BBE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: BBE has delivered something of a future classic here, as decorated Eastern European harpist Alinha Bzhezhinska and British tenor saxophonist Tony Kofi join forces on a picturesque full-length excursion dedicated to the memory of spiritual jazz maestro Pharoah Saunders. It's a genuinely unique and hugely evocative affair, with Kofi's meandering, mesmeric melodies and inspired improvisations snaking in and out of Bzhezhinska's dreamy harp motifs and melodic percussion instruments (think bells, marimbas, vibraphone, xylophone and so on). It's not a familiar musical palette, but it's one that consistently delivers - and then some. Our picks of a very strong bunch include lucid opener 'Tabula Rasu - Blank Slate', the exotic and psychedelic 'Audite Me - Hear Me', and the picturesque, meditative closing cut, 'Altera Vita - Another Life'.

Review: .For the latest volume in the label's essential J-Jazz Masterclass series of reissues, BBE has opted to deliver a new edition of a hard-to-find 1973 collaboration between American pianist Mal Waldron and Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino. Originally released only in Japan, it comprises two lengthy compositions (one by each artist) performed by the duo and talented sidemen Isao Suziki (upright bass), Motohiko Hino (drums), Takao Uematsu (alto sax) and Uzi Inamuro (percussion). Waldron's LP-opening composition adds alternating, increasingly hectic solos to a gradually intensifying groove (a formula the storied pianist used extensively during this period of his career), before morphing and mellowing as the suite progresses. Hino's 'Black Forest', meanwhile, is more up-tempo and horn-heavy, with oodles of extra percussion and expressive, mind-mangling solos aplenty.