Saturday, 14 June 2014

Esbjörn Svensson: What Was The Magic and How Has It Spread To The World

Some defined him as 'the leader of the most exciting jazz trio', some described as a 'hardworking musician having a great idea' and some others saw his trio as 'a reference to use for evaluating each new band'. Whatever many critics, listeners, musicians, geeks, nerds and writers say, in my opinion it is almost a generally accepted argument that Esbjörn Svennson is prominent among not too many heroes of European Jazz and the innovative style of his trio (E.S.T.) succeeded to gather new listeners to jazz in a cruel time for music, in which jazz can not manage to gain attraction without destroying its main 'sine qua non' characteristics. Many agrees on that Esbjörn Svensson's unexpected death in 2008 when he was 44, was one of the saddest in jazz history considering the trio's progress in time and what this progress was promising for future. Besides all these fame, career and historical issues, surely the heaviest part of the loss was on his family and band members bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström, which were also long time friends. 

(yazıyı Türkçe okumak için: http://fatih-erkan.blogspot.com.tr/2014/06/esbjorn-svensson-neydi-bu-buyu-ve-tum.html)

The world was about to turn the corner of the new millenium when Siggi Loch decided to release Esbjörn Svensson Trio's previously recorded and printed album 'From Gagarin's Point Of View' via his label ACT. This was not their first album but surely, it was the right time for this Swedish jazz band to present themselves to the experienced and respected German music producer. They were playing for years and had released many albums from small Swedish labels before this aptly decision and Esbjörn Svensson had already been playing with ACT's musician trombonist Nils Landgren in some projects. On listening to these previous albums, one can easily see their maturity level even in the beginning and their certain decisions on creating something really unique. Considering re-releases of ACT from this incubation-like period such as Winter in Venice ('95), we can say that ACT saw the same thing. The following years were a huge success story for the trio as well as for the label. Having been already known for intense and unforgettable live performances, the trio started to give more and more concerts in many countries all around the world. The albums and concerts were mind boggling mainly for European jazz listeners and it didn't take much time that US listeners started to be interested in this incredibly fresh jazz music including many genres such as classical, rock and progressive music and melting improvisational styles with compositions carrying catchy melodies during absolutely amazing performances. 

They were all using electronics and effects. Dan Berglund's distortion added bass sounding like an over-driven electro-guitar from time to time, Magnus Öström's extraordinary on-the-fly multi-layer outputs from the drum-set and Esbjörn Svensson's simple, surprising and impressive effects on the piano were all unique aspects that could fortunately merge in a single jazz band. Besides all this kind of extra features, all band members were virtuosos on their own instruments. Esbjörn Svensson's mastery on classical music as well as his talent in jazz scales, Magnus Öström's ultra fast, clear and controlled style and Dan Berglund's steady and powerful bass line, created a very strong bedding underneath their vast creation area. Their harmony and instantaneous responses to each others' acts during the performances (mostly thanks to childhood friendship of Esbjörn and Magnus including also a musical affair) were always overwhelming. Some pieces and albums were sounding like a full improvisational performance made in a single recording session, whereas some were carrying an amazing collaborative composition at the base that can lock your mind to itself. When it was time to perform live, they always chose to play differently with surprising changes in tension. So differently that sometimes you could lose yourself during the performance until you hear the main theme again... The sound engineers became so important for them for most of the time. Åke Linton was the most recent and well known one, being a huge contributor to the real time performances of the trio both in the studio and live.


Independent of above discussions, whatever came from them, the intense study and discipline which were creating the incredible harmony, their highly concentrated dedication to what they play and their modest manner to their audiences made them one of the best trios of the jazz world. They kept on releasing several albums between 2000 and 2008 which have been awarded several times. They gave strange and interesting names to their pieces. They connected some pieces to the others within an album to create a complete story and main theme for it. They even connected the end of an album to the beginning of the other. They placed hidden tracks in the end carrying hidden meanings behind. One of the most important albums, Viaticum('05) is sold more than 100.000 world wide, which is an incredible number for a jazz album in these hard times of the music industry. Live in Hamburg('07) was performed and recorded during tours of the studio album Tuesday Wonderland('06) and it was defined as "Best Jazz Album of The Decade" by acclaimed critics. They became the first European Band to be the cover for the jazz magazine Downbeat. 

