Yelena Eckemoff: Blooming Tall Phlox

For this quintet outing, pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff is joined by Verneri Pohjola on trumpet and flugelhorn, Panu Savolainen on vibraphone, Antti Lotjonen on double bass, and Olavi Louhivuori on drums and percussion. Together they move through a sequence of 15 originals that feel less composed than remembered, as though the music were lifted from the air itself and gently given form. What emerges is a cabinet of scents, each one opened with care, each one releasing its own history.

It begins with the title track, where an opening blush of tinkling piano releases a sparkling reverie, soft yet alert, in which every musician is granted space to glow. Eckemoff has always had a gift for atmosphere, though never at the expense of melodic direction or narrative intent. Here, her piano moves through a flipbook of scenes, page after page scented with warmth, wonder, and intimacy. The music breathes in slow, deliberate cycles, inviting the listener to inhale fully before moving on.

Divided into "Summer Smells" and "Winter Smells," the two-disc set unfolds as a journey that privileges the nose as much as the ear. This sensory framing gives the album a singular hue within the jazz spectrum, one that allows Eckemoff's improvisations to drift and settle with natural ease. Whether in the swinging gait of "Apples Laid Out on the Floor" or the gentle sway of "Wildflower Meadows," the music feels guided by association rather than display.

Though every track bears a personal stamp, certain pieces radiate with particular clarity. "Baba Lisa's Singer," carried by Pohjola's searching lines, traces flight paths that feel both fragile and fearless, as though sound itself were testing the limits of gravity. "Wildflower Meadows" unfolds as a cinematic tableau, its locomotive rhythm section and expansive melodies suggesting open fields, sunlit air, and the quiet confidence of shared purpose. In moments such as these, the deep trust between Eckemoff and her bandmates becomes unmistakable. The music reveals not only how comfortable they are within her vision, but how generously that vision invites them to speak.

One of the album's great pleasures lies in the dialogue between Eckemoff's piano and Savolainen's vibraphone, especially on "Old-Fashioned Bread Store" and "Pine Needles Warmed by the Sun." Their exchanges form the project's beating heart, phrases traded with the ease of old friends finishing each other's thoughts. Here, sound takes on texture and aroma, the imagined scent of warm crust or sunlit resin hovering just beyond the notes. From the abstract murmur of "Sleeping in the Tent" to the photorealistic sparkle of "Scented Candles and Sparkling Wine," Eckemoff demonstrates what happens when imagination is not unleashed recklessly, but invited to sit still and observe life's simplest, most sustaining pleasures.

"Smoke from the House Chimneys in Frosty Air" marks the turn toward winter, where reminiscence cools and settles, and the world grows quieter without losing its depth. These pieces carry the hush of lived experience, the way warmth lingers in fabric long after the body has left the room. Winter also brings some of the album's most eloquent storytelling, none more so than "Talks Over Hot Tea," a slow-burning meditation that gives Pohjola ample room to speak in echoes and pauses. His phrases rise and fall with measured joy, while Louhivuori's drums shift organically from brushes to sticks, mirroring the easy adaptability of a life shaped by trust over fear.

"Grandpa Lera's Bookcase" stands out for its roaming bass lines and nostalgia-soaked theme, each note suggesting the weight of pages turned by time. "Mommy's Shawl" wraps itself around a rolling ostinato, its melody unfolding patiently, offering comfort without sentimentality. "Aunt Galya's Perfume" captures the quintet at its most aligned, hearts and minds moving with a shared intuition. The music blooms naturally, secure and unguarded, even as it rises into a high-energy plateau where Pohjola and Louhivuori converse with the ease and affection of family.

Do not mistake the album's gentleness for passivity. Beneath its inviting surface lies emotional drama, theatrical contour, and a rich tapestry of relationships. These pieces understand that scent, memory, and feeling are inseparable, that joy often carries traces of longing, and that reflection can be as vital as motion.

By the album's close, the seasons have completed their cycle, and the air feels renewed. What lingers is a sense of gratitude, the quiet happiness of having been allowed into another life's recollections. Eckemoff does not ask the listener to leave with answers, only with open senses and a lighter step. The final impression is one of warmth returning, of windows thrown open, of breath taken deeply and gladly. In this music, memory does not fade. It smiles, it exhales, and it invites us to do the same.

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