Inwardness - Space Jazz (OZELLA MUSIC May 11, 2018)

The universe in us

The title of this album is a clever deception: when Inwardness talks about space jazz, they do not mean space, wormholes, and distant worlds. Rather, they lead the listener into the spaces between the sounds, heading for microcosms that are so close that they already seem strange to us. This fits the genesis of the band, which leads over winding paths on two continents, only to then deep down to experience a happy ending.

One can therefore speak of a destiny when the trio meets each other at a concert in Morocco. Loose discussions lead to first concepts and compositional approaches. It is immediately clear to all those involved that it can not stay with words. So, a year later, they meet in the south of France and stall for months on all obligations. The interaction is re-tested, practiced blindfolded, outdoors or in the middle of the city. And finds himself doing so as a human and a musician.

Especially for Maciek Pysz, inwardness is the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream. For years now, the ECM fan and cosmopolitan has been buzzing with a free-floating sound, animating the silence with fine sounds and whispering frequencies. He came very close to this ideal already in his "drumseless quartet". With Inwardness even deeper free spaces resonate - and that, even though the trio does not give up a percussionist, nor on rhythm, movement and groove.

Significantly responsible for this feat is Davy Sur, known for his world music duo Milap from drums and Indian bansuri flute. For inwardness, Sur magically focussed his game: hihats hiss like ghostly moving leaves, drums whirl like a gathering thunderstorm, individual rimshots hit the ear like a Zen master's stick. Above, David Amar's saxophone floats above, while Pysz's determined guitar characters give the music a sense of grounding and stability.

If the first gigs were still marked by epic jams, the band on "Space Music" does not even need five minutes to create transcendental states of consciousness. Only perhaps the most beautiful and mysterious track is called "Moon Landing". However, this brief excursion into the universe remains an isolated case on an album that prefers to devote itself to the beauty of this world rather than flee science fiction utopias.

1 I. Morning

2 II. Afternoon

3 Seven Lakes

4 I. Through Space

5 II. Through Space

6 I. Moon - Other Side

7 II. Moon - Landing

8 Before and After

9 Back in Space

10 Elephant Calling

11 I. One Hour Waiting

12 II. One Hour Now

13 III. One Hour Later

14 Vesuvio

15 Rise Up

Davy Sur - Drums/Percussion/Effects

David Amar - Soprano Saxophone/Synthesiser/Effects

Maciek Pysz - Electric and Classical Guitar/Effects

Inwardness

Kari Ikonen Trio - Wind, Frost & Radiation (OZELLA MUSIC April 27, 2018)

Meditations on ghost towns and shadowy waltz themes prove: The tradition of the radical break belongs naturally to the jazz understanding of this formation.

Kari Ikonen likes to see the sunny side of life. For example, with his "ultra-positive" Afro-pop jazz project Trio Toffa. As a native Finn, however, winter and dark states of mind are also close to him. Thus, "Wind Frost & Radiation" became a musical search for traces of their own roots, after the Nordic in music. Places of cold and horror, inhumanity and transience - they all form the foundation for the third studio album of the Kari Icons Trio.

It is hardly surprising that there is another turnaround after the bewitching late-night jazz of "Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories". The experiment belongs to the recognition features of the trio. So Olli Rantala lets his bass dance in a moment, just to make it sound like a cello in the next one. Markku Ounaskari masters not only an irresistible swing, but also the art of playing drums on the edge of dissolution. Icons themselves have fueled fresh inspiration with the eccentric project "Iconostasis". It goes without saying that it was impossible to create a conventional trio album with this constellation.

How far the band is willing to go on "Wind Frost & Radiation" is shown alongside "Pripyat" - a meditation on the evacuated ghost town near the Chernobyl reactor - a stubborn interpretation of Aram Khachaturian's famous waltz theme. The latter transforms from icons of a whirling dance into a nocturnal world of shadows. The pulse sinks to a glacier-like melting, the music digs deep into the moment, in search of the nerve that hurts the most.

Familiar, however, is the typical for a vinyl LP division into a musically well-defined A- and B-side, with which the Kari icons trio to the classic vinyl era confesses. This is not a contradiction, but only consistent. Because the tradition of radical break belongs naturally to the jazz understanding of this formation.

Martti Vesala Soundpost Quintet - Stars Aligned (OZELLA MUSIC May 4, 2018)

Trumpet player Martti Vesala clearly loves the jazz of the 60s and 70s – melodic without being too easy, funky and yet relaxed, filled to the brim with gripping grooves and ripping solos. Little wonder, then, that legendary jazz publication Downbeat recently compared him to Miles Davis. And yet, thanks to Vesala’s drive, passion and virtuosity Stars Aligned feels perfectly contemporary.

