"this is the real deal" - All Music Guide
"Nobody turns a phrase like John Gorka...engaging melodies...captivating lyrics." - CMT.com
"I think of this record as a little folk festival with many voices and more than one style of music." - John Gorka
The album looks back to his roots in traditional folk music with a contemporary feel. As one of the premier songwriters in music, this album shines light on timeless stories of love and war with catchy melodies and soulful vocals.
Godfrey Daniels is one of the oldest and most venerable music institutions in eastern Pennsylvania. A small neighborhood coffeehouse and listening room, it has long been a hangout for music lovers and aspiring musicians, and, in the late 1970s, one of these was a young Moravian College student named John Gorka. Though his academic course work lay in Philosophy and History, music began to offer paramount enticements. Soon he found himself living in the club’s basement and acting as resident M.C. and soundman, encountering legendary folk troubadours like Canadian singer/songwriter Stan Rogers, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton and Claudia Schmidt. Their brand of folk-inspired acoustic music inspired him, and before long he was performing his own songs - mostly as an opener for visiting acts. Soon he started traveling to New York City, where Jack Hardy’s legendary Fast Folk circle (a breeding ground for many a major singer/songwriter) became a powerful source of education and encouragement. Folk meccas like Texas’ Kerrville Folk Festival (where he won the New Folk Award in 1984) and Boston followed, and his stunningly soulful baritone voice and emerging songwriting began turning heads. Those who had at one time inspired him - Suzanne Vega, Bill Morrissey, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, Shawn Colvin - had become his peers.
In 1987, the young Minnesota-based Red House Records caught wind of John’s talents and released his first album, I Know, to popular and critical acclaim. With unusual drive and focus, John hit the ground running and, when an offer came from Windham Hill’s Will Ackerman in 1989, he signed with that label’s imprint, High Street Records. He proceeded to record five albums with High Street over the next seven years: Land of the Bottom Line, Jack’s Crows, Temporary Road, Out of the Valley and Between Five and Seven. His albums and his touring (over 150 nights a year at times) brought new accolades for his craft. Rolling Stone called him “the preeminent male singer/songwriter of the new folk movement.” His rich multi-faceted songs full of depth, beauty and emotion gained increasing attention from critics and audiences across the country, as well as in Europe where his tours led him through Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland and Germany.
Many well known artists have recorded and/or performed John Gorka songs, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith, Mary Black and Maura O’Connell. He also started sharing tours with many notable friends—Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter among them. All this has brought his music to an ever-widening audience. His video for the single “When She Kisses Me” found a long-term rotation on VH-1’s “Current Country,” as well as on CMT and the Nashville Network. John also graced the stage of Austin City Limits, appeared on CNN, and has been the subject of other national programming.
In 1998, after five successful recordings and seven years at Windham Hill/High Street, John felt the need for a change and decided to return to his musical roots at Red House Records. The choice was driven, in part, by the artistic integrity that the label represents in an industry where the business of music too often takes precedence. His 1998 release After Yesterday marked a decidedly different attitude towards making music for John, and his next release The Company You Keep held fast to John’s tradition of fine songwriting, yet moved forward down new avenues. Its fourteen songs displayed John’s creative use of lyrics and attention to detail. Andy Stochansky played drums and shared production credits with John and Rob Genadek. Ani DiFranco, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucy Kaplansky and Patty Larkin contributed stellar guitar work and vocals to this fan favorite. Old Futures Gone was informed by his life as husband and father of two young children and also contained the colorful experience of many hard years on the road. Writing in the Margins followed and was an engaging collection of sweet and serious songs that spanned many musical genres—folk, pop, country and soul— and featured guest vocalists Nanci Griffith, Lucy Kaplansky and Alice Peacock.
Now with this, his 11th studio album, he returns to his roots with So Dark You See, his most compelling and traditional album to date. In addition to his 11 critically acclaimed albums, John released a collector’s edition box featuring a hi-definition DVD and companion CD called The Gypsy Life. Windham Hill has also recently released a collection of John’s greatest hits from the label called Pure John Gorka. Many well known artists have recorded and/or performed John Gorka songs, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith, Mary Black and Maura O’Connell. John has graced the stage of Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, etown and has appeared on CNN. His new song “Where No Monument Stands” is featured in the upcoming documentary Every War Has Two Losers, about activist Oregon Poet Laureate William Stafford (1914-1993).
