Review: Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje strike a fine balance on their latest collaborative jazz record Touch Of Time. Warm and tender throughout, this is a back-alleyed melanchole, with its stark counterpoints between piano and trumpet somehow eliciting the audio-sensation of more instrumentation than there is - a gestalt of ghosts. Gradients of emotion wax and wane like the strange blue lights that are often visible when one's eyes are closed. Produced by Manfred Eicher at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano, this is fine recording indeed.
Review: Ohio-born jazz pianist Fred Hersch returns to ECM with The Surrounding Green, his third release for the label and one of his most distilled trio statements to date. Recorded in May 2024 at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo and produced by Manfred Eicher, the album convenes Hersch, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Joey Baron to a digitise a graceful vector through 20th century jazz. We hear foldback versions of Ornette Coleman's jagged 'Law Years', Egberto Gismonti's lyrical 'Palhaco', and a slow-blooming take on 'Embraceable You', all balances ease and acuity. Hersch contributes three originals, including the 'Plainsong' with its contrapuntal gait, and the rhythmically charged 'Anticipation'. Charlie Haden's 'The First Song' closes the album with a quiet, mournful clarity, homaging Hirsch's decades-old connection to the maestro.
Review: Call on the old Wise is a magnificently captivating solo album that was largely improvised in the moment. It finds pianist Nitai Hershkovits delivering some of his best work as he draws on a wide array of influences that go from his extensive work in the jazz world to more cutting-edge and contemporary explorations via plenty of his own personal classical music experiences. In it, there's a great balance of light and dark, heavy and more airy as well as rich arrays of colour and timbre. It was recorded in 2022 and produced by Manfred Eicher following his work with Oded Tzur's quartet on two acclaimed albums, Here Be Dragons and Isabela.
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