Even after his death, his legacy continued with two albums recorded in the same session in Australia whose mixings were finished before the accident: Leucocyte ('08) and 301 ('12) had contributed a lot to the legendary story of the trio and the band kept on gaining new listeners each day. It is said that the overall sales of the trio's albums exceeded one million so far. There are many European Jazz musicians who composed pieces dedicated to Esbjörn Svensson in their albums after his death. Now, when I was writing this article, both Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund have been continuing their career with their own bands and they keep on releasing impressive albums. Each band has a characteristic signature obviously coming from the part they were playing in the E.S.T. period and they already became creators of their own styles. E.S.T. Symphony is a recent concept which carries some ideas from Esbjörn Svensson's similar work in 2003 and it is produced by long time band manager Burkhard Hopper and living members of the trio with the arranger/director Hans Ek. The world premiere of these performances was made in Stockholm last year just before Esbjörn Svensson's 5th death anniversary and many others have been performed with various soloists and orchestras in many different European countries so far, attracting all previous and recent fans all over the world, creating a magic atmosphere full of memories and resulting in standing ovations and tears for minutes. 


On 6th death anniversary of Esbjörn Svensson today -another Saturday-, I really can not find the exact words to define the emptiness his fans feel even with so many intense and touching works he left behind. It seems that E.S.T. inspired a lot of music enthusiasts as well as many musicians from younger generation all around the world. I personally know many music listeners who have started to listen to jazz after hearing or seeing E.S.T. For me, Esbjörn Svensson and his friends were authors of a great book in jazz library. A book that has several details to be discovered with each concerned reading... Now it seems to me, like many others, the book is completed and ended. Even the way it ended is a part of the whole story. We may want it to be continued forever but since it is a real life story we have to accept the rules of life and death. Each of us are in a way cursed or blessed to play the part given to us. There may be some extensions, some other compilations for lost stories or reproducers following the path of the authors, but nothing will ever taste the same. Meanwhile, until our own parts will be finished, we may read other beautiful books and we may love them. Here my part -I believe that I am cursed to have many others at the same time- is to write my reflections and I hope I could at least send some angels to Esbjörn Svensson. Rest in peace Maestro...


You can read my previous posts about E.S.T. via these links in English (or in Turkish for some):

Esbjörn Svensson Trio, The Best Trio of All Times: 
The review for When Everyone Has Gone:
The review for Winter in Venice:
The review for From Gagarin's Point of View:
The review for Good Morning Susie Soho:
The review for Strange Place For Snow:
The review for Seven Days of Falling:
The review for Viaticum:
The review for Tuesday Wonderland:
The review for Leucocyte:
The review for 301:

Posted by at No comments:

Esbjörn Svensson: Neydi Bu Büyü ve Tüm Dünyaya Nasıl Yayıldı

Bazıları onu 'en heyecan verici caz üçlüsünün lideri' olarak tanımladı. Bazıları 'müthiş bir fikre sahip çalışkan bir müzisyen' olarak gördü. Bazıları ise onun üçlüsünü her yeni müzik grubunu değerlendirirken 'referans' olarak kullandı. Bütün bu eleştirmenler, dinleyiciler, müzisyenler, fanlar ve yazarlar ne derlerse desinler, Esbjörn Svensson'un çok fazla olmayan Avrupalı caz kahramanları arasında önde geldiği ve üçlüsü Esbjörn Svensson Trio'nun (E.S.T.) innovatif stilinin, cazın olmazsa olmaz ana karakterlerini yitirmeden dikkat çekemediği zalim bir dönemde, caza yeni dinleyiciler kazandırdığı neredeyse herkes tarafından kabul görmüş gerçeklerdir. Esbjörn Svensson'un 2008 yılında 44 yaşındayken ölümü, üçlünün aldığı yol ve gelecek için bu üçlüden beklenenler düşünüldüğünde, sanırım caz dünyasındaki en büyük kayıplardan biriydi. Bütün bu ün, kariyer ve tarih meselelerini bir kenara koyarsak, tabii ki kaybın asıl ağırlığı ailesine ve yıllardır arkadaşı olan grup üyeleri davulcu Magnus Öström ile basçı Dan Berglund'a kalmıştı.

