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There are not many European jazz musicians who can deal respectfully with jazz steeped in American tradition and know how to interpret it in their own style at the same time. One person who has dedicated himself to so doing with heart and soul is Jürgen Hagenlocher. He calls his new CD "Leap In The Dark" for a good reason. This leap into the unknown was worth the effort. Getting involved in the unknown and developing music from different viewpoints and backgrounds contains a certain amount of risk, but it can also produce an extremely inspiring and exciting result as is the case here.
Release date: May 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.hagenlochermusic.com
The quartet with top-rate members already released its first album in 2009 ("Playground") at the French label Must Records and immediately reaped a lot of praise in the press. The successor with the same band members has become more straightforward and substantial; the long years of playing together has resulted in an effortless, completely unpretentious, easy-going and grooving recording with a masterful, homogeneous band.
Release date: May 2012Read more here!
Homepage: matthieumarthouret.com
When the Cowboys perform, nothing stays in place. The trio makes its daring musical forays through styles and melodies as if a blizzard would sweep through the alleyways. A storm is created with daring arrangements that blow off roofs and knock down trees. The concert venue becomes a battlefield with steamy funk grooves at times, then the rock cannons boom to be followed again by wild improvisations.
The influences of Frank Zappa, Rage against the Machine, Don Li, Massive Attack, Screaming Headless Torsos and Pantera (who name one of their CDs "Cowboys from Hell") are loud and clear. But the music is still different and fresh, characterized by an unconventional use of electronics. Unbridled playing spirit and brute energy have gotten every club rocking till now. Of course, then it's great news that the Cowboys are continually on the move!
Release date: February 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.cowboysfromhell.ch
Extremely relaxed: this best describes the composition and interpretation on "In Sight". The four young guys from RADAR have produced a mature work with "In Sight", which forms an absolutely intrinsic whole. You can also bring to mind when listening that these are not old hands playing, but that "In Sight" is actually the debut album of the young Berlin quartet RADAR. With a matter-of-factness, they present their own style; slight digressions in the direction of classical fugue or Latin as light as a feather always take a proper place in their pure and original overall sound.
Release date: February 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.timovollbrecht.de
Perrenoud, about whom the journalist Luca Sabbatini once wrote that there is an "unbelievable fantasy in his melodies, a destructive force, tangible lyric intensity," is really a master of all things who defies any customary categorization. If anything, then what we hear is clearly jazz. However, we also find many influences from other popular styles in his artistic approach. It is a kind of popular music such as Johann Sebastian Bach cultivated. It is a kind of popular music such as Cake celebrates. It is a kind of popular music such as Return To Forever lets us appreciate. There is a suitable term for this in English: attitude. Perrenoud, whose record collection must be very large given the great variety of sounds and associations, seems to display such a pop attitude for jazz (put more aptly: for his jazz) more than clearly. Despite the multifaceted influences on this trio that come to mind, how original and even novel they sound is really impressive. What the trio does with the classic "Autumn Leaves" alone is remarkable in this respect.
Release date: January 2012Read more here!
Homepage: www.marcperrenoud.com