John Gorka - So Dark You See
The Jazz Tribe - Everlasting ( Red Records )
The Jazz Tribe are :
Ray Mantilla
Bobby Watson
Jack Walrath
Xavier Davis
Curtis Lundy
Victor Lewis
The Jazz Tribe is a group created by producer and manager Alberto Alberti in the early 90s, specifically as an original production for the La Spezia Jazz Festival. Alberti joined skilfully, with love and talent as he was used to do, some of his preferred musicians: Bobby Watson, alto saxophone player that pushed on an higher level the jazz language with his undoubtedly unique and innovative style; Ray Mantilla, top percussionist from the Latin Jazz group, one of the greatest percussion player from the modern jazz scene ever (played with Art Blakey, Herbie Mann. Stan Getz, Max Roach); Jack Walrath, trumpet player and arranger with a very peculiar and innovative style (worked for many years with Charles Mingus besides his own groups as a leader); Walter Bishop Jr., today no more with us, but one of the top piano player from the Be- Bop Era, mainly by the side of Charlie Parker; Joe Chambers, one of the most important drummer from the modern jazz scene; Steve Grossman, guest member of the Jazz Tribe, great tenor sax player from the post-Coltrane Age by the side of J. Bergonzi, M. Brecker, B. Berg, D. Liebman; on the bass, Charles Fambrough, nowadays almost forgotten musician, he played for many glorious years with Art Blackey's Jazz Messengers in the top line-up including Wynton Marsalis and Bobby Watson himself (Cd recordings can easily testify his superb musical qualities).
The concert given by all those musicians has been recorded and released by Red Records, ad memoriam futura, titling "The Jazz Tribe" and placing itself as a milestones between the crossroads of the top contemporary mainstream jazz expressions: it finds its roots from the latin and afro-cuban experience that enriched the great jazz tradition from Jelly Roll Morton, Mario Bauza, Dizzy Gillespie, Parker, Blakey, Silver, Dorham, Getz … that still nowadays brings towards new enthusiastic musical experiences such as the Jazz Tribe, probably one of the most important and meaningful of all the times.
At the beginning of the new millennium, Ray Mantilla & Bobby Watson, leaders of this cooperative group, asked Red Records to produce a new recording, "The Next Step" (quite meaningful title, isn't it?), bringing ad hoc original compositions and a upgraded line-up: the great pianist Ronnie Mathews (even he recently missed), that took Walter Bishop Jr.'s place; Victor Lewis, one of the greatest drummer and musician of the last 30 years that strictly worked by the side of B. Watson, and Curtis Lundy, Watson's collaborator since the Miami University times, singer Carmen Lundy's brother, bass player that worked with many musicians such as Betty Carter, and leader of several groups released by Sunnyside recordings.
The Next Step isn't a simple group's evolution: it points out the liveliness of the latin and afro-cuban tradition grafted on the great jazz history (we have to listen carefully to certain maeican and argentinian influences on Walrath music).
The tradition evolving or, better, innovation without revolution adapting themes, harmonies and sounds toward a more contemporary sensibility.
The Next Step has been considered a masterpiece of its genre thanks to the excellent soloists, their solid backgrounds, innovative rhythmic sections, involving grooves and imaginative melodies.
One of the characteristic aspect of the Jazz Tribe's music appears to be its easiness in enjoying the audience and, at the same time, its extremely complex execution. Innovation stands in rhythmic and harmonic aspects and both in the sensibility of understanding the more than ever cultural importance, specifically in the American melting pot society, of the latin influences: it faces already existing cultures generating new synthesis and original languages.
After the successful 2007 tour that brought The Jazz Tribe playing in many European countries in front of enthusiastic audiences, our musicians went on April 2008 back again in recording studio to play the tunes of the tour, and finally here to listen to in this current CD.
