Marcin Wasilewski trio and Joe Lovano, Arctic Riff

A first collaboration between the Marcin Wasilewski trio, one of the greatest European piano trios of the last 30 years, and the iconic tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano It's refreshing to hear tenor titan Lovano in new settings and keeping new musical …

Published: 26 Jun 2020. Updated: 3 years.

A first collaboration between the Marcin Wasilewski trio, one of the greatest European piano trios of the last 30 years, and the iconic tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano

It's refreshing to hear tenor titan Lovano in new settings and keeping new musical company. A very delicate interior sound the Wasilewski trio who have been around a long time (I first heard them in the early 1990s) project, and they have formidable empathy and groupthink quality. Coming in to join them can't have been easy for Lovano but it works well.

Among the material included on the album, a Manfred Eicher produced studio affair recorded in France last summer, are two versions of Carla Bley classic 'Vashkar', one a variation. A thoughtful record, this isn't bravura extrovert jazz by any means. Wasilewski has always liked oblique melody and that preference has not changed nor has his beautiful harmonic grasp that again avoids the obvious. Bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz is strong on tone and like drummer Michal Miskiewicz never grandstands. There is a lot of nuance on this record and it's a pleasure to listen to from beginning to end. SG

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Track of the day: 'Composition 61'

Bit of a thrill this punky thrash around the more obscure work of Anthony Braxton with 'Composition 61' leading off The Anthony Braxton Project to be released next month. The work of Thumbscrew who are celebrating Anthony Braxton's 75th birthday, …

Published: 25 Jun 2020. Updated: 3 years.

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Bit of a thrill this punky thrash around the more obscure work of Anthony Braxton with 'Composition 61' leading off The Anthony Braxton Project to be released next month. The work of Thumbscrew who are celebrating Anthony Braxton's 75th birthday, with previously unrecorded pieces by Braxton from the vaults. A trio [Tomas Fujiwara - drums and vibraphone; Mary Halvorson - guitar; Michael Formanek - double bass] Halvorson says: “We chose pieces that captured our imagination and that we thought would work well for the instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums or vibraphone.'' To be released by Cuneiform.