Category Archives: Albums I really like

Albums I really like

Albums I really like, Bands/Artists I rate very highly

Album review: Asaf Sirkis Trio: Shepherd’s Stories – released July 2013

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A sheep and a lamb gambol on a green hillside, the artists stand in a forest, they wear hoods – they could be shepherds. They aren’t of course, they are members of the outstanding trio of drummer Asaf Sirkis. This is the same trio that gave us Letting Go in 2010. And now this album, Shepherd’s Stories. It’s as if those three years are just a few minutes, as if time does not really matter to Asaf. The haunting harmonica of the earlier album has made way for voice and flute, and just as effectively. The trio has its own recognisable sound – a mix of out-of-this-world pulsating guitar trajectories and shimmering, sizzling, explosive percussion. The guests add more than colour, they add another dimension, a very human one that we can connect with.

In the sleeve notes Asaf tells us that Shepherd’s Stories are reminders of where we have come from, they are metaphors for feelings deep within us, that come unprompted when we hear certain melodies. In a well-balanced album, this idea of atavistic memory is most strikingly demonstrated in two tracks – Traveller and Together. In Traveller, the gentle, cool and beautiful voice of Sylwia Bialas takes us to distant lands where shepherds guard their flocks, where simple tunes move us, where we feel at home. This simplicity is deceptive, it hides complex bass picking, the subtlest drumming and blended voices. Then in Together the ravishing, mellifluous flute of Gareth Lockrane takes me straight into the Middle East, to an almost biblical time. As a boy, did Asaf hear melodies like this one float across hillsides in his native Israel? It is quite timeless, Asaf is right, we already know this tune, this touching emotion, even though most of us lead urban lives. The opening is like the breathing you adopt in meditation, you push other thoughts aside as you relax. You might have imagined from looking at the instrumentation (guitars and drums), and hearing the searing guitar on the first track, that this would be a rock-jazz album but it isn’t, it is overwhelmingly serene and very rewarding.

This album will definitely grow on you. Highly recommended.

Asaf Sirkis

All compositions by Asaf Sirkis

Asaf Sirkis, drums
Yaron Stavi, electric bass
Tassos Spiliotopoulos, electric and acoustic guitars
with guests Sylwia Bialas, voice; Gareth Lockrane, flute; and John Turville, fender rhodes

www.asafsirkis.co.uk

Albums I really like, Bands/Artists I rate very highly

Album review: Alex Jønsson 3: The Lost Moose – released May 2013

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There are some people who are very fortunate to hear music in colour. At the recent Cheltenham Science Festival I saw the emergence of a beautiful piece of abstract art painted in front of our eyes whilst we listened to a live performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The artist Philippa Stanton has synaesthesia, she “sees” sounds as moving images and she captures them in colours. The result was stunning: deep blues and purples for lower register notes, a serene green midway and paler shades for higher notes. Only on stepping back could we appreciate the beauty and harmony of the creation. How we respond to music is subjective but, in those with the condition, the brain consistently associates sounds with specific colours. The condition is prevalent in one to two per cent of the population and unsurprisingly, perhaps, there is a higher incidence in musicians.

I am not a synesthete but for me The Lost Moose by the Alex Jønsson 3 is delicate shades of landscape grey, aqua and moss, and it has the same effect as a very fine woollen sweater, its absense of weight deceptive. The subtle fairy-tale-feel album cover probably stimulated this response even before I heard the first notes. The Lost Moose is the debut album by Danish guitarist Alex Jønsson, who is joined by Lars Greve on clarinet and saxophone, and Christian Windfeld on drums. The opening track sets the tone, you wonder if you are hearing a lute rather than a guitar, there is a 16th century melancholy feel in the first minute and it never leaves you till the last note of Näkemiin, (Til we meet again). It’s a pilgrimage, we pass through the ancient capital and see a Gothic cathedral, spend idyllic time in tiny remote villages and islands, relish food, experience vertigo, run out of painkillers and say goodbye to those we meet on the road. A timeless road trip rendered in muted colours. Its minimalism is its strength, you can appreciate each delicate sound. Everything is pared back, slowed down. I can imagine words to these lovely tunes, a voice complementing the clarinet. It is not all quietness: in Afraid of heights I do feel I am looking over the edge, it’s quite scary, the earth seems to shake, the guitar and drums a shock after the gentleness.