In this recording Ronnie Mathews, seriously ill, has been substituted by the talented pianist Xavier Davis, a young musical revelation discovered by Bobby Watson, as he always paid attention to contemporary rising stars.
The recording has been accurately mixed by Bobby Watson himself in a Kansas City studio: very high listening quality, clean and brilliant sounds but, most of all, this CD shines for the music in itself for its capability in reporting the present times with deep and sincere intentions.
Angela Hagenbach - The Way They Make Me Feel
For Angela Hagenbach's debut album on Resonance Records, The Way They Make Me Feel, producer George Klabin devised a unique approach: most contemporary jazz vocal albums are a hodge podge of various songs by different writers, while others are songbooks devoted to a single composer or lyricist. The Way They Make Me Feel, contrastingly, combines the best songs of three venerated musical giants whose work collectively defines a key era of American music: Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Mandel. Hagenbach reports that Klabin thought of the album title - a play on the Legrand classic "The Way He Makes Me Feel" (from Yentl) even before the two of them had finished selecting the songs. Pre-selecting the title was a new approach for the Kansas City-based singer who served as producer and AR director on each of her five previous albums for her own label, Amazon Records® "My methods are quite different," she says, "yet each of my projects has its own uniqueness. I'm certainly pleased with the results of this debut." The works of these three melodic masters are perfect for the widely-acclaimed jazz singer, who sings in a dark sultry voice, by turns seductive and swinging - sometimes even both at once. From the funky backbeats of "Cinnamon and Clove" to the rich, European atmosphere of "Charade," to the epic grandeur of "Summer Me, Winter Me" and the intimacy of "His Eyes, Her Eyes," Hagenbach and her musical arrangers, Tamir Hendelman and Kuno Schmid, cover a wide range of feelings, grooves, and emotional moods. Hagenbach tells us, "I've been a huge fan of these three composers for a long time and have performed many of their songs over the years. She notes that, "in addition to being masters of their art, their music has crossed over many genres - from show tunes to film scores or TV show themes. These songs are entirely adaptable to the jazz idiom because they are so well written. They've not only become landmark works in the American songbook but
also traditional jazz standards."
Apart from a shared history in Hollywood - all three composers have won Academy Awards - Michel Legrand, Johnny Mandel, and the late Henry Mancini each have a knack for telling stories that speak to Hagenbach. "I'm a vocalist with the heart of a poet," she says, "I love a good story and I like to remain free to whatever the story, the melody, and the arrangement suggests to me." She adds that her own experience as a songwriter has helped her sharpen her abilities to interpret lyrics and music written by others. "I have a wealth of stories of my own to tell and am still perfecting the knack of speaking my mind and heart with ever so few words, lyrically speaking. Musically, I'm very big on melody. If you've got a great melody, the changes will follow. Mandel, Mancini, and Legrand are masters of this style of composing and the lyricists for each of the compositions are exquisite and they beautifully enhance the message with few cleverly chosen lyrics." George initially came up with a list of 18 great songs by these three iconic composers. Of these, Angela selected ten and suggested 'Cinnamon and Clove.' "I have a passion for Brazilian rhythms and could not resist this chart. I was unfamiliar with it and only stumbled upon it while researching the Mandel Songbook." Tamir Hendelman and Kuno Schmid both share the duty as pianist and musical director on this record. Hendelman, who recently played on Barbra Streisand's 2009 CD, Love Is The Answer, played piano on and arranged five selections for Hagenbach. Schmid played piano and arranged the five-string section tracks heard on roughly half the album, and on the straight-ahead "Sure As You're Born." Hagenbach describes her two musical directors here, as "fantastic pianists and arrangers." Prior to the sessions, she conferred with the two of them by long distance, principally telephone and email.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Hagenbach was able to hear MIDI blueprints of the charts (which were then recorded with actual acoustic musicians for the album itself) in advance and gave Tamir and Kuno her feedback. Among other things, she liked Klabin's idea to utilize an accordion to provide proper atmosphere for the French melodies of M. Legrand, which led to Tamir and George putting a call in to "the wonderful Frank Marocco." But, she adds, "I can't single Frank out without mentioning the others. All the musicians were fantastic! So musical and witty and just a delight to be creating music with." The set gets underway with a comparatively rare song by Johnny Mandel, "Cinnamon and Clove," most famously recorded, up to now, as an instrumental by tenor great Zoot Sims. Angela notes that in addition to having a Brazilian beat, Mandel's melody is deceptive: the second A section is an octave lower than the first and has a built in tag. Then the bridge comes in so quickly that a singer less sure-footed than Hagenbach would surely be thrown - instead she cut the whole thing in one take that satisfied George and Kuno so thoroughly, that they didn't even feel the need for another try. Says Angela, "what a great composition! And the imagery the Bergmans conjured up lyrically was more than I could pass up. I just had to include this one. I was surprised by Tamir's intro - I was expecting a samba, and he delivered a New Orleans parade beat! But in the end, I got my samba, and it all worked out superbly. Tamir is wonderful and Steve Wilkerson's burning sax solo seals the deal."
