Jazz

After a beautiful introspective debut for the label ECM, Avishai Cohen changes gears with his band Big Vicious. A unique cast around the Israeli trumpeter boasts two drummers (Aviv Cohen and Ziv Ravitz), an electric bass player (Yonatan Albalak) and a guitarist (Uzi Ramirez). This jazz-wielding quintet grew up with a thousand other sounds in mind. Hence this assembly of plural sound textures from electronic music as well as rock, classical, pop and trip hop. We are treated to big and improbably leaps, such as the one between Massive Attack and Beethoven, the two names whose works Big Vicious revisits (Teardrop and Moonlight Sonata). Avishai Cohen sometimes seems to be wearing the clothes of his elders Jon Hassell and Don Ellis. In particular, he tones down his leader's aura to let the quintet advance as one. It is precisely the homogeneity and atmospheric sound of Big Vicious that makes the whole original. And whether the compositions are trippy (Intent), uptempo (King Kutner) or downright experimental (Fractals), they share a real unique narrative force. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Before we marvel at the high-altitude interplay of the Bill Frisell Trio or the sometimes extreme sonic gyrations of its leader, let's begin at the most basic level—with stark, simple, standalone guitar declarations. Frisell opens several pieces on Valentine this way, in the clear. He'll send a carefully plucked single note out into the air, and then, after it subsides, he'll drop another. Tone is his only lure, and it's all he needs to suggest the framework of a tune like "Levees:" The initial phrase operates like an opening scene in a film, establishing a thick and specific atmosphere. Out of that blossoms a six-minute exploration in which Frisell, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston travel between strict tempo and drifty listlessness, blues repetition and free-jazz high dives, jittery conversation and disquieting silences. From a single note, there are many resonances; Frisell has been doing this kind of quiet alchemy for years, of course. Valentine is among the most rousing works in his extensive discography in part because it's so relentlessly visual. On just about every piece, Frisell and his trio work transfixingly together to conjure dirt-road sojurns and nature vistas out of thin air. They create contemplative spaces the jazz academy never visits. They dance through a blithe, lighthearted reading of Burt Bacharach's "What The World Needs Now" and a disquieting sorrow-filled version of "We Shall Overcome." And on many of Frisell's skeletal originals (the stunning "Keep Your Eyes Open," for example), they transform their three-way improvised abstractions into clear, singable music that has the sturdy narrative arc of classic country music. As these journeys unfold, it becomes clear that right along with the spontaneity there's some deep intention at work. The stylistic juxtapositions and sudden changes in density are hardly random. Neither are the fragile little introductions—somehow they're all Frisell needs to telegraph where he's going. As in so many aspects of life, the tone is set from the top. © Tom Moon/Qobuz

Marcin Wasilewski has been a resident at ECM for sixteen years. And for 25 years, the Munich label has turned the Polish pianist and his trio of fellow countrymen (Slawomir Kurkiewicz on double bass and Michał Miśkiewicza on drums) into an intimate and pure workshop. To celebrate this anniversary, the band invited tenor saxophone giant Joe Lovano to their cosy fiesta. The American's lyricism, which is never raucous, is perfectly lined up in the piano inherited from Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett from the Polishman who always expresses himself economically. But it’s not only wisdom and recollection that we find here. Wasilewski knows how to be voluble and even unpredictable, like on the determined Cadenza, and even mysterious like his improvisations on Vashkar, the only cover on the record by Carla Bley. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