Siggi Loch ACT çatısı altında Esbjörn Svensson Trio'nun daha önceden kaydedilmiş ve basılmış 'From Gagarin's Point Of View' albümünü yayımlamaya karar verdiğinde, dünya yeni milenyuma merhaba demek üzereydi. İlk albümleri değildi ancak sanırım bu İsveçli üçlünün kendilerini tecrübeli ve saygın Alman yapımcı Siggi Loch'a sunmaları için doğru zamandı.  Bu yerinde karardan önce, yıllardır beraber çalıyorlardı ve İsveçli küçük firmalardan bir çok albüm yayımlamışlardı. Bunun yanında, Esbjörn Svensson bir süredir ACT müzisyeni trombon sanatçısı Nils Landgren ile çeşitli projelerde bir araya gelmekteydi. Bu ilk albümleri dinleyenler, ekibin en başından kazanmış olduğu olgunluk seviyesini ve özgün bir şey ortaya koymak için nasıl kesin kararlar verdiklerini rahatlıkla görebilirler. ACT'in bu kuluçka evresi gibi görülebilecek dönemden Winter in Venice ('95) gibi albümleri yeniden yayımladığını düşünürsek, sanırım ACT'in de aynı şeyi görmüş olduğunu söyleyebiliriz. Devam eden yıllar hem firma hem de ekip için tam bir başarı öyküsüydü. Zaten yoğun ve unutulmaz canlı performanslarıyla bilinen grup daha da fazla ülkede ve şehirde sahne almaya başladı. Albümler ve konserler özellikle Avrupa Caz dinleyicisi için akıl almaz güzellikteydi ve çok geçmeden içinde cazdan rock müziğe, progresiften klasik müziğe kadar bir çok türü barındıran ve canlı performanslar sırasında  dinleyiciyi yakalayan melodilerin doğaçlamalarda eritildiği, bu şaşırtıcı derecede taze tonlayan müzik, Amerikalı dinleyicilerin de dikkatini çekti.



Grubun hepsi elektronik eklentiler ve efektler kullanıyordu. Dan Berglund'un bazen overdrive bir elektro gitar gibi tonlayan distorsiyon ekli bası, Magnus Öström'ün gerçek zamanlı oluşturduğu çok katmanlı sıradışı davul çıktıları ve Esbjörn Svensson'un piyanosunda kullandığı basit, şaşırtıcı ve etkileyici efektler tek bir caz grubunda bir araya gelebilmiş özelliklerdi. Bütün bu ekstra özellikler yanında, tüm grup üyeleri enstrümanlarında virtüöz sayılabilecek kişilerdi. Esbjörn Svensson'un klasik müziğe olan hakimiyeti kadar caz ölçülerindeki yeteneği, Magnus Öström'ün oldukça hızlı olabilen, temiz ve kontrollü stili ve Dan Berglund'un sağlam ve güçlü bas hattı, yaratım alanlarının altında dayanıklı bir temel oluşturuyordu. Aralarındaki uyum ve performanslar sırasındaki ataklara verebildikleri ani cevaplar  her zaman oldukça etkileyiciydi (çoğunlukla Esbjörn ve Magnus'un müzikal bir birlikteliği de içeren çocukluktan gelen arkadaşlığı sayesinde). Bazı parçalar ve albümler tek bir kayıtta tamamen doğaçlama gibi tonlarken, bazılarının temelinde birlikte yapılmış ve sizi kendisine kitleyebilen türden besteler bulunmaktaydı. Canlı performansa sıra geldiğinde hep farklı çalmayı ve tansiyonu değiştirmeyi seçtiler. Ana temayı yeniden duyuncaya kadar size kendinizi kaybettirecek kadar farklı... Ses mühendisleri çoğu zaman onlar için oldukça önemliydi. En güncelleri Åke Linton'du ve gerçek zamanlı performanslar sırasında hem stüdyoda hem de konserlerde ekibe katkısı çok büyüktü.



Yukarıdaki tartışmalardan bağımsız olarak, ne üretirlerse üretsinler, inanılmaz uyumu oluşturan yoğun çalışma ve disiplinleri, çaldıklarına olan inanılmaz konsantrasyonları ve dinleyicilerine karşı olan mütevazi tutumları, onları caz dünyasının en iyi üçlülerinden biri yaptı. 2000 ve 2008 yılları arasında defalarca ödüllendirilen bir çok albüm yayımlamaya devam ettiler. Parçalarına ilginç ve tuhaf isimler verdiler. Albümlerine genel bir tema kazandırmak veya tam bir hikaye havası vermek için parçaları birbirlerine bağladılar. Hatta bazen bir albümün sonunu diğerinin başına bağladılar.  Albüm sonlarına gizli anlamları olan parçalar gizlediler. Müzik endüstrisinin zor günlerinde Viaticum('05) albümü dünya çapında 100.000 adet sattı. Hamburg('07), Tuesday Wonderland('06) stüdyo albümünün turneleri kapsamında çalındı, kaydedildi ve kabul görmüş eleştirmenlerce "Son On Yılın En İyi Albümü" olarak nitelendi. Caz dergisi Downbeat'in kapağına çıkan ilk Avrupalı grup oldular.

