The last time I saw and heard musicians play together was about 2 years ago and, honestly, I did miss it. Last week, on February 15th and 16th, I was invited to attend a rehearsal for a concert in March. The musicians, which gathered in the Camaléon Studios in Madrid, close to where I live in Vallecas, were Dhafer Youssef on oud and vocals, Daniel Garcia Diego on piano, Pablo Martin Caminero on bass and Shayan Fathi on drums. I came into the studio three hours after they had started and one has to mention, that even so Daniel, Pablo and Shayan had played as a trio previously, they never played with Dhafer before that day. They were rehearsing some of Dhafer’s compositions, tricky songs with odd meters, groovy and exciting. And the trio seemed to have a lot of fun while playing and learning and so had Dhafer. When I arrived, they already sounded powerful and at moments really touching. It really warmed my soul to hear these guys making music in the moment, trying out different ideas, but listening to what Dhafer wanted. I came back with my wife the following day and the four musicians already were extremely tight and played for us a new and touching ballad, rhythmically challenging, but with a beautiful little melody. With that 2022 is already better than the year before, when I didn’t have the pleasure to hear music-making live and I hope that this year, many more amazing moments, like the ones these two days provided, will follow. The concert in question will happen on March 28th, at the Porgy & Bess Club in Vienna and I can only recommend to my friends there to check this out … you won’t regret it!
I can recommend the following recordings I have bee listening to in the past weeks, only by chance all of them piano-led. Enjoy!
Zela Margossian / The Road – ‘The Road’ is pianist and composer Margossian’s second quintet album, again featuring Stuart Vandegraaff on saxophones, Jacques Emery on bass, Adem Yilmaz on percussion and Alexander Inman-Hislop on drums and continues where their first recording, the wonderful ‘Transition’ from 2018, left us. Self-produced and with all tracks written by Zela as well, the album shows all her various influences, creating a very unique musical language of beauty and positivity. Margossian is a melodious pianist with a great feel for folk and world music oriented grooves. Her compositions are touching and comforting and Vandegraaff delivers with clarity and emotions on her melodies. Outstanding tracks for me are the title track, a swinging composition, that makes you smile and move your body to the appealing groove; ‘Devotion’, a fascinating ballad with some stunning piano work by the leader; ‘Gratitude’, an uplifting and gorgeous melody and ‘The Good That Exists’, another colourful gem on an overall sensational album. Don’t miss this one!!!!
Ilona Damiecka / Hope – This Trio recording from 2020 only just now reached me, and even so I hardly ever write about albums that are not current, this is the exception to the rule. The eight tracks on the album were composed by Damiecka and are, with one exception, instrumentals. Recorded with Pawel Urowski (double bass) and Krzysztof Szmańdą (drums), the album opens with the beautiful and touching ballad ‘The Sea’, which is followed by ‘Matrix’, a melodic and captivating composition. Another beauty in sound is ‘Waltz For Master T.S.’, dedicated to the late trumpet master Tomasz Stanko and as well ‘Jewish Dance, an open and spaced out groovy piece. The title song is another swinging-in-positivity jewel in a wonderful album, that finishes with the only vocal track, entitled ‘Tenfour’, which showcases what a great singer this lyrical pianist is.
Mathis Picard / Live at the Museum – I love solo piano recordings and this one was a bit of a surprise for me – I hadn’t heard of Picard before and checked the album out to discover a very unique and interesting young player, influenced by Oscar Peterson, Fats Waller and Art Tatum. The album features besides five originals compositions by John Lewis, Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, John Williams, Maurice Ravel and Bix Beiderbecke. Only ‘Smith’s ‘Woodland Fantasy’ features another musician in drummer Savannah Harris, recreating the original line up for this composition with piano and drums. Recorded live at the National Jazz Museum of Harlem, NYC, the album showcases Picard’s stride piano influences and what he made out of them to become an individually unique and emotional performer. Amazing as well to hear Beiderbecke’s seldom performed ‘In A Mist’ in a powerful and cool version.
Bill O’Connell / A Change Is Gonne Come – Pianist O’Connell recorded his new album with bassist Lincoln Goines, percussionist Pedrito Martinez and special guest Craig Handy on tenor and soprano saxophones. They together created a positive and swinging traditional jazz album of top class, featuring a wonderful tribute to Sonny Rollins in ‘Sun For Sonny’, with whom Bill played for a while and who’s ‘St Thomas’ he quotes in his piano solo in the piece. ‘Covid Blues’ is another playful highlight of the album and referring to it O’Connell states: “We have to remain optimistic in the crazy time we’re going through” and his music definitely helps with that. ‘Prayer For Us’ feels like a gospel and features a beautiful solo by Goines, who, as the rest of the band, throughout delivers and makes this an album to cherish.
Little North / Familiar Places – This is the Danish trio’s fourth album and Benjamin Nørholm Jacobsen on piano, Martin Brunbjerg Rasmussen on bass and Lasse Jacobsen drums continue to give the European jazz piano trio tradition a new twist with their cinematic approach to their beautiful compositions. Guest appearances from Kasper Tranberg on trumpet and young Viktor Spasov on guitar give the brilliant album some additional colour and depth. A lyrical piano trio that has a sound much bigger than just three musicians and delivers with emotions and verve on their contemplative compositions. Moving, poignant and tender music, performed by a trio that is very tight and together in creating these miniatures of exquisiteness. Watch out for these guys!!
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