Angela describes Michel Legrand's "The Way He Makes Me Feel" - also with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman - as "An epic ballad if there ever was one. This melody is both worldly and timid all at once, and I love what Kuno did with it." A rare jazz treatment of one of the songs from the majestic Legrand-Bergman score to Yentl, Hagenbach and Schmid took considerable liberties with the song - for instance, they decided to concentrate on just one central part of the piece, rather than the whole, longish thing as heard in the film. Angela notes that, "The gorgeous swelling of the arrangement beautifully captures the heart of the piece, and although Kuno's tinkling piano solo is only eight bars long, it still has that grand yet intimate scope." Johnny Mandel's "Sure as You're Born" is the only quartet number on the album and the only one to employ electronic keyboard and bass. She's rightfully proud of it in that "for the most part it's a head arrangement with the exception of the intro into the head (or tempo) and the ending. Kuno did another fine job here, and it's a complete departure from his string arrangements. What a fun romp."
Likewise, of the Mandel-Paul Williams standard "Close Enough for Love," Hagenbach reports, "I love the pensive intro - Steve Wilkerson on clarinet - and the way Tamir's arrangement enhances the emotional give and take of the story by flowing in and out of different time signatures and feels: a straight four to a bolero to a waltz and back again. I love the way Frank Marocco punctuates my delivery with his accordion." Angela Hagenbach has been based in Kansas City for most of her career. She was twice chosen to represent the United States as a Jazz Ambassador to the world under the auspices of the United States Information Agency and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She has worked and recorded with Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, Russell Malone, Frank Foster and others. Two of her original compositions will be featured in Last Will, a 2010 film release, starring Tom Berenger and Tatum O'Neal. Angela is widely known as a masterful interpreter of great songs written by everyone from Duke Ellington to Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as an acclaimed writer of original songs herself. This is her sixth album.
New York based tenor saxophonist/composer Seamus Blake is recognized as one of the finest and most creative young players in jazz.
John Scofield, who hired him for his “Quiet Band,” calls him “extraordinary, a total saxophonist.” In February 2002, he took first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in Washington D. C. As the winner, he performed with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.
Seamus Blake was born in England and raised in Vancouver, Canada. At age 21, while still a student at Boston's prestigious Berklee College, he was asked to record with legendary drummer Victor Lewis. After graduation, he moved to New York, where he rapidly established himself on the New York jazz scene.
Seamus has released five albums on Criss Cross Records, from his 1993 debut “The Call” to the 1995 premiere of the “Bloomdaddies,” a “funky, alternative grunge jazz band”, to “Way Out Willy,” which was released in February 2007. He has also recorded as a leader for the Fresh Sound label. "Stranger Things have Happened" (now available on itunes) features Kurt Rosenwinkel as well as Jorge Rossy and Larry Grenadier from the Brad Mehldau trio.
