Martin Wind/Peter Weniger/Jonas Burgwinkel: Gravity

All definitions of gravity lead to Martin Wind. The celebrated bassist embodies an undeniable force, exhibiting a certain pull and a centering importance in any scenario. Those strengths have served him well as a first-call foundation for the jazz elite and as a noted leader (or co-leader) on more than 20 albums, and they're magnified on this aptly titled trio date.

Recorded in the fall of 2020 at the Berlin Jazz Institute, Gravity finds Wind building on a 35-year-long friendship with tenor saxophonist Peter Weniger, who he first came into contact with when both were founding members of the German National Youth Orchestra, and developing greater rapport with drummer Jonas Burgwinkel, a more recent connection who initiated this combo. Together, all three musicians reckon with the titular immutable law while bonding over their shared love of this music.

Starting with "Still Friends"—a sly contrafact of "Just Friends" with a syncopated bop head and some seriously swinging solo space—the bassist cites his longstanding relationship with Weniger in style. Then the saxophonist's sinuous and excitable "Newborn" addresses the beauty of writing from a tabula rasa, Wind's "Inga's Waltz" dances a bluesy box step (after the composer's attractive introduction), Johnny Mandel's "El Cajon" makes for a master class in time and creative conversation, and Ludwig von Beethoven's "Pathétique" retains its familiar beauty while earning a new lease on life in this piano-less setting.

The album reaches its midpoint with Wind's "Another Beer, please!," a funky, low-gear groove tune that's as jam friendly as anything on the menu. Then Weniger contributes a slow-swinging "Good night, Princess," dedicated to his wife; "The Uninformed Dwarf," namechecking the ignorant with swaying and grounding sentiments; "Tuyo," a seductive instrumental take on Rodrigo Amarante's theme from Narcos; and "One and One," an affable swinger which precedes the trio's wafting, program-ending take on George Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me." A celebration of friendship, the art of attraction, and the weight each one carries, Gravity offers an absolute take on its name.

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