Jazz Articles
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Tobias Hoffmann Jazz Orchestra: Conspiracy
by Jack Bowers
While listening to Conspiracy, German-born composer-arranger Tobias Hoffmann's second album, the thought arose that Stan Kenton would have loved this." Like Kenton, Hoffmann is an explorer who approaches music from a cerebral point of view but never overlooks the need to swing and to keep an audience engaged by varying the tone, tempo and color of his orchestrations. Several of Hoffmann's compositions, in fact, would have found a suitable home in the Kenton orchestra's library, as they lay bare the ...
read moreZurich Jazz Orchestra & Steffen Schorn: To My Beloved Ones
by Dan McClenaghan
Multiple reedman, composer and arranger Steffen Schorn served a six-year tenure with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. The collaboration resulted in a masterful trilogy of albums, Three Pictures (2018) and Dedications (2021), both on Mons Records, and now To My Beloved Ones. This is luxurious big band music, serious sounds. The traditions mix with modernity; moments of whimsy sneak in. It is madcap one minute, majestic, gorgeous and luminescent the next. The band boasts six reeds players, including Schorn. ...
read moreAltfrid M. Sicking: I Am
by Pierre Giroux
There is this construct that says that jazz is a global enterprise. A delicious example comes from the German-based Mons label and I Am. The foundation of this post-bop album is a quartet anchored by Altfrid M.Sicking on vibes/marimba, Sebastian Altekamp on piano, Ingo Senst on bass and Christian Schoenfeldt on drums. On several of the tracks there are additional players. All the compositions and the arrangements are by Sicking and they make an interesting and varied bagful. ...
read moreZurich Jazz Orchestra & Steffen Schorn: Dedications
by Dan McClenaghan
The Zurich Jazz Orchestra (ZJO), under the leadership of multiple reedist Steffen Schorn, is a colorful listening experience on their 2021 release Dedications. The arrangements weave woodwind pastels over backdrops of the darker hues of the trombones and bursts of bright primaries from the trumpets. Schorn took the leadership role of the ZJO in 2018, presenting his Three Pictures (Mons Records). He pushes his concepts of complex arrangements that mix jazz and classical traditions with exuberant innovation further ...
read morePeter Hedrich: New Hope
by Jack Bowers
In a blindfold test, one would be hard-pressed to name the leader on the album New Hope. According to the jacket, young German-born trombonist Peter Hedrich leads the way but while he does solo on eight of eleven numbers he's basically one of the group, laying claim to no more blowing space than his colleagues, especially saxophonist Tim Sammel and pianist Felix Hauptmann. The album is a tribute to the American-born trombonist Jiggs Whigham who has spent many years in ...
read morePaul Heller: Paul Heller Meets Roman Schwaller
by Jack Bowers
Granted, Paul Heller meeting Roman Schwaller isn't such a big deal here in the States. It is, however, quite a big deal in Germany and western Europe as a whole where Heller and Schwaller are among the reigning monarchs of the tenor saxophone, akin to such American twosomes as Ammons / Gordon, Sims / Cohn or, more recently, Harry Allen / Scott Hamilton, among others. Setting aside the country of origin, this is powerful and perceptive post-bop blowing at its ...
read moreSteffen Schorn & Zurich Jazz Orchestra: Three Pictures
by Dan McClenaghan
The 2004 album Triosphere (Jazz & Arts Records), featuring reedist Steffen Schorn, saxophonist Roger Hanschel and guitarist Dirk Mudelien, points in the direction of the large ensemble work, Three Pictures. Schorn took over the reins of the Zurich Jazz Orchestra in 2014, and for the ensemble he has written and arranged the Three Pictures Suite," Africa Suite," and four other high-quality compositionsall highly layered and deftly nuanced works that point back to Triosphere, with a much expanded palette. If Triosphere ...
read moreMarc Doffey Quintet: Taking Direction
by Marithe Van der Aa
Over the course of 17 tracks, the Berlin based Marc Doffey Quintet sets out to create a suite filled with lyrical and dynamic soundscapes... and succeeds. Their debut album, Taking Direction, consists of compositions written by each individual band member and brief, improvised interludes. By including compositions of each member, the Marc Doffey Quintet places a refreshing emphasis on the diversity and various personalities that determine the group's sound. In the jazz scene--a place where it is dangerously ...
read moreSwiss Jazz Orchestra: Pools: Live at Jazzfestival Bern
by Jack Bowers
As if a new CD by the superlative Swiss Jazz Orchestra weren't enough to start New Year 2016 on a high note, Pools presses home the considerable talents of the orchestra's special guests, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and drummer Peter Erskine, in a dynamic performance taped live at the Hotel Innere Enge on April 10-11, 2015, as part of Jazzfestival Bern. Besides playing with his usual aplomb, Mainieri wrote five of the session's eight numbers and solos on every one save ...
read moreDaniel Cacija: Lifeline
by Bruce Lindsay
Vocalist Daniel Čačija is a snappy, if somewhat retro, dresser--the cover images on Lifeline show him sporting, variously, a dinner suit and a cravat. A quick glance at the track list reveals jazz standards such as Detour Ahead," Lush Life" and Exactly Like You." The band is the classic piano trio, with added trumpet. It looks pretty much like a routine, if stylish, vocal jazz album... But appearances can deceive. On Lifeline, in the company of some excellent musicians, Čačija ...
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