2017

Digipack.<br/><br/>"Jag låter min musik frodas i den nordiska melankolins tonspråk. Där vill jag varsamt förvalta arvet efter några av de mest älskade namnen inom svensk jazz och visa. Musiken hedrar en tradition men tar den in i en samtid med de infallsvinklar en 90-talist upptäcker i sig själv och andra."<br/>Amanda Ginsburg<br/><br/>"Albumdebuterande sångerskan Amanda Ginsburg har redan låtit tala om sig; i våras släppte hon en singel, i höstas ännu en, och till på köpet nominerades hon till P2:s Guldkatten i kategorin Årets nykomling. <br/>Fullängdaren "Jag har funderat på en sak", som innefattar båda singlarna, rör sig mellan jazz och visa, med texter på svenska. Det är musik som vinner mycket på just språket, men tilltalet är också musikaliskt okonstlat och direkt. Andra har gått före i samma spår - Sarah Riedel, till exempel. Men Ginsburg har sin egen timbre och en närhet till sin musik och sina texter som känns distinkt personlig. En viss poppighet smyger sig osökt på, samtidigt som musiken ekar av samma gammelsvenska traditioner som Jan Johansson och andra utvecklade på 60-talet".<br/><br/>- Johannes Cornell - DN

Parks Aaron/Ben Street/Billy Hart: Find the way [CD]

One Father, One Son, Two Guitars<br/><br/>"He plays the guitar like he was born with it already in his hands" was how John McLaughlin once praised Ulf Wakenius. What is true for the father might be even more true for Ulf's guitarist son Eric, who probably was quite literally born with one..<br/><br/>"Eric really is a blessing", says Ulf Wakenius. "We have shared many concerts all over the world and it has always been a pure joy!" So the time is clearly right to document this family saga: "Father And Son" is a virtuoso conversation in the art of contemporary jazz guitar. This duo can launch into swing mode, or strut out towards rock, they are capable of being both lyrical and percussively extrovert, they can dream ballads or go at breakneck speed. And whether they are telling tales of exotic lands or contemplating their native Sweden, the pair - with their instinct for atmosphere, their sensitivity to acoustics and balance - make soul-stirring, affecting and compelling music, in which the listener can detect the closeness of their connection to each other.<br/><br/>The musical backgrounds of father and son are very different. Ulf Wakenius had ten years as a member of the Oscar Peterson Quartet and also worked with the two legends of the bass, Ray Brown and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. He is known for his collaborations with great jazz figures such as Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker and Michel Legrand, and of course for his work with the singer Youn Sun Nah. He is not just one of the most busy and in-demand players, but also the most creative jazz guitarists of our era. His son Eric, by contrast was born in 1988 and surrounded as a teenager by the rock and pop music of the nineties. After that, he spent a lot of time in Los Angeles, where he picked up many different stylistic directions from that city's musical melting pot. "He has played a lot of electric guitar", explains Wakenius, "but - like me - he has fallen in love with the acoustic guitar and its many possibilities."

A year after his impressionistic, critically-lauded ECM debut "Into The Silence", trumpeter Avishai Cohen's "Cross My Palm With Silver" introduces a programme of new pieces which put the focus on the ensemble, on teamwork, with a quartet of the highest calibre. The adroit, almost telepathic interplay among the musicians allows Avishai Cohen to soar, making it clear why he is one of the most talked-about jazz musicians on the contemporary scene. "All of these people together are my dream team", says the charismatic trumpeter of fellow players Yonathan Avishai, Barak Mori and Nasheet Waits, who share his sense for daring improvisation and his feeling for structure. "I feel we're in a perfect place with the balance. It's open and there's so much room for the improvisation to take the music any place we can. At the same time the composition is very specific and the vibe is very direct and thought about." As with "Into The Silence", "Cross My Palm With Silver" was produced by Manfred Eicher at Studios La Buissonne in the south of France. It is issued on the eve of a major European tour, with concerts in France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Hancock Herbie: Broadcast vollection 1973-83 [8 CD]

Pianist Jan Lundgren makes music like a brilliant architect. If he were to build a house, it would - in the words of the song - be a very very very fine house. And it would have all his hallmarks about it. It would show his deep understanding of both tradition and modernism, together with his preternatural instinct for bringing the two together. It would visibly convey his unique way of blending the very best of American design and construction with immaculate European style and taste. To extend the metaphor, Lundgren's building on several floors would be a delight to inhabit, with rooms that have fascinating shapes, cosy corners, clear lines, rooms that would contain artefacts and objets trouvés which would allow nostalgia to well up in the visitor's mind. There would also be a spacious loft with the room to play, to improvise and to wander. Ever since the early days of his career, Lundgren's artistry has been defined by change and renewal, and yet he never loses sight of the past. His album "Potsdamer Platz" is a statement that is personal, a faithful portrayal of the unique perspective from which he experiences and performs jazz.

Supergroup is indeed the right word for this quartet combining four of the most prominent instrumentalists of their generation. With the live album "Out of Land", Parisien, Peirani, Schaerer und Wollny prove that they belong right at the peak of European jazz. "Out of Land" means a place of uncertainty, outside comfort zones, where things can go anywhere. That was part of the concept: to stay in a state of openness to the ideas of the others, to maintain the excitement of making music in the moment. This summit meeting is a testament to the power, the thrill, the sheer tingle factor of live jazz.