Soren Gemmer: At First

Soren Gemmer (piano)
At First (Ilk Music; 2013)
Per Mollehoj (guitar)
Tapani Toivanen (bass)
Andreas Fryland (drums)

The debut album from the Soren Gemmer Quartet, At First, is one of those unassuming albums that lays everything out for you--quietly, smoothly and elegantly. The pianist got a late start to playing music but has blended a love of classical tradition with melodic jazz structures to create a engrossingly beauty first session.

"Russians" opens the album with a soft but propelling drum beat and fully framed lines from Gemmer. The expressionism the quartet exude is exciting and fresh. Mollehoj's guitar perfectly blends with trio giving the group a distinct quality that sets them slightly apart from many of their contemporaries within the region.

An intense opening passage between Mollehoj and Fryland on "Dear W." (written by Fryland) allows the listener the chance to experience the full dynamics of the quartet. Each performer shines with their dedicated section. But all revolving back towards the center in the closing cords.

Heavy keys and dense patterns mark the title track. With some enveloping chords that feel like a chamber piece but yet filled with vitality. You can sense this is a session and piece in particular, is one that the quartet are enjoying greatly.

The harmonics and subtle colour that Soren Gemmer adds to each piece is wonderful to hear. At First is an invigorating debut that is easy to fall in love quickly. A lush and moving work for any music fan. Start listening now...

The Intersection: Sava Marinkovic

The Intersection: An ongoing feature on JazzWrap that looks at artists that have blended jazz, world

and electronica in new and highly creative ways.

Sava Marinkovic (guitar; electronics)
Nowhere Near (Acustronica NetLabel, 2013)

The debut from Serbian multi-instrumentalist, Sava Marinkovic, is quiet, gentle and reflective. Before you know it--you've listened to Nowhere Near five or six times. A luscious album of soundscapes that sits nicely alongside ambient works by Harold Budd, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Eivind Aarset and Michael Brook. 

Nowhere Near is a short album in length but long on beauty, distance and space. "Argemone" includes slow passages of piano and electronics and haunting harmonies from Melinda Ligeti. A peaceful opening journey that elegantly sets the tone for the session.

"Taste Of Rust" and "Nowhere Near" both have a melodic nature that is reminiscent of David Sylvian circa Gone To Earth. It's light, atmospheric and rolls along in a dreamlike pattern. Marinkovic's guitar lines burst into the open on the title track in Fripp meet Gilmore fashion but you definitely sense a voice in his playing.

While it does work from a familiar palette, you won't be disappointed by Sava Marinkovic's first outing. Nowhere Near is very impressive debut that is both enjoyable and illuminating. Let's hope the next project comes quickly so I can take this off repeat. Highly Recommended.

Colin Stetson & Mats Gustafsson: Stones

Colin Stetson (alto, bass sax)
Mats Gustafsson (tenor, baritone sax)
Stones (Rune Grammofon; 2012)

This is an unbelievable meeting of two enigmatic performers and composers on the avant garde scene at the moment. Mats Gustafsson and Colin Stetson have been stamping their imprint on the jazz for well over a decade now. Their first ever collaboration is the probably the best way to experience it--live!

Stones presents a sheer blizzard of sound with a slow building and haunting overture on "Stones That Rest Heavily." Gustafsson and Stetson exchange passages of long drags and bellowing echoes that are tugboats moving through cavernous space. Sound bounces back and forth, all around.

"Stone That Can Only Be" has humour but also a small hint of blues passes through in some notes. Almost unrecognizable, but the movements are encompassing and enjoyable. "Stones That Only Have" feels like a piece from Stetson's recent New History Warfare II, if it weren't for Gustafsson breaking the door down. The battle that engulfs the second half of the piece is sublime.

This is a unique and fiery date that may not appeal to everyone. But if you are fan of both Colin Stetson and Mats Gustafsson, Stones is one of the best collaborations in improvised music you'll hear this year.

Charles Lloyd & Jason Moran: Hagar's Song

Jason Moran (piano)
Charles Lloyd (sax)
Hagar's Song (ECM Records; 2013)

One legend and one future legend meet in the studio... When Charles Lloyd and Jason Moran first started playing together a few years ago, I thought it was a fantastic meeting of creative minds. Over the course of a couple of records they have demonstrated deep beauty and an understanding of how each moves lyrically.

Now on their first venture as a duo without a quartet or ensemble, they show just how grand their relationship has become. Hagar's Song is a brilliantly extensive and emotional session with multiple stories. The performances are full-boded and encapsulating. This session at times reminded me of two sessions made by the late, Frank Morgan (sax) with George Cables and John Hicks on piano. Contemporary yet technically well constructed.

"Mood Indigo" and "Rosetta" swing along gently with class and verve. Moran is playful yet always intricate at the keys on both tracks. While Lloyd's horn adds the mature element of a master. Beautifully executed and thoroughly rewarding especially during the swirling improvised sections in "Rosetta".

"Hagar's Lullaby" and "Journey Up River" feel like explorations in emotional distances. Both capture an ethereal vibe that resemble some of Lloyd's early 60s and 70s work. Moran's playing is solid and conventional in a calm manner that lends itself perfectly to introspection. The session closes with the soft ballad, "God Only Knows." A superb blend of love and longing that leaves a lasting impression on the ears and memory.