Ölümünden sonra da vasiyeti, Avustralya'da aynı kayıt seansında kaydedilen ve miksajları Esbjörn Svensson hayatteyken biten iki albümle devam etti: Leucocyte ('08) ve 301 ('12) üçlünün efsane hikayesine yeni katkılar oldular ve grup her geçen gün yeni fanlar kazandı. Tüm albüm satışlarının şimdiye kadar bir milyonu geçtiği söyleniyor. Albümlerinde Esbjörn Svensson'a saygı niteliğinde bestelere yer veren bir çok Avrupalı caz müzisyeni var. Bu yazıyı yazdığım sırada, hem Magnus Öström hem de Dan Berglund kendi gruplarıyla kariyerlerine devam etmekte ve etkileyici albümler sunmaktalar. İki grup da açıkça liderlerinin E.S.T. zamanındaki rollerinden kalma imzalara sahip ve ikisi de kendi stillerini ve seslerini çoktan oluşturdular. E.S.T. Symphony, Esbjörn Svensson'un 2003 yılındaki fikirlerini taşıyan ve uzun süreli menajer Burkhard Hopper ile birlikte müzisyenler Magnus Öström, Dan Berglund  ve aranjör/direktör Hans Ek tarafından ortaya çıkarılan yeni bir konsept. Bu performansların dünya prömiyeri geçtiğimiz yıl Stockholm'de Esbjörn Svensson'un 5. ölüm yıldönümünde gerçekleştirildi. Bu konserin ardından, farklı solistlerle ve orkestralarla bir çok Avrupa şehrinde tüm dünyadan eski ve yeni fanların bir araya geldiği, anılarla dolu büyülü ortamların oluştuğu ve gözyaşları ile dakikalarca alkışlanan bir çok E.S.T. Symphony performansı verildi.


Esbjörn Svensson'ün 6. ölüm yıldönümünde bugün -bir başka Cumartesi-, arkasında bıraktığı o kadar esere rağmen fanlarının hissettiği boşluğu anlatacak sözleri gerçekten bulamıyorum. Öyle görünüyor ki, E.S.T. tüm dünyada yeni jenerasyondan müzisyenlere olduğu kadar dinleyicilere de ilham kaynağı olmuş. E.S.T. dinleyerek caz dinlemeye başlayan insanlar tanıyorum. Bence, Esbjörn Svensson ve arkadaşları caz kütüphanesindeki müthiş kitaplardan birinin yazarlarıydılar. Her dikkatli okunuşta bir yenisi farkedilecek ayrıntılarla dolu bir kitap... Bana öyle geliyor ki bu kitap artık tamamlandı ve bitti.  Bitişi bile bütün hikayenin bir parçası bence. Sonsuza kadar devam etmesini istiyor olabiliriz; ancak gerçek bir hayat hikayesinde hayatın ve ölümün gerçeklerini kabul etmemiz gerekiyor. Her birimiz, bir şekilde lanetlenerek veya kutsanarak bize biçilen rolleri oynuyoruz bu hayatta. Bazı devamlar gelebilir, bazı kayıp hikayeler bir araya getirilebilir veya bazıları yazarların yolunu takip ederek yeniden üretebilirler; ama hiç bir şey o eşsiz tadı bir daha vermeyecek. Bu süre zarfında biz, rollerimiz bitinceye kadar, başka kitaplar okuyabilir ve onları sevebiliriz. Burada benim rolüm -inanıyorum ki ben bir çok rolü bir arada oynamakla lanetliyim- düşüncelerimi yazmak. Umarım Esbjörn Svensson'a birkaç melek gönderebilmişimdir. Huzur içinde uyu Maestro...  


E.S.T. ile ilgili daha önceden hazırladığım Türkçe ve İngilizce yazılara şu linklerden ulaşabilirsiniz: 

Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Tüm Zamanların En İyi Üçlüsü: 
Strange Place for Snow albüm incelemesi: 

Esbjörn Svensson Trio, The Best Trio of All Times: 
The review for When Everyone Has Gone:
The review for Winter in Venice:
The review for From Gagarin's Point of View:
The review for Good Morning Susie Soho:
The review for Strange Place For Snow:
The review for Seven Days of Falling:
The review for Viaticum:
The review for Tuesday Wonderland:
The review for Leucocyte:
The review for 301:

Posted by at 1 comment:

Friday, 6 June 2014

Torsten Goods Ankara Jazz Festival Concert, June 4th 2014



Torsten Goods was in Ankara for the 17th jazz festival of the city. Born as the son of an Irish mother and a German father, the qualified guitarist and singer of the label ACT has released his fourth album (the third from ACT) in 2013 with the title 'Love Comes to Town'. Carrying a more jazzy and funk style compared to the previous two albums ('Irish Heart'-2006, '1980'-2008), 'Love Comes to Town' is also like an ACT All Star performance. Ida Sand and Viktoria Tolstoy are guest appearances for vocals in some pieces. More than that we see one of the most important drummers of Germany and ACT, Wolfgang Haffner, as a part of the main band. The horn section of the album includes Nils Landgren (also the producer) as well as the famous trumpet player Till Brönner and woodwind player Magnus Lindgren. 

