Featuring new albums from Brigitte Beraha, Tigran Hamasyan, Tord Gustavsen Trio, Ben Marc, Jason Rebello and more…
Brigitte Berah
Flash
let me out some records
Brigitte Beraha (v, elec, toys), George Crowley (ts, cl, elec), Alcyona Mick (p, syn) and Tim Giles (d, perc, elec)
Beraha’s voice is his instrument, his pipes more complex, more sensitized than any mechanical instrument; words are a bonus, and let’s face it, they often prevent the music from reaching directly to the heart. Best of all, Beraha is playful: full of fun, and in her bandmates, playmates, she has players who are happy to indulge in playful approaches to serious life… Andy Robson
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Tigran Hamasyan
StandArt
Incomparable
Tigran Hamasyan (p), Matt Brewer (b), Justin Brown (d), as well as guests Ambrose Akinmusire (tp), Joshua Redman (ts) and Mark Turner (ts)
LA-based Armenian pianist-composer Tigran Hamasyan continues to break new ground with his acoustic piano trio’s off-the-beaten-path renditions of Broadway standards to bebop on his new recording. StandArt. It is perhaps the most integrated example of his highly original personal language that has evolved over a high-profile, action-packed career over the past decade… Selwyn Harris
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Trio Tord Gustavsen
Opening
ECM recordings
Tord Gustavsen (p, elect), Steinar Raknes (b, elect) and Jarle Vespestad (d)
This latest trio by Tord Gustavsen, which welcomes bassist Steinar Raknes, oscillates between the introspective and the dramatic in a rich and singular way. The staged opener ‘The Circle’ sees Gustavsen explore a seductively simple modal melodic line, with the trio sotto voce approach creating an atmosphere of cozy intimacy… Pierre Quinn
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Ben Mark
Glass effect
Innovative hobbies
Ben Marc (b, b, prog), Judi Jackson, Joshua Idehen, Midnight Roban (v), Jason Yarde (bs), Ed Riches (g), Marius Alessia and Sam Jones (d)
From the start, Glass effect feels exciting, cool box. Deep electronic jams are at the rendezvous, their fragmented rhythms slippery and jerky, framing sonic tapestries within which, on the opener “The Way We Are”, string arrangements and folky guitar riffs dance and weave with heavy basslines… Jane Cornwell
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Per Møllehøj/Kirk Knuffke/Thommy Andersson
That’s wonderful
To delay
Per Møllehøj (l), Kirk Knuffke (c) and Thommy Andersson (b)
The title track wobbles as one would expect and I can even hear a distant reminder of our own Digby Fairweather bugle style. Knuffke has the necessary mastery and, more precisely, the creative enterprise to exploit the full expressive range of the cornet, covering all registers, higher or lower; he emphasizes the band’s “very unique overall sound” and he’s right. Wonderful music… Pierre Vacher
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Jason Rebello and Opus Anglicanum
Adorna
Ulysses Arts
Jason Rebello (p), Stephen Burrows, David de Winter, John Bowen, Roland Robertson, James Burchall (v)
Plainsong, of course, is a single line, which Rebello successfully illuminates with subtle but effective harmonic inversions, but the Anglicanums also evolve into simple polyphonic Tudor songs and more modern works. This imposes a considerable challenge on Rebello to stay true to the original intent of the music, while revealing his own musical personality, which he succeeds in doing; his invention and touch are quite sympathetic while his musical instincts are one with his musical environment… Stuart Nicholson
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John Scofield
ECM
John Scofield (g, looper)
Over the decades the man has done it all, jazzed it up, jammed it, rocked it, and always with the blues underneath. And here, he’s distilled his decades in that crazy craft into a dozen baker’s songs that may seem modest in ambition – a single track is over five minutes long, several barely three – but packs a powerful punch… Andy Robson
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Read reviews of these albums, and more, in the May issue of Jazzwise magazine – subscribe today