Blake is a long standing member of the Grammy nominated group, the Mingus Big Band, and is featured on the last six albums. He continues to play and record with the Victor Lewis Quintet, as well as with Bill Stewart and Kevin Hays. He has also performed and/or recorded with Franco Ambrosetti, Dave Douglas, Jane Monheit, Kenny Barron, Sam Yahel, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Brad Meldhau, Larry Grenadier, Wayne Krantz, Jorge Rossy, Jack Dejohnette, Brian Blade, Jeremy Pelt, Eric Reed, David Kikoski, Al Foster and many others.
Ever since he debuted with The Call back in 1994, saxophonist Seamus Blake's star has been on the rise and he continues to be a valued member of the Criss Cross family.
As a follow-up to Way Out Willy, Blake's latest features pianist David Kikoski, guitarist Lage Lund, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Bill Stewart on another electrifying set of originals that sparkle with creativity and the kind of integrity that marks the best of today's current generation of jazz artists.
Among a decidedly upbeat set of tunes, highlights further include some deeply moving statements from the saxophonist and Lund on the introspective The Song That Lives Inside. Rounding out the mix are takes on John Scofield's Dance Me Home and a third stream-inspired reworking of Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 10.
Kris Kristofferson - Closer To The Bone
Kris Kristofferson returns to the essentials of his finely honed craft on his New West album Closer to the Bone. Like the master singer-songwriter’s 2006 New West bow This Old Road, the new album is produced by Grammy Award winner Don Was. The previous collection – Kristofferson’s first recording in almost a dozen years – was hailed by critics as “one of the finest albums of his storied career” (Rolling Stone), “a stripped-down stunner” (Esquire), and “a return to his best work” (Q).
Kristofferson says, “I like the intimacy of the new album. It has a general mood of reflecting on where we all are at this end of life.”
Much like its predecessor, Closer to the Bone is a deftly observed, honestly executed work about love, separation, loss, and mortality. The subject matter ranges from the musician’s family (“From Here to Forever,” “The Wonder”) to Kristofferson’s late friend Johnny Cash (“Good Morning John”). Was views the new album as a sort of sequel to its much-acclaimed predecessor: “The recording conditions were a little more controlled, but it’s based around Kris singing and playing guitar, and nothing was to get in the way of that. If anything got in the way of it, we pulled it out. I think the two albums are completely of a piece. I love This Old Road. There’s something really immediate about it, and really profound. I personally think this is a better record, overall. It’s the songs.”
Some of the album’s songs were penned relatively recently, while others Kristofferson had never managed to successfully record. He laughs when he recalls a previous attempt to cut “Good Morning John” with Willie Nelson – like Cash and Kristofferson a member of the country supergroup the Highwaymen -- on harmony vocals: “I got to that line where I say, ‘I love you, John,’ and Willie sang, ‘He loves you, John.’ I said, ‘C’mon, Willie, you can say, ‘I love you, John.’ I guess it embarrassed him. Anyway, we ended up not putting it out then.” While the recording of Closer to the Bone doesn’t entirely replicate the off-the-cuff methodology of This Old Road – which was tracked with surround-sound equipment in a single session in the lounge of a Hollywood studio – the new album, made at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, aimed for the same earthy simplicity.
Most of the tracks were recorded live in the studio. Was says, “We tried to keep it as spontaneous as possible. There is some overdubbing on it, but for most of it we thought we’d try it with everybody playing.”
Was, who played bass on the sessions (as he had on the preceding album), once again drafted the other musicians who supported Kristofferson on This Old Road and a round of tour dates that followed its release: guitarist and backup vocalist Stephen Bruton (who also co-wrote the Closer to the Bone tracks “From Here to Forever” and “Let the Walls Come Down”) and drummer Jim Keltner. Rami Jaffee of the Wallflowers contributed piano and accordion overdubs.
Such searing, contemplative songs as “Closer to the Bone” and “Hall of Angels” gained a melancholy resonance in the days following the completion of sessions for the album. On May 9, 2009, Bruton – one of Kristofferson’s closest friends and musical associates for four decades – died in Los Angeles at the age of 60 after a long battle with throat cancer. The album is dedicated to his memory. “He was there while I was recording, and he was in great spirits at the time,” Kristofferson says of Bruton, who replaced Billy Swan in his band at the age of 20. “Stephen was more like a brother than a guy that worked with me. We went through a lot of years, a lot of laughter, a lot of heartache. I really felt close to Stephen. His spirit’s on the album.”