The instantly recognisable production of the album, somewhere between vintage and entirely up to date sound design, was sculpted by star producer Miikka Huttunen, highly respected for a string of successful Finnish releases from pop to jazz. Astoundingly, all eight minutely detailed arrangements of Stars Aligned were taped in a mere three days. After the debut album featured a subtle and almost chambermusical sound, his latest full-length now turns towards something more epic and majestic – a clear sign that the Soundpost Quintet enjoys priority in Vesala’s work today.

Although the trumpet takes center stage in all of these pieces, Stars Aligned is foremost the triumph of a tightly playing ensemble, which has only recently finetuned its on-stage-communication on a major tour through Finland. For 2018, the rest of the world is now on Vesala’s radar, as he’s looking forward to sharing his love for the sound of his distant home, the music that is spinning in his head all day – no matter where he’s coming from, regardless where he may be headed.

1 Compulsion

2 The Sun's Eye 

3 Stars Aligned

4 A Murder of Crows 

5 The Lost Sea

6 Rooftops

7 Murky Green

8 Driving Force

Martti Vesala, trumpet & flugelhorn

Petri ”Pope” Puolitaival, tenor saxophone & flute

Joonas Haavisto, piano

Juho Kivivuori, double bass

Ville Pynssi, drums & percussion

Rain Sultanov & Isfar Sarabski - Cycle (OZELLA MUSIC April 20, 2018)

The art of the cosmic game

Already on the ECM album "Aftenland" Jan Garbarek and Kjell Johnsen went to the interfaces between organ and saxophone. On "Cycle" the two leading jazz musicians of Azerbaijan develop a cosmic game out of it. In it the organ stands for the sacred. The saxophone for our deepest feelings. The piano for evolution.

In the highest spheres, all earthly boundaries dissolve. And that is exactly where "Cycle" plays. This is where three usually incompatible instruments - organ, saxophone and piano - speak with one voice. It is not the first time that these worlds collide. On the ECM album "Aftenland", Jan Garbarek and Kjell Johnsen already explored the rugged interfaces between organ and saxophone at the end of the 70s. Rain Sultanov and Isfar Sarabski, on the other hand, tend to create a meditative, radiantly bright energy space - aptly named as the "Land of Fire" for their common home country of Azerbaijan.

This is much more than just music. The title already refers to Rudolph Steiner's idea that our life evolves over seven cycles, from the moment we conceive to dissolution in death. "Cycle" now extends this model to the rebirth of soul and body. Each of the instruments involved plays a clearly defined role in this cosmic game: the organ stands for the majestic and sacred. The saxophone for our deepest feelings. The piano contains a connecting, evolutionary element.

But "Cycle" never becomes pure conceptual art. Compared to Sultanov's epic, three-hour history project "Tale of My Land", it seems almost modest. Rather, the nine pieces are laid out as carefully-touching and slow-motion sustained slow-motion compositions full of hope and confidence. Not darkness, but light rules here: you can almost hear the sunbeams that fall through the windows of the Gothic Church of the Redeemer in Baku, where the album was recorded.

Of course, it was to be expected that even this deeply felt music could not provide conclusive truths. So the search continues for Sultanov and Sarabski - in ever new cycles of question and answer, doubt and confidence, of silence and sound.

Three instruments: Organ, piano, saxophone. The two leading jazz performers of Azerbaijan. One intense, light flooded energy space. No limits.

1 Prelude

2 Embryo

3 Planet

4 Tandem

5 Symbiosis

6 Orison

7 Oblivion

8 Reincarnation

9 Silence

www.rainsultanov.com

www.isfarsarabski.com

Helge Lien & Knut Hem - Hummingbird (OZELLA MUSIC 2017)

Lien holds a master degree in music from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where Russian pianist Misha Alperin was his mentor and teacher of improvisation.

The core of Lien’s work has since 1999 been the Helge Lien Trio, consisting of the classic jazz constellation piano, bass and drums. In 2008 the trio won the Norwegian Grammy for their album Hello Troll, and has achieved international acclaim following nine international album releases, as well as numerous tours and festival performances in Japan, Canada, South Korea, Europe and Scandinavia.

In recent years, Lien has successfully joined forces with the Polish violinist Adam Baldych, who released the album ”Adam Baldych & Helge Lien Trio – Bridges” on ACT in 2015.

Lien is often to be heard making magic with the legendary Norwegian bass player Arild Andersen, both in trio and quartet settings. The live album “The Rose Window” was released in 2016, a trio recording with Andersen, Lien and drummer Gard Nilssen.

He has released two duo albums with singer Live Maria Roggen, the latest, ”YOU”, was released in 2017 on Ozella Music (DE).

In April 2017 he will release album number nine with Helge Lien Trio, ”Guzuguzu”, on Ozella Music.