The concert band was almost the same with the last album's main band: Torsten Goods, guitar & vocals; Jan Miserre, fender rhodes, wurlitzer; Christian von Kaphengst, fender jazz bass; Felix Lehrmann, drums. Although Felix Lehrmann has been the member of Torsten Goods band for five years, he is seen just as a guest appearance in the last album. Jan Miserre is an important figure in Torsten Goods' albums since he is in some compositions and in arrangements as well as on co-producer seat in all albums. Christian von Kaphengst has played in the albums and performances since 2008 and he is the producer for the album '1980'.

The band started the performance in the IF Performance Hall of Ankara (which has a fairly good sound design but the bass was a little bit heavy in the beginning and unfortunately someone from the technical side left the amplifier of Torsten Goods closed) with two pieces from the last album: 'Weekend At The A-Trane' and 'You Wind Me Up'. Considering that one of the most famous jazz clubs of Germany, 'A-Trane' (in Berlin), belongs to a Turkish Man, Sedal Serdan from Turkey (born in Ankara), we can say that this energetic and instrumental introduction is meaningful for the Ankara audience. We can easily say that the harmony of the band, the energy of Torsten Goods, his colorful vocal and distinctive guitar sound are very well like what we have been hearing from the albums. 'No Religion' of Van Morrison and the traditional 'Carrickfergus' from the first album and 'Freedom Everyday' came next. The audiences' reactions were very positive to these up and mid tempo pieces and it is obvious that they liked the music which is successfully produced on the stage. The inspiration source for the last album's title 'When Love Comes To Town' and Joe Sample's 'Put It Where You Want It' have been played before 'Berlin P.M'. Then one of the most surprising covers of the album, 'Someone Like You' from Adele, has been performed together with the audience's accompaniment. Summer Lovin', Outta Here and Unlucky Like Me became the last pieces of this well performed concert.
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, 29 May 2014

An Interview With Adam Bałdych Before The Release of "The New Tradition"

I could find the chance to make an interview with Adam Bałdych after their duo concert with Yaron Herman in Ankara, Turkey . We talked about the new album from ACT, "The New Tradition", which will be released on May 30th, his musical progress in time and his ideas about jazz, music and the label ACT.  
F.E: As far as I have seen in your biography there are just two years between the time you became an important classical music violin player and interested in playing jazz. Considering that violin is not a mainstream instrument in jazz, I found it interesting that you found jazz as the most suitable genre for you at the age of just 13. How did you meet jazz and what is the special thing in jazz that hits you?

A.B: I was in my 5th year of music school when I found out jazz. There are still many stories about teachers who were afraid to accompany me during the exams. They never knew where we can go with the Bach, because I was always improvising some parts (laughter). This shows that I was always in need of improvisation so when I first got a chance to listen and see improvising jazz musicians I realized that this is what I was looking for. I felt in love in music when I found out I'm able to tell my own story through it but I needed improvisation to really do it!


F.E: What kind of music do you listen at home? Who are your favorite musicians?

A.B: I listen all kind of music. Classical, jazz, pop, indie rock. I'm collecting LP's and love to listen to them. Last weeks I listen a lot to Middle Age choir music - especially Thomas Tallis music. In the meantime Nick Drake, Keith Jarrett and Komeda Quintet with Stańko. I have a whole bunch of favourite artists.


F.E: Could you give some jazz violin players' names to me who influenced you in the beginning? Or else are there other musicians playing other instruments on your 'influences list'?

A.B: I started with music of Stephane Grapelli. He was always one of my gurus, even though I never wanted to play his style. I was also influenced by Polish violinists: Michal Urbaniak, Zbigniew Seifert and Maciej Strzelczyk. I'm a big fan of Didier Lockwood as well.


F.E: Your debut in ACT, Imaginary Room came with a very wide collaboration and a bright line-up. How did you feel about playing with such names in your first album in one of the most prominent jazz labels in Europe?

A.B: It was an honour to have those amazing artists on my album playing my music. Everyone there is an outstanding musician. That was also a challenge for me. ACT music proved that they believed in me and I did my best to prove I will use this chance to do my best. I'm very proud to have this album recorded, now the new one is on the way so it's really going on!


F.E: What do you think about the label ACT? How does it feel to be a part of them?