If Benjamin Moussay’s name ever appeared on any ECM album covers it was always as sideman for Louis Sclavis, on his albums Sources, Silk and Salt on Melodies and Characters on a Wall. But with Promontoire, the 47-year-old has finally released an album for Manfred Eicher’s label that is entirely original solo material. Based in Munich, ECM Records already boasts an impressive number of major solo piano works, including the best-seller Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett, and Promontoire is now one of them. Moussay is a rather unassuming musician on the contemporary jazz scene, but those in the business have always recognised the clarity and strength of his playing. This includes Martial Solal, who said “He plays fair. Not too much, not too little”, but also an enormous list of musicians who have worked with him, including Sclavis, Archie Shepp, Dave Liebmann, Jean François Jenny Clark, Marc Ducret, Daniel Humair, Steve Swallow, Vincent Courtois, Michel Portal, Vincent Peirani, Youn Sun Nah, Airelle Besson and a few dozen others. He often plays in a trio (mainly with Eric Echampard and Arnault Cuisinier) but the solo piano pieces he performs here are timeless, characterised by simplicity, profound lyricism and improvisations with a strong narrative. Sensuality of the string’s vibration illuminating silence. Dance in its essence, solitary, unfolds with the flow of the internal rhythm. Elasticity of time, freedom of action, space, fleeting pleasure…Writing, infinitely reshuffling pretexts to the discretion of the instant. (…) Playing solo piano, I know the starting point and the destination. Mystery lies in the surprises of the journey”. This vision is a theme that flows throughout the twelve tracks on this album, which reveals a little more of itself with every listen. You can hear influences from all of his favourite musicians, from Thelonious Monk and Claudio Arrau to Lennie Tristano and Paul Bley, appearing and then disappearing before the melody takes over once again. Moussay always generates strong imagery with his melodies as he also composes music for film and theatre, but his work never sounds like music that has been churned out quickly without much thought or meaning behind it. Promontoire is particularly impressive during the more simplistic sequences (Villefranque and Monte Perdido), where Benjamin Moussay seems to say it all in just a few notes. This album proves that Less is more, yet again… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In 2018, Elina Duni went solo. Well, she put her name on an album cover and no one else’s. After leading a jazz-based quartet for two albums, the Tirana singer brought out Partir on ECM. The magnificent folklore and popular pieces were played on piano, guitar and percussion and evoked love as well as loss and bereavement. With Lost Ships, Duni continues her collaboration with the young British guitarist Rob Luft which began in 2017. The duo brings together songs of love, exile and suffering. They explore the world’s ills - from migration conflicts to ecological concerns - through truly moving melodies. It’s like a chamber symphony that mixes Mediterranean textures with jazz arrangements. Sometimes, the duo is joined by English pianist and percussionist Fred Thomas and Swiss trumpeter Matthieu Michel. Whether it’s a jazz ballad, an Italian song (Bella Ci Dormi), an Albanian folk tune (Kur Më Del Në Derë and N'at Zaman), a standard made popular by Frank Sinatra (I'm a Fool to Want You) or Charles Aznavour (Hier encore), these diverse sources are brought together by Elina Duni’s expressive voice. Sitting somewhere between a Balkans fado and European blues, it’s a voice that brings hope. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In 2018, Shai Maestro marked a milestone by joining the ECM team. After four albums animated by a certain grace that stamped his name on the contemporary jazz scene, the Israeli pianist, with excellent rhythmic accompaniment (the Peruvian Jorge Roeder on double bass and the Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums) embarked once again on the path of vibrant stories-within-stories. Melodies inherited from the jazz repertoire but also from traditional oriental music or even Western classical music. Sources of inspiration like this great narrative tailwind are again summoned on Human, which was written with the same trio plus Philip Dizack, who brings a real personal touch. While taking care to digest the values of the trio, the American trumpeter brings this music closer to a certain classicism. It's a heritage that the Maestro has always kept in his sights and that he celebrates here with Duke Ellington's In a Sentimental Mood, the only cover on the album, or on Hank and Charlie, a tribute to Hank Jones and Charlie Haden. But it is the virtuosity – which is never ostentatious – of these four that impresses throughout Human. An impressive technique (GG) is put to work on the melody of the delicate (Compassion) and poetic (The Thief's Dream) themes on this record: themes all composed by the Maestro himself. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Every album by Anne Paceo is surprising. And each one of her projects is stunning. She’s always where we don't expect her to be. It would be too simplistic to simply label her as a "jazz drummer". With her, the genres have never been so beautifully fluid. Everything inspires her, motivates her, nourishes her. Jazz, of course, is one source of inspiration, but there’s also pop, song, electronic music, world music and blues. "I’ve never liked the boundaries between musical styles," she insists. “It was the record industry that invented those boxes, but music goes beyond that. The important thing is that it speaks to the heart and soul to awaken our emotions, takes us on a journey and inspires us..." With Ann Shirley and Florent Mateo’s voices and her faithful accomplices Pierre Perchaud on guitar, Christophe Panzani on saxophone and Tony Paeleman on keyboards, Paceo has designed a firework display, just as colourful as it is rhythmic. And never being able to label the music of this eclectic Bright Shadow album is an asset that reinforces the mystery of each of her poems. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

Bill Evans’ enormous discography is so big that some of his albums fall too quickly into the oblivion. Published in 1974 by the German label MPS, Symbiosis is one of his overlooked albums for you to rediscover without delay! Recorded in the CBS studio on the 30th road of New York on the 11th, 12th and 14th of February 1974, he is reminiscent of the pianists interest for classical and Third Stream music, this current that oozed out the brain of Gunther Schuller synthesizing classical western music and jazz. Composed by Claus Ogerman who Evans had hired in 1965 for his album Bill Evans Trio With Symphony Orchestra, this concert work for the jazz trio and symphony orchestra mixes both written and improvised passages. We find both tonal and serial writing throughout this recording, giving a result that would make Glenn Gould go on to say, in one of his radio emissions, that Symbiosis is a "remarkable and marvelous" work. Gould would later add that Ogerman has an "astonishing harmonic inventiveness" but concerning Bill Evans, there are "too many contradictions between the improvised parts, or supposedly improvised, from someone as gifted as Bill Evans and the very sophisticated well-structured scaffolding implemented by Ogerman". Surrounded by his disciples Eddie Gomez on the double bass and Marty Morell on the drums, Bill Evans is far from being as uninspired as his fellow Canadian. His singular approach, out of this world even, surely baffled more than a few people in the past. But, with the help of time, we are still amazed by the beauty and the intelligence of the changes of rhythms and colours. And by the work itself. © MD / Qobuz

Exploring the relationship between acoustic and electronic sounds is a path taken by many contemporary jazzmen. But with Highlines , Fœhn Trio is doing more than just adding to the ranks of ambassadors for hybrid jazz. With their second album, the Lyonnais trio of pianist Christophe Waldner, bassist Cyril Billot and drummer Kevin Borqué perfect their writing both melodically and harmonically. Obviously, the heart of this intoxicating record is above all its rhythm. This never prevents the three musicians from expressing themselves in one voice and not contenting themselves with punchy sequences. On some tracks like Danse pour Gaia, the climatic textures make the whole even more cinematic than its parts. And when electronics seem to take over, the music remains organic, never dehumanised. Finally, when Fœhn Trio climbs Satie mountain (with an amazing rereading of the Gnossienne n°1), they allows themselves some welcome liberties... Fender Rhodes, synths, drum machines and signature guests (trumpeter Erik Truffaz on Old Ocean and flautist Joce Mienniel on Free Ride) further condense Highlines and confirm that the young group probably still has a lot to say... © Marc Zisman/Qobuz