisme pour un panel d’explorations mélodiques aux contours limpides, oú finesse et intelligence intuitive font merveille.

Jean-Pierre Vidal, Jazz Magazine

A US reviewer on the album Lullaby by Mathias Eick

Poignant, embracing, a panorama of restless solitude, the music of Mathias Eick’s Lullaby is, in a word, arresting. Eick surrounds himself with empathetic band mates – pianist Kristjan Randalu, bassist Ole Morten Vågan, and drummer Hans Hulbækmo. Known primarily for his skillful trumpet playing, Eick adds his voice and keyboard playing to this mix. […] The beautiful ballads on ‘Lullaby’ are striking. Eick’s compositions are about feeling alive, even when one is beaten down by the daily drudge or unexpected circumstance. He seems to be saying that despite the down moments we all experience, beauty is abundant and plentiful. One need only move forward to experience it.

Don Phipps, Free Jazz Collective

Under The Surface by the Julia Hülsmann Quartet is hailed by media in the UK and France

The work of the German pianist Julia Hülsmann seems to mark the point at which cool jazz freezes. Imagine Bill Evans at his most introspective, then filter it through the intellectual austerity of Shostakovitch. But like ice, it is only on the surface. Peer underneath and you will find lots of surprises. This album has her quartet, plus a trumpeter on five tracks, exploring so many avenues you can’t predict where they will end up. […] Hülsmann’s solos here give the lie to those who say she lacks soul. On the quivering Latin tune ‘Nevergreen’ she serves a cosy concoction of legato bebop phrases and bluesy block chords. On the singing ‘Milkweed Monarch’ she is postboppish in an early Herbie Hancock mode. An on ‘Anti Fragile’ she even throws a bit of wobbly as she and the tenor saxophonist Uli Kempendorff attack a cranky funk tune. But coolly, of course.

Chris Pearson, The Times

Julia Hülsmann has strong connections to her bandmates and the group shares a common tendency to hold back rather than holding forth. ‘Under The Surface’ reveals flashes of the sentiments stirring in its five contributors without ever coughing up the deepest details. It’s a titillating and tantalising record.

Matty Bannond, Jazz Journal

Une œuvre envoûtante empreinte d’une lumière  unique,  diaphane et constamment changeante. […] Le saxophoniste Uli Kempendorff et la trompettiste Hildegunn Øiseth apportent à sa musique une dimension nouvelle, une tonalité organique qui fait de cet opus l’un des plus aventureux que la pianiste a produit à ce jour.

Jean-Pierre Vidal, Jazz Magazine

UK and German reviewers are fascinated by the vinyl-reissue of Paul Bley’s Open, To Love within the Luminessence series

An early masterpiece in ECM’s solo piano discography, and very different from its predecessors from Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. If all three pianists are about melody, they all work with it in contrasting styles. The music is here is stark and bleak, and space more at a premium even more than with Jarrett and Corea working under Manfred Eicher’s watchful eyes (and ears). […] Bley takes a minimalist approach to the tunes, as if examining them from every conceivable angle almost before striking a note. […] Recorded more than fifty years ago the music stands as a monumental testament to the art of solo piano, and remains timeless in terms of content and its place in Bley’s vast discography. Not of its time but for any time, this is music that will endure and we remain grateful that ECM over the years has seen fit to pursue a policy of recording and documenting solo piano albums from such a diverse array of musicians over time.

Nick Lea, Jazz Views

Klare, introspektive Musik volle Anmut, aber ohne plumpe oder belanglose Schönspielerei. Das klingt zum größten Teil wunderbar frisch und auch ein wenig eskapistisch. Die einnehmende Musik spielt Bley an nur einem Tag ein. Er reißt auch mal die Saiten direkt im Korpus seines Instruments an […] ECM hat ‘Open, To Love’ jetzt in seiner ‘Luminessence’-Reihe wiederveröffentlicht, im stabilen Klappcover mit neuen englischen Linernotes von Greg Buium auf den Innenseiten, aber im originalen, wunder bar reproduzierten Artwork.

Lothar Brandt, Mint

An Italian reaction to the re-issue of  Freigeweht by Rainer Brüninghaus within the Luminessence-vinyl series

L’album di Brüninghaus è una sorta di Cantico dei Cantici di natura profana, una sineddoche paradisiaca che parla al cuore attraverso la musica e ci invita ad immergerci nella bellezza del suo suono. Un opera quindi che invecchia bene, un lavoro di caratura superiore che si dipana come un lungo respiro fino nell’interiorità dell’animo umano. Bene ha fatto ECM a riproporlo, anche dopo tutti questi anni.

Riccardo Talamazzi, Off Topic Magazine