A.B: It is a bunch of great people who really love jazz! They give me space to release my music concept and they help me to make it visible. Siggi Loch is a person who knows exactly how to put together right people. I'm really happy to be part of ACT Family and hope they are too (laughter).


F.E: In Imaginary Quartet -your long term band with which I think you are still performing from time to time-, I can see that you are inspired a lot from your hometown Poland and I have got a classical music taste in my mind when I listened to the album. In my opinion your previous albums are very well under impression of rock more than jazz. In other words, the works sound harder before ACT. Both works with Baltic Gang (your debut in ACT), Iiro Rantala (two very successful albums) and your last duo album with Yaron Herman showed me that you get softer in sound with each album. Do you think so? Do you have a tendency to be more dignified in your style within each album?

A.B: I started as a young person who wanted to show his teachers and older musicians that I have my own way of understanding music. I listened to rock music at that time and I was impressed by guitar players. Big part of my technique was created by using guitar systems on my violin. But as I was more and more mature while creating my music, I started to understand, that you don't need to be loud to say something really firmly. In the world full of noise, loud advertisements, screams, the only cure is silence. I try to express high emotions not on the level of dynamic but of the level of details and colours of my sound.


F.E: Could you please give a little bit detail about last duo album "New Tradition" in which you worked with Yaron Herman? How was is to play with him? What is new and different for you in that album?

A.B: We had a great time in the studio. I tried to keep the spirit of the moment so we used mostly the first takes we made. Yaron and I, we see music in a similar way, we are different people, but we know how to inspire each other and how to communicate, that makes this cooperation interesting for us. This album is different from the last one because it's more intimate and mature. It's a concept album that tries to refer to my tradition, European classical music, Polish   Folk and Polish Jazz. I try to understand who I am, where I am coming from and where I'm going to. In the same time I just try to play all this music by showing the exact moment in my life, the way I see world and life and by sharing my emotions with people.


F.E: It seems that you have many compositions in this album as well as some other arrangements. What are the importance of the pieces and their compositors for you which you decided to arrange? How do you compose and what are the sources of inspiration?

A.B: I used music of middle ages and renaissance composers as Hildegard Von Bingen and Thomas Tallis. I found a real beauty in this music. It's simple but it says so much in the same time. This is the way I try to go with my art. Sometimes few beautiful and smart sentences are worth more than hundreds of words. I also used music of Polish Jazz artists - Krzysztof Komeda and Zbigniew Seifert. I compared it with my own compositions which I made while I was inspired by the concept of this album. So all together is one flow.



F.E: Please answer this next question of mine both as a listener and a musician lived in New York for a while. What are the differences between jazz played in Europe and United States for you nowadays?

A.B: There are many things to say about it. In my opinion New York Jazz scene continues tradition of mainstream jazz. The rythm and bluesy background is still the most important thing. European jazz is more sophisticated and more based on classical music. More interesting is the sound, colour and harmony. Of course this are just few simple examples.


F.E: What is the next step in your career?

A.B: To open my mind for new ideas and to try to develop it.

Thanks for answering these questions Adam. I hope this new album creates new paths for new ideas.
https://www.actmusic.com/en/Artists/Adam-Baldych/The-New-Tradition/The-New-Tradition-CD 



Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Help Curly Camel Record Their New Album!


Curly Camel have played together for seven years. They play modern, progressive jazz with hints of electronic music, classical music and everything in between. All original compositions.
These young musicians and their band may easily be powerful members of Swedish Jazz Scene in future.
They have worked on the material for their next album now for almost 4 years and they are finally ready to start the process of recording it. Their ambitions are higher than ever and this time they have the honor to be working with world famous modern jazz artist and producer Magnus Öström (Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Magnus Öström Group etc.).
They need to be financially supported for their next projects. Please donate and spread the word via the following link: 
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Kekko Fornarelli Trio Did It! A Review For The Trio's Last Album Outrush

Born in Italy in 1978, having studied classical piano since his childhood period (started at the age of 3), interested in jazz after 18 and released two mainstream-jazz-influenced albums in 2005 and 2008, Kekko Fornarelli (born Francesco Fornarelli) decided to give a beneficial break for three years and renewed the projection of jazz in his mind during this hatch-like period. This efficient period ended with the release of Room of Mirrors in 2011 from the label Auand. He answered many questions with this album. Questions belonged to himself and he asked them to the mirrors. Having gathered many good reactions and creating the opportunity for the trio to tour in several countries, this new era produced a really impressive piano trio work Outrush lately in 2014. Outrush is a very different album than Room of Mirrors not only with its line up but also with its overall sound definition. Although it seems that both albums seems to consist of music composed based on life experiences, the evolution and ongoing change of Kekko Fornarelli is obvious considering these two albums. In my humble opinion, Outrush is a kind of beginning of a new story. A unique story that will be soon heard by many piano jazz listeners interested in European sound.
    
