MATTEO PASTORINO – SUITE FOR MODIGLIANI
Suite for Modigliani is a musical journey through the world
of the painter Amedeo Modigliani, composed by the Italian jazz clarinettist
Matteo Pastorino. The result is immensely pacifying and uplifting jazz music,
performed by Pastorino, Damien Varaillon (double bass), Gilad Hekselman
(guitar), Jean Baptiste Pinet (drums) and Matthieu Roffe (piano). Matteo
Pastorino: "It is an expression of my impressions and emotions about
Modi's art and life. The composed music was inspired by key events in his life,
his creative process and his artistic pursuit. The pure, abstract beauty of his
work reminds me that the past and present in the art of any era can communicate
with each other with intense authenticity and graceful respect. This dimension
of Modi's art has always fascinated me and guided me in my own musical journey.
In painting, sculpture, music and other forms of artistic expression, all
spontaneous quests for grace and purity echo, equate and ultimately coalesce
with one another."
RUTH WILHELMINE MEYER - KLANGBIOTOPER
One of Europe's leading vocal explorers returns with an
audiophile sound environment beyond categories. Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer's second
album 'Klangbiotoper' has turned into something few would have expected from
the exceptional Norwegian vocalist: A political statement: "When I set out
to record this album, I saw the atrocities that we were committing towards our
planet and it got me thinking", Meyer recounts, "I reflected on my
lack of will to do something about the situation and about our collective
failure to take action. In some ways, working on the album was a way for me to
enter into a dialogue with the places, plants and creatures of nature." These
softly flowing, harmonically open compositions oscillate between folk tunes
from Meyer's childhood and associative, almost sculptural instrumental parts,
in which her band - made up of tuba, saxophone and percussion - is casting the
shapes and outlines of the worlds she is singing about on the retina of the
mind's eye. What may sound somewhat eccentric and experimental on paper, turns
out to be intoxicating, intense and intimate.
ARON TALAS TRIO – LITTLE BEGGAR
Let's just play around with the idea of a guy in his mid-twenties surfacing in
New York as a formidable pianist, an original composer, a drummer good enough
to teach his craft at Juilliards and a useful bass-guitar player all rolled
into one. His chances of being heard and noted would be pretty good, news of him
would travel fast in jazz circles, critics would latch on to this exciting
fresh talent and by the time he came to the Old World he would be probably
idolized even before he played a note on a European stage. Fortunately for his
homeland and, perhaps, unfortunately for him, the brilliant pianist on this
album with all the attributes mentioned above, was born, trained and is playing
in Hungary. Aron Talas is only 27 but is already one of the go-to keyboard men
in his country that is certainly not lacking in great pianists. As for his own
compositions - and all the tunes are his own on this album - apart from their
startling originality, there is an unpretentious freshness about them that
would appeal even to a non-jazz audience. Yet it is just that fresh simplicity
which makes these themes terrific vehicles for improvisation. In his playing
Aron is equally capable of great lyricism and soaring passion. He never slurs
his notes and plays with admirable clarity.One can easily understand his choice
of musicians for his trio. Jozsef Barcza Horvath, originally a classical player
who finally found his freedom in jazz, is one of the great virtuosos of the
double bass whose solos of sometimes astonishing speed invariably display and
incredible melodic coherence. Yet, as an accompanist he is humble and is
absolutely in tune, in more than one sense, with his fellow musicians. The
drummer, Attila Gyarfas is the same age as Aron and already possesses the
faultless dynamics that are essential in a combo like this. A Big Talk is a
track where the quality of this wonderful rhythm section is well to the fore.
No comments:
Post a Comment