This month, four amazing jazz releases will be presented: Chiara Pancaldi's What is There to Say, Jasper Somsen's A New Episode In Life Pt. II, Senf by the Kammerer OrKöster and Birds by Laia Genc.
Chiara Pancaldi - What is There to Say
On this album the young Italian jazz singer Chiara Pancaldi shows once again talent to sing jazz standards in a flawless and convincing way. Her pure voice was noticed by Kirk Lightsey and Darryl Hall and they formed an pure acoustic trio to record this album. The recording is a true live session, where they all took chances and improvised a lot. Each song, whether it is the famous standard "On the Sunny Side of the Street" or the obscure "Strayhorn tune Love Came", has its own atmosphere.
Jasper Somsen's A New Episode In Life Pt. II
After having recording Part 1 of A New Episode in just one day, the newly found Jasper Somsen Trio decided to spend the second day on recording free-form improvisations, as well as some standards from the Great American Songbook. The trio centered around bassist Jasper Somsen also includes André Ceccarelli on drums (who worked with Somsen in Enrico Pieranunzi’s European Trio) and Jean-Michel Pilc, a long time friend of Ceccarelli. Excitingly, the trio never performed together before this recording, so the result was a completely spontaneous, free expression with incredible virtuosity.
Kammerer OrKöster - Senf
Six exceptional, creative next generation musicians already exceptional due to their individuality from all corners of the southern German and Austrian scene, a fun community that is based on a deep-rooted kinship: that’s the Kammerer OrKöster. The name already indicates that it is certainly not a matter of following the usual rules. The two band founders Richard Köster (trumpet/flugelhorn) and Jakob Kammerer (drums) as well as Beate Wiesinger (bass), Alois Eberl (trombone), Christian Amstätter-Zöchbauer (bass trombone) and Benjamin Daxbaer (alto saxophone) do not need a harmony instrument. They much prefer putting the chords in the voices of a very rare brass section. What results is both unusual and unique: 10 brazen compositions with titles such as "Burgler Boogie", "Meditationblues", "Die Birke", "Der Nilolaus ist da" and "Farewell Well Well" between a casual attitude and sublime elegance, between Alpine humor and urban profundity, between irresistible groove and filigree virtuosity, between nostalgia-free tradition and down-to-earth modernity.
Laia Genc - Birds
Jazz consists of lived stories for Laia Genc, which are repeatedly new but told differently. On "Birds", she approaches the 88 white and black ivory keys with a refreshingly unorthodox approach to themes such as freedom, transformation, a July moon at sunset, the silence under the sea, and many others in her focus. "I am following an authentic form of expression with that and would like to take my audience on an inner journey. My life is so rich thanks to music that I absolutely want to share it!" Of course, much is still based on the principles of interplay, i.e., the internal symmetry between the instrumentalists. But it is precisely the organic unity between Genc, Braun and Düppe that gives each an individual a form of freedom that distinguishes them from many other bands of the genre.