The trio is Kekko Fornarelli on piano and synthesizers; Giorgio Vendola on double bass and Dario Congedo on drums. Guest appearance Roberto Cherillo is singing his own lyrics in the piece Don't Hide. All pieces of Outrush are composed by Kekko Fornarelli except The Big Bang Theory whose compositions belongs to Kekko Fornarelli, Luca Alemanno and Dario Congedo. Recorded, mastered and mixed by Tommy Cavalieri in Sorisso Studios in Bari Italy, the album is released from Abeat Records. 

The most remarkable aspect of Outrush is the catchy melodies used in compositions going on playing in your mind even after the first listening session. Although the themes are easy to hear and follow, the musical framing they are located on is complex and interesting enough. We can easily classify the genre as European Jazz, specify the style as contemporary piano trio jazz and mention classical, pop and a little bit rock music as influences. Another important feature of this work is the progressive structure of the pieces, which creates many surprising stages during the performances. In my opinion, the tension control of a jazz trio is an absolute must for their success and without doubt Kekko Fornarelli Trio achieved that thanks to these progressive structures and the band member's organic harmony. The energetic and groovy contribution of drummer Dario Congedo, the qualified bass solos given by Giorgio Vendola and characteristic piano tone of Kekko Fornarelli as well as his minimal synthesizer touches are highlights of this elegant album. The sound design (recording, mixing and mastering) is really successful. The distribution of the musicians on the stage, the weighting for each instrument and clarity in sound are all at top quality. The record includes organic sounds of the instruments. It seems that no filtering is applied and no artificial and unenthusiastic outputs are created. The physical design of the CD is made by Marina Damato and it is based on nice artworks created by Orietta Fineo. The organic style in the cover is reflecting the musical style of the album very well. The pencil drawing of Kekko Fornarelli is on the background of a pastel world.  

The Big Bang Theory starts with an interesting and well designed UPO (undefined played object), which is I think produced by a bow sliding on a double bass following a Fender Rhodes touch. The continuous structure of the signal becomes more unstable and mystic as it goes on dissolving. This indefinite introduction gives just little clues with some 'short short long' bass riffs added by a loop machine to the background which will be a prominent character throughout the piece. One hand of the piano (creating the base for the other hand) comes to the stage with a drum rhythm carrying many rests and with the first increase in the rhythm we start to listen to both hands together. These hands play a cool melody whose influences may be including some popular or rock music. Just before the second minute and second theme, the bow and synthesizer signals the next corner in the tension versus time graphic of the piece, which is drawn mostly by drummer's crash driven movements. Interestingly, piano follows a darker theme in this part. What comes up goes low and this energetic part results in an interesting calmness of the trio. Afterwards the piano concentrates on long notes played in a lyric style and this carries itself to a solo. This section feels like the scene after the big bang explosion. Everything distributes in space with ordinary physical rules of macro world. However, the tension is increased again mostly by piano followed by the others. In this new hopeful era, where new and exciting things emerge, the harmony of the trio is so good and the resultant sound is so organic that the listener can easily think that their collaboration has been going on for a long time. Once again, just before the sixth minute we hear the signals closing a part and opening the repetition of second part. The beginning of this last part is dominated by the crash of the drummer again and in the end the trio tries to finish the piece at the place where they start: Some naive piano touches are accompanied by some minimal drum beats and simple bass riffs. The piece leaves the audience as if the rise and falls will last forever. We can say that it's a successful choice to put such an energetic and qualified performance as the first number. 