Lien is known from a variety of other musical contexts, such as Tri O’Trang, the duo Hero with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrom, and with the vocalists Silje Nergaard, Frida Ånnevik and Jørn Simen Øverli. In 2014 Lien was given the honour of composing the official concert celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Norwegian beloved poet and playwright Alf Prøysen.

In addition to his activities as composer and performer, Lien is currently employed as an associate professor in jazz at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Originally influenced by Bill Evans’ lyric-dynamic style of playing, he also shows affinity with Keith Jarrett’s narrative inventiveness and the subtle strophic expression of Brad Mehldau. Although contemporary and constantly moving forward, Lien’s heritage from growing up in an environment of untouched nature and folk music is noticeably ingrained in his sound. Today Lien is an equally innovative and technically brilliant player. His resourcefulness and briskly responsive playing is extremely beneficial to him and his fellow musicians. Lien proves himself as an excellent “composer of the moment” in all of his work – regardless of genre.

1. Dis (03:58)

2. Take Another Five (4:31)

3. Winterland (7:20)

4. Moster (3:27)

5. Music Box (2:57)

6. Rafferty (5:41)

7. We Hide and Seek (4:39)

8. Hummingbird (6:42)

Knut Hem - Dobro / Weissenborn

Helge Lien - Piano

Moster (promo video) from Helge Lien on Vimeo.

Helge Lien Trio - Guzuguzu (OZELLA MUSIC 2017)

If music is a language, then maybe, vice versa, words can be used to imitate specific sounds? This fascinating phenomenon of onomatopoeia is the point of departure for the Helge Lien Trio's ninth album 'Guzuguzu'.

Each track is based on a different onomatopoetic Japanese term and the rich field of associations it opens up: What does a smile sound like? "Nikoniko". Spinning around in circles? "Kurukuru"! Even the album title - Guzuguzu - falls into the same category, describing what it sounds like to "move slowly". Intriguingly, as Lien was writing the pieces, he discovered hidden connections between them, which added up to a new vocabulary of sound. It has turned the trio's latest effort into their most ambitious and thrilling work to date.

If music is a language, then maybe, vice versa, words can be used to imitate specific sounds? This fascinating phenomenon of onomatopoeia is the point of departure for the Helge Lien Trio's ninth album 'Guzuguzu'.

Each track is based on a different onomatopoetic Japanese term and the rich field of associations it opens up: What does a smile sound like? "Nikoniko". Spinning around in circles? "Kurukuru"! Even the album title - Guzuguzu - falls into the same category, describing what it sounds like to "move slowly". Intriguingly, as Lien was writing the pieces, he discovered hidden connections between them, which added up to a new vocabulary of sound. It has turned the trio's latest effort into their most ambitious and thrilling work to date.

"We spend close to an entire year preparing the recording of Guzuguzu. When we met in Rainbow studio, the album was more or less complete, not to say "garari", explains Lien. "This allowed for us to record the album in one single take. Listening to how it came out, it strikes me how close it resembles a live experience."

Available as a CD and a limited edition 180g audiophile vinyl with pure analogue sound and high end vinyl mastering.

1. Gorogoro (thundering) 04:35

2. Guzuguzu (moving Slowly) 04:40

3. Nikoniko (smiling) 03:55

4. Garari (completely) 08:11

5. Jasmine 04:53

6. Chokichoki (cutting) 06:27

7. Kurukuru (spinning Around) 03:13

8. Shitoshito (raining Quietly) 06:08

Helge Lien – piano

Frode Berg – bass

Per Oddvar Johansen – drums

Music composed Helge Lien

Recorded by Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, September 2-4 2016

Mixed and mastered by Jan Erik Kongshaug

Cover photo by CF Wesenberg

Produced by Helge Lien and Dagobert Böhm

NYConnection - Urban Griot (OZELLA MUSIC 2017)

„Urban Griot“ is the debut album by jazz quartet NYConnection, formed by Finnish drummer Jaska Lukkarinen and Israeli pianist Roy Assaf. Inspired by the griots of West Africa, NYConnection think of themselves as jazz storytellers.

In their innovative compositions between bebob, folk and avant-garde song structures disappear in a whirl of dialogue and friction. Sometimes quiet, sometimes louder, always exiting.

01 URBAN GRIOT 5:57

02 DAY’S OF (TOO MUCH) WINE & ROSES 2:39

03 I’LL BE SEEING YOU 7:10

04 SIGNAL 6:13

05 PIKI AND THE MEXICAN GRILL 9:55

06 SISU 4:57

07 DAY OF NIGHT 5:41

08 HAVE YOU MET MR. JONES 3:08

09 INNER BLUR 6:28

10 LÖYLY 5:57

Jussi Kannaste: Tenor Saxophone

Roy Assaf: Piano

Antti Lötjönen: Bass

Jaska Lukkarinen: Drums