Was says of Bruton’s unique contributions to Kristofferson’s sound, “He and Kris just had a lock that Kris is never going to be able to get with anybody. It’s what comes from 40 years of playing together. They just had a way of weaving together.”
Kristofferson’s New West albums mark the culmination of a distinguished career that has encompassed the authorship of such classic American songs as “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”; stardom in such feature films as Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid and A Star is Born; honors including three Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award; and years of outspoken political and social activism. This November, he will be feted as a BMI Icon at the performing rights organization’s Country Awards.
In the wake of the rave reviews accorded This Old Road, the now 73-year-old performer has undertaken a vigorous schedule of international solo appearances.
Kristofferson says, “I was overseas doing a film when I got the opportunity to work in Ireland, and I didn’t have time to martial the troops. So I went out by myself, and it worked. I’ve been really surprised at selling out the shows everywhere. People are filling up the houses.
“Something was making a direct communication with the audience,” he adds, “and I guess it must be down to the essence of the songs. Because God knows, there’s better guitar players and singers. But it seems to be working with my material -- just me and the song.”
Tom Ovans - Get On Board
>"a pessimistic prophet whose music is mostly stark, whose lyrics are fragmentary and poetic… the rough-hewn ballads carry a bleak beauty"
Paul Du Noyer The Word
‘It's hard to find an edgy studio anymore’ says Ovans, yet the Sweat Box, owned and operated by Mike Vasquez for 16 years, fitted the bill. Walking around work benches, power tools, cement mixers and cables to get to the studio, Tom recorded the album live in 2 days with Larry Chaney (electric guitar) and Vicente Rodriguez (drums) returning from the Party Girl (2007) sessions.
They were joined by newcomer Phil Ajjarapu on bass. Additional sessions were used to record vocals by Lou Ann Bardash, a horn part by DD Dagger and Mike Vasquez, and a piano part by Jesse Hester.
The album closes with ‘Too Late Now’, one of the longest and most ambitious songs that Tom has ever recorded, a story that begins and ends at a fenced-in basketball court down in Greenwich Village on the corner of West 4th and 6th Ave known as ‘The Cage’.
BIOGRAPHY
Itinerant songman Tom Ovans has long been an outsider, a restless traveler on the spin. Born just outside of Boston, Massachusetts in 1953, he’s lived a life on the margins. If music has been his one constant, still he has always faced what had to be faced, done what had to be done – whether that be carpentry, painting or roofing, working in construction, factories or warehouses. Prissy, overwrought singer-songwriters everywhere, today as always, can talk the big talk, but craftsmen think with their hearts and work with their hands.
As a chronicler and troubadour, Ovans has trod a rough and ragged musical path across the States. In the early ’70s in New York City he walked the walk with a junked-out Tim Hardin and knocked-out loaded Phil Ochs. Over the years he has drifted, been homeless, stood proud, lain low, dug deep but always moved on. Following stints on the east coast, west coast, a short spell in New Orleans and 18 long years in Nashville, Tom Ovans landed in Austin, Texas, six years ago with his painter wife Lou Ann Bardash. Together, they continue to live on the edge, away from the spotlight, fame or glare. He only rarely gigs or tours.
A self-taught musician, Ovans released his first album, ‘Industrial Days’, in 1991. Attracting increasingly widespread respect and acclaim, an impressive series of raw and gritty, moving and inspired albums followed. ‘Dead South’ in 1997 was his first masterpiece, 1999’s ‘The Beat Trade’ was even better. ‘Tombstone Boys, Graveyard Girls’ in 2003 probably topped the lot. For Ovans, integrity counts over success. He don’t wave no flags for no-one, doesn’t preach to the choir, and never chooses easy, Sprawled across two CDs, and drawing hard on a long life lived in the shadow of the American Dream, 2005’s ‘Honest Abe and the Assassins’ is a fiercely personal and doggedly independent work. Tough and honest, bruised and bleeding, it reaches in and reaches out, hits hard and lingers long. It is Tom Ovans’ tenth album, and his best to date.