We are on a train in Drawing Motion. The 'falling water'-like feeling of the piece -created by some circular piano chords and melancholic bow on Giorgio Vondola's bass- turns into a sad -but not blue- train on lonely railways for me when I hear the ultra fast but granular snare rhythms. The main body is given with a different drum section and piano starts to tell a different story in here with some rise&falls and long rests. The main theme for the piano is based on a catchy melody which I think is influenced by some classical music roots. The band is trying to decide which way to go when suddenly piano starts to play an impressive almost-solo part accumulating energy with each note. This is successfully and harmonically followed by the others. In between all these hand-shaking sessions, we can easily hear some mainstream jazz contributions from the piano. The first part is repeated. The double bass sounds more like a cello with its bow on mostly high registers in my opinion. I had to say that the main melody and its designed evolution with changes in rhythm are really impressive. Once again the tension goes high and comes to low and the finishing is very similar to beginning: calm, dignified and as naive as a train in an open green area. The unexpected rests in the piano creates an impressive atmosphere just before the end.
Weeping Souls introduces itself by some dialogue between keys and bass. On entering the stage, the drummer Dario Congedo decides on the way the piece will follow and an explosion creates an empty space for a wonderful double bass solo which is accompanied by some hard strokes on snares and some inanimate tones from piano, some of which -I think- is created by holding the strings of the piano. Giorgio Vondola ends its solo by connecting himself to a groovy main theme. Interestingly, Kekko Fornarelli prefers to perform with a distorted sound from the piano for a while after this amazing solo part. Later on, the trio gives the most important performance of the whole album after the 7th minute. It starts right after when everything seems to have finished. We first feel the crazy eyes of the piano and then the drummer initializes an energetic journey over the drum set. I can visualize in my mind his octopus-like image moving continuously from right to left and then back again. Even in this speed, the granularity of the touch and clearness of the tone is impressive. I wish -just as a simple listener- this improvisation-smelling part could go on forever.

Reasons is probably the most melancholic piece of the album. The title may refer to reasons given by two lovers to each other trying to explain why things have changed. A very slow rhythm is carried by the drummer throughout the piece with minimum, certain and low volume touches. The bass solo -whose clues are given in the beginning- after the second minute starts with a very touching tone created again by the bow travelling mostly on high registers. The touchy main melody that Giorgio Vondola follows is a really soulful one which in my opinion presents the Mediterranean spirit of the band. This is certainly the most unique character of the album. The piano follows the bass solo almost on its footprints. This is absolutely a fantastic soundtrack for a European style film about love. A problematic and a beautiful love...
What Kept You So Late starts with computerized beats which are followed by some basic piano riffs of one hand and a 'my personal statement'-like main theme of the other one. The title is inspired from Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' as far as we learn from extended liner notes. The synthesizer used in between and the choice for rhythm equipment are excellent. The harmony between band members and the organic texture of the overall sound are impressive. The transitions between main parts and the very well designed synthesizer contribution in various instants are highlights of the composition and the performance. The main character of this piece is piano, which is chosen to be distorted from time to time.  

Like A Driftwood is almost at the place where the piece Reasons left us. A dark and melancholic piano tone, which makes the intro as solo, is again accompanied by a slow tempo drum and a basic bass line. A ballad like main theme is crying between many dark layers and a little hope is trying to smile. One hand of the piano is symmetric with the bass and I think the other hand is the storyteller. It is a story of an old and wise tree according to the extended liner notes again. Especially the concentration of each musician on their instruments and the success in recording the tails and details of every sound are impressive properties of this piece.   

An impressive male vocal meets us in Don't Hide starting from the first second. Actually, Roberto Cherillo and Kekko Fornarelli have been performing together in the duo project Shine for about a year now and in this piece, Roberto accompanies the whole trio with his own lyrics and almost-theatrical performance. The first words are accompanied just by piano and a dark fate-like feeling is supplied by double bass' surprising signals coming from lower octaves. There are certainly two different characters in the piece. The first character is dark and anxious. The other one is hopeful. Roberto Cherillo presents these two characters with two different vocal style. The first voice is dark and flat which tries to use lower octaves. The other one is high-pitch and soulful. We learn from extended liner notes that these characters are super ego and the imaginary/wished/utopian one.    


The title track Outrush is presented in the end. This is like presenting the main idea of the whole album in the end. It's certainly an uptempo piece (regardless of its beats per minute) carrying mixed emotions. You can feel the hopeful part in this bohemian melancholy which started with some untidy synthesizer outputs resolved with a European piano trio sound. This first energetic part is rested for a while with a naive bass solo which is accompanied by some minimal piano and then a similar solo is performed by the piano. Meanwhile, the drummer Dario Congedo does not give up holding the overall tension of the piece at high levels and becomes the fuel of this long and difficult travel or 'escape'. The main theme is so energetic that it can sometimes gives a feeling to the listener to even headbang. 

 I totally agree on what Paolo Fresu said for Kekko Fornarelli and would like to finish my review with these words: "As long as there are musicians as open minded as Kekko Fornarelli, jazz will carry on being the World's music. Kekko’s intimacy is made of rich melodies and chord progressions which evoke some delicate forms of modern jazz, but are translated by that particular touch which makes him one of the most interesting young pianist of the moment."

You can use this link to buy the album online: http://www.jazzos.com/detail0.php?prod=ABJZ133 

If you want to listen Kekko Fornarelli lively you can try to catch the concerts announced in his webpage: http://www.kekkofornarelli.com/ 

#kekkofornarelli #kekko #fornarelli
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)