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Richard Ebert: Abreisetag
by Geno Thackara
As Abreisetag goes along, there are times when it almost sounds like a dreamy intro to some abstract film score rather than a leisurely jazz session. The electric keys flutter, a string of alto saxophone notes seesaws amidst some aimless percussion almost as if everyone is distractedly warming up. It may take them most of the opening track ("Anreisetag," meaning “arrival") to settle into a pattern, but the gradual coherence isn't as random as it sounds. The quartet's second recording ...
read morePhraim: Tides
by Geannine Reid
In 2016 vocalist Nina Reiter founded the band Phraim together with drummer Peter Primus Frosch, pianist Stephan Plecher and bassist Marc Mezgolits. The band's first album /fɹeɪm/ was released in 2019 on QFTF records. The second continues the exploratory journey. Using the voice as an instrument gives the ensemble a fresh perspective on “And Still I Rise." The melody is centered around a motif that Reiter sings without words. Her voice takes on the role of fronting the ...
read moreMarie Kruttli Trio: The Kind of Happy One
by Mike Jurkovic
A gracious yet adventurous air of then and now hovers over, under, sideways, and down on The Kind of Happy One, Swiss pianist/composer Marie Kruttli's fourth disc. It's an expanding calm, a welcoming sense of command and form from a young artist finding her place in the music and its long heritage. Yet “Back to Blue" starts off The Kind of Happy One with bassist Lukas Traxel's sinister, recurring riff into which rising-through-the-generational-ranks drummer Jonathan Barber quickly breathes ...
read moreRaphael Walsers GangArt: Zwischen Grund und Grat
by Geno Thackara
Swiss folk probably isn't the first thing anyone will associate with this Gang's particular art at first glance. It starts by dropping straight into churning action without any buildup, kicking off with a classy swinger that gradually trades catchiness for a pile-on of horns that snowballs until it all breaks down in chaos. With the next track comes an initially baffling series of wonky piano and sax lines. The following selections continue making a somewhat angular challenge if approached in ...
read moreOdil: Réson
by Geno Thackara
Though Camille-Alban Spreng has the chops and improvisational spirit of a jazz player, the band Odil's debut on Something (QFTF, 2016) established a wheelhouse also wide enough to include loose-form avant-garde and electric funk. This follow-up is billed entirely under the band's name instead of the leader's, which is appropriate given how well the unit has gelled in the time between. Sam Comerford steps up from guest to full member and the palette certainly benefits from a bigger dose of ...
read moreMarc Jufer: Trip To The Center
by Mike Jurkovic
Swiss saxophonist Mark Jufer's Trip to the Center comes at you in a flurry of sharp, biting angles, presenting a free-form trio with a flair for twisting and turning on the whim and intuition of any of its three venturous inhabitants. An excited tangle of themes and ideas recorded in two days, Jufer, elastic upright bassist Lisa Hoppe and the careening suppleness of drummer Devin Gray set the tone right away with “Symétrique Ascendant" and “Mrddg." Written by ...
read moreMarc Jufer Trio: Trip To The Center
by Jerome Wilson
Marc Jufer is a Swiss saxophonist who has worked in a variety of formats. Here he leads a trio with a fire-breathing rhythm section of bassist Lisa Hoppe and drummer Devin Gray. Without a piano or other harmony instrument to support him, Jufer's sax playing comes off slinky and malleable. He subtly threads his way through his compositions, often ruminating at low pitch and volume before turning up the heat. This approach works because he has Hoppe and ...
read moreMaaike den Dunnen: Inner Space
by Jerome Wilson
Maaike den Dunnen is a Dutch singer-songwriter with an exuberant and confident voice. On this CD, backed by a tight trio, she shows how powerfully she can come across both on joyous jazz-funk tunes and dreamy art songs. This contrast is demonstrated in the first two tracks. On “Nature's Call" Dunnen's voice dances over Thomas Kugi's funky tenor sax while on “The Deep" her clear resonant sound mixes with Dena DeRose's insistent piano like Norma Winstone and John ...
read moreReto Anneler: Stille Post
by James Fleming
Stille Post is a record as spacious as a solar system. Reto Anneler's alto and Cristoph Grab's tenor move around the rhythm section like planets orbiting a distant sun. And when the two horns align, the music glows with the red light of an eclipse, shining down on the spare basslines and pointed drumming of Claudio Strüby and Lukas Traxel. Who seem to capture the rhythms rather than mould them. And then lay them out like faded tracks for the ...
read moreNiculin Janett Quartet: Complexes
by Geno Thackara
Despite the connotations of its title, the sound of Complexes doesn't suggest anything excessively technical (or mental issues either, for that matter). The Niculin Janett Quartet's second recording is a largely sedate affair that stays semi-formless and yet always easy to follow--a resolutely modern mix of familiar swing and challenging abstraction. Even while the drift mostly happens at a leisurely tempo, the quartet's laser-like deliberation never wavers throughout. In that way the recording pleasantly evokes the less abrasive ...
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