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285
Album Review

Ketil Bjornstad: Before the Light

Read "Before the Light" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Pianist/composer Ketil Bjornstad is primarily known for his new age, chamber jazz type outings on the ECM record label. This superbly recorded production is framed upon an imaginary soundtrack – composed for a film story, concerning love and so forth, as described within the liners. Bjornstad composed all these works and performs with guitarist Eivind Aarset, violaist Nora Taksdal and synth ace Kjetil Bjerkestrand.

And as those familiar with Bjornstad’s music would surmise, many of these pieces ...

158
Album Review

Kiedaisch - Svoboda - Hahn: Water Mirror

Read "Water Mirror" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


This Germany-based trio, delves into and ultimately stylizes a form of music that perhaps parallels the delicacies, and transmutations of water on Water Mirror. Here, the band melds lucid dreamscapes with a continuous underlying flow, thanks to vibraphonist Michael Kiedaisch’s softly stated melodies and oscillating rhythms, while saxophonist Eberhard Hahn and trombonist Mike Svoboda render soothing lyricism amid complex propositions and cunning modern jazz style dialogue. However, the musicians do utilize various ethnocentric percussion instruments to augment many of these ...

209
Album Review

AZOPA (Achim Tang - Zoltan Lantos - Patrice Heral): Makahia

Read "Makahia" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


The trio known as “AZOPA” (derived from the musicians’ first names), melds Eastern European provincial themes with East Indian percussion, modern jazz style interplay, world beat grooves and ethereal dialogue. With the opener, “Call The Morning” one of the musicians perpetuates gravely lower register and somewhat indecipherable spoken word colloquy, which could very well signify the output from drummer/percussionist and EFX maestro Patrice Heral’s manipulations of – live electronics. However, violinist Zoltan Lantos renders swirling and altogether resounding choruses atop ...

230
Album Review

Gyorgy Szabados: Time Flies

Read "Time Flies" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


According to the companion press release, pianist/composer Gyorgy Szabados is the “godfather of the Hungarian modern jazz scene”. Here, the artist embarks on a solo flight consisting of Euro-Classical style themes melded with free jazz dialogue. Basically, Szabados employs swirling clusters and lush embellishments in concert with dazzling speed and wonderfully coordinated yet altogether complex left-hand, right-hand techniques.

The pianist implements an endearing ostinato on the piece titled, “My Favourite Dance” as he raises the intensity level via hypnotic passages ...


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