This is a very beautiful album which succeeds perfectly in creating a consistent and sustained atmosphere through a very rich palate of sounds (or subtle colours). Alex is part of Foyn Trio!, a delightfully quirky jazz crossover band where he plays guitar and backing vocals, and their Joy Visible was nominated for a Danish Music Award. With this pedigree behind him already, in The Lost Moose he has created a distinctive distant world, one in which to lose yourself, one which leaves you enriched by its gentleness and space. Highly recommended.

The Lost Moose

All compositions by Alex Jønsson

It was recorded in Studio Epidemin in Gothenburg, Sweden and recorded & mixed by Johannes Lundberg. Mastered by Petter Eriksson.

Alex Jønsson, guitar
Lars Greve, clarinet and saxophone
Christian Windfeld, drums

The Lost Moose available at http://alexjonsson.dk/

Albums I really like, Bands/Artists I rate very highly, Gigs I've enjoyed

Launch and album review: Maciek Pysz Trio – Insight – released May 2013

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Maciek Pysz is a Polish guitarist and composer joined on Insight by longstanding partners Asaf Sirkis on percussion and Yuri Goloubev on double bass. The album comprises eight compositions and arrangements by Maciek and one with Gianluca Corona. The sleeve notes make clear that many of the intricate compositions were born out of imagining (or experiencing) loneliness or loss, but also wonder at the world and its beauty. They are very personal, we get an insight into Maciek’s life and thoughts. And the output we hear is the result of five years playing together and it is world class.

On the sleeve of Insight, insight is defined as “the act… of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively”. So at the launch of the album last night (22 May 2013) at The Forge in London, I was interested in seeing how this idea would be conveyed. The cover shows Maciek with eyes closed, in contemplation or meditation. Yet it would be impossible to perform in a trio if you were wrapt in yourself. So in performance, Maciek’s eyes smile with pleasure, Yuri’s are focussed on his music stand with the occasional flick of eyelids to communicate approval or wry amusement, and Asaf keeps his eyes closed most of the time (like many drummers) except when waving an arm at Yuri or Maciek as if to say “Wow!”

It was an evening to gasp, not just at Maciek’s breathtaking skills, conjuring the most delicate sounds out of steel and nylon wire, nor at Yuri’s serene arco playing on his double bass with antique patina, or Asaf’s magical patter on the udu drum or beats so fast and hard they sounded like firecrackers. You gasped because it sounded fluent and effortless, and because it made you feel so happy. An album launch should always be a joyful occasion but this one felt particularly so, there were many Polish people there, at least half of whom were women (yes, rare at jazz) and Maciek’s father present to crown it all. At one stage a small group near the stage moved as if to dance, and really that would have been most appropriate, it was hard to keep in your seat.

We had a few minutes of unaccompanied guitar in Recuerdos de la Alhambra (the classical piece by Francisco Tárrega). And a new composition called Tangella ( to the tango) which is not on the album. I think we heard all the album tracks with a bonus of hearing the eponymous title as an encore (at a slower tempo) as well as earlier in the set list. The sound was beautifully balanced, you could hear fingers on strings, delicate jingles of bells around Asaf’s ankles. The album has a similarly gorgeous sound being recorded, mixed and mastered by Stephano Amerio. Highly recommended.

Maciek is performing with this trio at Kings Place on Saturday 14 September 2013.

Maciek Pysz
Maciek Pysz, acoustic and classical guitars
Asaf Sirkis, percussion
Yuri Goloubev, double bass

Insight is available from http://www.maciekpysz.com/

Albums I really like, Bands/Artists I rate very highly

CD review: Alexi Tuomarila Trio – Seven Hills – released June 2013

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There was a very strong likelihood that the Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila could have become a professional tennis player had he not discovered Miles Davis and gone on to study in Brussels where he won many prizes. Those tennis essentials – gracefulness, nimble footwork, sensitivity to the moment and delicacy of touch – are abundantly apparent here in Alexi’s sparkling touch.  I imagine a Roger Federer performance, no pressure visible, feet (or fingers) skimming the ground, elegant changes of direction like a swallow in flight. When Alexi’s career hit a dark patch, titles such as Bone Yard Jive and My Dark Hours hint at the desolation within but now, on Edition Records, he returns to dazzling sunlight with this beautiful album. His playing is breathtaking, it is cool and Scandinavian yet warm and intimate,  a density of notes yet never heavy.  I keep wanting to use the adjective sparkling but that’s what this album is, every track dazzles you with wonder.

