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Christian Pabst Trio + 7: Song of Opposites
ByIncorporating the sounds of the violin, viola and cello, the album gets off to a classical beginning on the beautiful but haunting "Arrival," followed by a featured trio performance on "Elixir" highlighting solos from bassist David Andres, crisp cymbal accents from drummer Kaspars Kurdeko and strong key work from the leader. "Point Ephemere" is the high point and most atmospheric of the pieces on this recording showcasing the string section, the horn instruments and brief background vocals from Anna-Maria Nitschke.
The trio format continues on the light "Stufen" while on "Graba Luba," Pabst captures the horns for the last time on an upbeat burner and somewhat of a departure from the main texture of the recording. The group returns to that texture on the gorgeous balladic "Like the Waves" where the pianist glides across the keys in gentle style against backdrop support by his core trio and tender accompaniment from the strings for another classical bent on the music.
The modern jazz style is evident on the dynamic "Perpetuum" while "Augenblick"though taking a bit long before emergingreturns the music to gentler landscape on another brief original. As if announcing the end of the music, the finale tune "departure" is the last of the string-supported classical-bent originals that at two and a half minutes in duration, is far too short to fully appreciate.
It's quite clear that Song of Opposites is not your standard jazz palette where one may find a portion of bop or progressive jazz in the mix, instead, the Christian Pabst Trio + 7 presents a selection of accessibly creative classically-tinged warm jazz with a discerning intellectual appeal.
Track Listing
Arrival; Elixir; Point Ephemere; Stufen; Graba Luba; Like the Waves; Perpetuum; Augenblick; Departure.
Personnel
Christian Pabst: piano; David Andres: bass; Kaspars Kurdeko: drums; Claudia Valenzuela: violin (1, 3, 6, 7, 9); Maria Sofia Espiga: viola (1, 3, 6, 7, 9); Bea Andres: violincello (1, 3, 6, 7, 9); Florian Sperzel: trumpet, flugelhorn (3, 5); Bernard Van Rossum: saxophone (3, 5); Lukas Jochner: trombone (3, 5); Anna-Maria Nitschke: background vocal (3).
Album information
Title: Song of Opposites | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Self Produced