Hagar's Song has Moran and Lloyd in stellar form and sounding cool and contemporary. It's cuts against the more adventurous nature you may have heard Moran in on his own albums. But it's an excellent balance for both musicians. I loved this session. It's easily one of my albums of the year. And I can't stop listening to it. Highly Recommended.

Paul Lytton & Nate Wooley: The Nows

Paul Lytton (percussion)
Nate Wooley (trumpet)
The Nows (Clean Feed; 2012)
Ikue Mori (electronics)
Ken Vandermark (sax, clarinet)

An ambitious duo project from Nate Wooley and Paul Lytton that began only a few years ago but has evolved into an exciting collaborative effort. And with the two disc opus, The Nows, the listener gets to experience it in two separate live settings with guest musicians.

Lytton and Wooley have a chemistry that feels as though it goes farther back than just a few years. They begin their conversations slowly and roll into a volcano of improvised patterns that still maintain strong organic structure. "Free Will, Free Won't" features various crackles from Lytton's kit meshed against Wooley extended harmonics that feel like the tea kettle boiling over and no one cared.

"Abstractions and Replications" adds Ikue Mori's electronics to the proceeds. Mori's gadgetry turns the piece into an underwater scifi journey. There are smooth curling motions with tiny and intricate treatments. You have to stay still to hear the minor notes. This kind of skill requires the listeners undivided attention. And it's a brilliant discovery.

The second live set is with one of my favourite musicians, Ken Vandermark. "Automatic" sees Wooley share passages with Vandermark and it/s beautiful to hear the conversation escalate than drop out as one horn takes the lead. This all the while with Lytton ram shackling the hues in the background. It may read like chaos--but its a beautiful chaos. Vandermarks clarinet is deep and billowy.

"The Ripple Effect" is the shinning conclusion to this experimental journey. Wooley and Lytton are in fiery form and Vandermark quietly marches in toward the middle passages. Vandermark really compliments the duo, adding the exclamation points in each verse.

Lytton and Wooley are a powerful and emotion-bending duo that get even more creative with each guest musician. The Nows is another example of terrific collection of free thinking crafting new outlooks. An absolutely great live set.

Angelica Sanchez: Wires & Moss

Angelica Sanchez (piano)
Wires & Moss (Clean Feed; 2012)
Tony Malaby (sax)
Marc Ducret (guitar)
Drew Gress (bass)
Tom Rainey (drums)

Everyone knows I tend to rave about Fred Hersch and Jason Moran as my favourite modern pianists. But there are others that are emerging with the same talent and vision as these two future legends. Kris Davis is definitely one of those that I put in the list. Recently I have also been listening another bright and inventive composer, Angelica Sanchez.

Sanchez, now with her forth album (third for Clean Feed), hopefully will find a wider audience. With Wires & Moss, she explores an ever growing lyrical and conceptual structure that is both calm and free flowing. "Loomed" is an expansive piece with various layers of expression, tightly pulled together by Ducret, Malaby and Rainey. Sanchez and Gress play the static calm palate to the trio's frenetic brushes. But it's always the leader who carries the tune's soft undulating notes towards the close.

"Wires & Moss" is a stunning display of rolling melodies. Sanchez's performance is filled with multiple chord changes and jagged directional cues for the rest of the quintet. Early on, Ducret shines with crafty Arto Lindsay meets Thurston Moore type qualities. The piece moves up, down and outward. The rest of the group approach midway through and it becomes more poetic with each movement. Gress and Sanchez take the band quietly out with some beautiful passages.

Motionless might be the feeling you get from the closing number, "Bushido." This starts off gently but then moves roughly in staccato motion while consistently holding the listener in place. The entire quintet is scorching on this number and exemplifies Sanchez's creative vision that she has worked on since setting out as a leader over a decade ago.

Angelica Sanchez writes with a very cerebral approach that puts her in a category of the previous mentioned artist from my point of view. If you haven't experienced her music before--now is the time. Wires & Moss is absolutely brilliant and highly, highly recommended!

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola: Rubidium

Black Motor w/Verneri Pohjola
Ribidium (Tum Records; 2013)

Sami Sippola (sax)
Simo Laihonen (drums)
Ville Rauhala (bass)
Verneri Pohjola (trumpet)

A meeting of two growing sets of Finnish musicians, the Black Motor trio and Verneri Pohjola is a cause for celebration. The artfulness of Pohjola's trumpet and expansive sound of the Black Motor have produced the stellar, Rubidium. An album covers a small amount of ground but provides every bit of detail in the journey.

"Song Of India" (originally written by Rimsky-Korsakov, is wonderfully and creatively filled and stretched all over the place. While still keeping the underlining romantic nature of the original piece, the quartet do manage to bring in new bold structures that give the tune more improvisation and originality.

"Rubidium" and "Old Papa's Blues" feel like soulmates. Both tight ballad frameworks are definitely free formed epics that highlight each musician at their best during this session. A bright and intense conversion happens between Pohjola and Laihonen during the title that is just soft but still killer. "Old Papa's Blues" is an emotional dedication and celebration with the trio being more the focal point.

"Kynnyspuulla" is almost indescribable in its depth and beauty. Soulful, epic and the emotional distance that Sippola's sax travels in staggering. The piece is slow moving and drips with intensity. Moving passages of stillness and heartache, the quartet take the listener on a journey that is immediate and passionate.

Rubidium is a great session of young musicians with immense talent that continue to be on the rise. They are showing how expansive the Finnish jazz scene continues to be. This is an excellent outing and well worth checking out. I hope you dig it as much as I did.