Stefano Bollani - Stone In The Water ( Ecm 2080 )
Stefano Bollani piano
Jesper Bodilsen double-bass
Morten Lund drums
The Italian virtuoso, pianist Stefano Bollani, began his collaboration with bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund in 2003. The chemistry between the 3 musicians has from the start been exceptional and their albums have been praised by critics and have sold several thousand copies.
The first album MI RITORNI IN MENTE that was released in 2003 was among the 10 best selling records in Italy that year. Following Danish and Italian tours, it became clear that this constellation was destined to be of a more permanent nature. They have been invited to play at clubs and festivals all over the world - their debut in New York was a successful concert at the legendary Birdland Club.
You need not be a musician to understand what bassist Jesper Bodilsen means when he says, “The fascinating thing about playing with Stefano is his brilliant musicality. You never know what’s going to happen; all you know is that it is so very inspiring. His playing combines playfulness and humor with something very deep.”
This is probably in part due to the fact that Bollani has always expressed himself in a wide range of idioms. Although classically trained, he has played jazz and pop since childhood, and even once contemplated a vocalist career. The diversity and unbiased outlook are two traits he shares with bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund. After fifthteen years of collaboration on numerous projects, these two musicians are possibly the tightest bass/drum team of their generation on the Danish jazz scene.
The trio’s first album was dominated by Italian tunes and standard type material. On their second album GLEDA the trio finds a melodic and original tone in a music concentrated around Scandinavian songs. This album was nominated for an Australian Bell Award in the category – Best International Jazz Release in 2006.
The carefully picked material enables the music to flow from this trio in a steady current of intelligence, imagination and delight in playing. Bollani finds his phrases in a deep understanding of the harmonic structures, allowing him to display extreme boldness without ever betraying the melody. Bodilsen is a granite foundation, demonstrating a large and flexible tone and an undisputed authority, while Lund spurs them on, constantly varying his sound.
They have succeeded in creating a beautiful, refreshing and modern sound in a wonderfully well-defined recording. Hearing one of Europe’s great pianists interpret these tunes is pure pleasure and together this trio turns the songs into small miracles!
Jesper Bodilsen and Morten Lund both attended Denmark’s Royal Music Academy in Aarhus, and have played together in numerous contexts since then, along the way becoming, as has been frequently noted, the tightest bass/drums team of their generation on the Danish jazz scene. Bodilsen has been playing professionally since 1985 and has performed and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Enrico Rava, Ed Thigpen, John Abercrombie, James Moody, Jeff Tain Watts, Paolo Fresu among others. Lund has performed and recorded with Mike Stern, Curtis Stigers, Cæcilie Norby, Lars Danielsson, Ulf Wakenius, Christian McBride, Avishai Cohen, Chris Minh Doky, Silje Nergaard, Viktoria Tolstoy, Anders Jormin, Bobo Stenson, Lars Jansson, Bob Mintzer, Tom Harrell, Johnny Griffin, Phil Woods, Etta Cameron, NHØP, and many others. Bodilsen and Lund have each appeared on around 100 albums. “Stone in the Water” is their first for ECM.
With “Stone in the Water” the three players move, with immense subtlety, through a fascinating programme that includes new pieces by Bollani and Bodilsen, plus ballads by Caetano Veloso and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Poulenc’s “Improvisation 13 en mineur”, bringing fresh colours to the piano trio genre.
Tracklist :
Dom de iludir ( Caetano Veloso )
Orvieto ( Jesper Bodilsen )
Edith ( Jesper Bodilsen )
Brigas nunca mais ( A. C. Jobim / V. D. Moraes )
Il cervello del pavone ( Stefano Bollani )
Un sasso nello stagno ( Stefano Bollani )
Improvisation 13 en la mineur ( Francis Poulenc )
Asuda ( Stefano Bollani )
Joker in the Village ( Stefano Bollani )
Vedi anche :
Enrico Rava - New York Days