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Jazzkaar Interviews: Kristjan Randalu
by Martin Longley
The Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu gave one of the best performances at the 2021 Jazzkaar festival in Tallinn. It was the premiere of a work-sequence for the New Wind Orchestra, and it blew the audience on a wayward journey. Once again, Randalu will be delivering a premiere piece for Jazzkaar, opening up this year's 36th edition with his “Marginaalid ja Dividendid" (Margins And Dividends). Your scribe and this keysman ended up with a most unusual interview setting: Longley ...
Continue ReadingMathias Eick: Lullaby
by Jack Kenny
The prolific collaboration between Mathias Eick and ECM founder Manfred Eicher reveals a shared artistic vision that has reshaped contemporary jazz aesthetics. Eick's appearances on over a dozen ECM releases demonstrate Eicher's commitment to cultivating his distinctive sound--a muted, introspective trumpet approach that redefines jazz expression through restraint rather than virtuosic display. Mathias Eick's sound seeps into the consciousness. It does not ring out with a magnificent blare, the notes do not zing or soar. His trumpet sounds, ...
Continue ReadingPetros Klampanis: Tora Collective
by John Chacona
Some ideas work better on paper than on record. Take the attempts to fuse jazz and Greek popular music. There is, to be sure, a certain logic to the notion. Both traditions share an emphasis on virtuosic improvisation and a foundation in dance rhythms. Rebetika, the mournful songs of heartache, alienation and drug use brought to Greece in the population exchanges of a century ago, is, with some reason, called “the Greek blues."
Continue ReadingPatrick Cornelius: Acadia: Way Of The Cairns
by Chris May
No, this is not an ECM album, though, looking at the sleeve art, you would be excused from thinking it was trying to pass itself off as one. Half of the Acadia quartet is indeed European: Estonian-born, German-based pianist Kristjan Randalu and Luxembourg-born, US-based drummer Paul Wiltgen. The other half is American: alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius and US-born, London-based double bassist Michael Janisch. The music itself is a genuinely transatlantic affair, though the US is the dominant partner: Cornelius' vigorous ...
Continue ReadingKristjan Randalu: Absence
by Mike Jurkovic
With a gathering, rubato flurry, Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu, a Chick Corea-inspired student of the late, virtuosic and highly lyrical British pianist John Taylor and his mischievous compatriot Django Bates, begins “Forecast" in whirling descent, before the quiet storm of guitarist Ben Monder and drummer Marku Ounaskari take the weather out to sea, where Randalu threatens to revive the current again and again but instead gives way to clearing skies. Absence, Randalu's ECM debut, ricochets its motifs and ...
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