He is joined by Mats Eilertsen on bass (Tord Gustavsen Trio and Mats’ own bands, most recently on the exquisite Sails Set) and Olavi Louhivuori on drums (leader of Oddarrang amongst other excellent projects), and on a couple of tracks by Portuguese guitar player André Fernandes. Alexi’s trio have played together before, on his Constellation (2006), well-titled, a pitch for the heavens that he has now reached in Seven Hills.

There are very strong melodies, some hymn-like (Miss), others have a Monk-tinge (Visitor Q), all demonstrate perfect understanding between this trio. The guitar seems to be used (on Prologue and Ceremony) to set up tension,the drums contorted like thunder, but always the piano brings us back to serenity. On Jibeinia, we have the delicate tracery of an extinct fossil bird, a feathered dinosaur set out in Mats’ bass, the piano wistfully trilling a possible call for this long-gone creature.

All the tracks are standout. but I must draw attention to Cyan by Olavi where the trio is at its most etheral. It could be a lullaby for a sleepy child or the remembrance of a perfect summer day, the drums are like rustling silk.

I saw Alexi with this trio earlier in the year at Warwick Arts Centre. We can only hope Alexi tours the UK soon, more people need to experience his sublimely contemplative intensity for themselves. Game, Set and Match to Mr Tuomarila.

Alexi Tuomarila
Alexi Tuomarila, piano
Mats Eilertsen, double bass
Olavi Louhivuori, drums
André Fernandes, guitar

http://www.matseilertsen.com/

http://www.olavilouhivuori.com/

Seven Hill is available from Edition Records and other places

Albums I really like, Bands/Artists I rate very highly

Review: Claudio Filippini Trio – Facing North – released Jan 2013

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From the moment you handle the CD case and carefully extract the liner notes, you know you are in for a very classy, modish experience with this trio comprised of Italian pianist Claudio Filippini, Swedish bass player Palle Danielsson and Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivouri. The glossy paper of the notes, the delightful stickers of album covers (far too beautiful to actually stick on anything), the mix of near-sepia and delicate colour photographs and, most satisfying of all, exquisite essays by Claudio and Daniela Floris.

All these features whet our appetite even before we listen. We read how Claudio couldn’t believe he had been asked to play with two idols he had never met. How he was passing through a troubled period as a composer, how suddenly the very thought of working with Palle and Olavi strengthened and focussed him, like a compass pointing to the only true direction where you can align yourself – North – Facing North. Immediately we empathise with Claudio’s dilemma and anguish, and rejoice in its joyful resolution. And we are grateful for Daniela’s quiet shyness at being in their presence while recording, when she was dazzled by beauty, yet able to describe a wonderful experience to us.

Then you listen, holding your breath, hoping your expectations will be fulfilled. And they are, immeasurably. The overwhelming impression this album leaves you with is joy. From the happy, smiling, cover photo to the final chord, this album is suffused with love, hope and a sense that strength, once received, never leaves you. There are six beautiful compositions by Claudio, a Henry Mancini, two Gershwins, the best Brian Wilson song ever (God Only Knows) and Adele’s song Chasing Pavements. The piano is a beautifully toned Steinway from the 1920s, the studio sound is warm and calm.

Maybe it is not co-incidental that the opening track is Nothing to Lose with its subtle, cautious start, then growing confidence. The heart-breaking bass leaves you in no doubt that this is a very special session, this track was recorded in one take. The title track Facing North sings and swings, suffused with Bill Evans-like gentle harmonies, as if Palle brought something of the master with him from 1965 Stockholm and Claudio has picked it up, so subtly. Everything is subtle and ethereal on this album, as if you can’t quite believe it is happening. They recorded it in low lighting and that must have added to the atmosphere. Landscape opens with a shimmering terrain, gently rolling hills traced by the piano while the bass glides and soars serenely above it like a bird. This is a luxurious verdant landscape, nothing jarring here. The subtle use of the celesta adds a magical icy touch to several tracks like Sonatina and Soaking and Floating.

What can you say about God only knows? The most perfect pop song ever written and here given a brittleness and fragility with ironic opening chords. Adele’s ambiguous Chasing Pavements is accorded great reverence, it is a lovely tune, rendered timeless here. Upbeat Modern Times closes the album sending us away feeling strong, optimistic, refreshed.

Claudio has indeed proved that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain in this perfect album. Highly recommended. I must thank Ermanno Basso for making it happen.

Claudio Filippini

Claudio Filippini, piano, celesta

Palle Danielsson, double bass

Olavi Louhivuori, drums

http://www.claudiofilippini.com/

http://www.olavilouhivuori.com/

Facing North is available on Cam Jazz and other places