Tingvall Trio - Cirklar (SKIP RECORDS 2017)

To claim that the world has plenty of Jazz piano trios on hand is no exaggeration: in recent years the basic classic combo has been experiencing a resounding revival. Yet a searching look among the trios on tour for the essence of this ‘movement’ – when it all comes down to audience acceptance and an unmistakeable sound all its own – the Tingvall Trio from Hamburg stands out on an international scale. With concerts in more than 30 countries, a full measure of accolades including the ECHO JAZZ as “Ensemble of the Year” and “Live Act of the Year”, Jazz awards in gold for each of the trio’s studio albums, No. 1 on the Jazz charts and even high rankings on the Pop charts, their popularity has attained a level usually marked by current Pop bands. Though occasionally branded in Germany as a stigma by those purportedly ‘in the know’, this kind of success tows a beeline path to the listening public. Only recently Tingvall Trio was accorded the honor to play two trial concerts to test the acoustics at the newly inaugurated Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Appearances in 2017 will follow.

Three years after the successful CD entitled “Beat”, listeners’ long-awaited long-player “Cirklar” is ready to be released. Martin Tingvall, pianist, hymnwriter and the man who gave the band its name, comments on the new compositions: “The songs always kick things off for us. With this album I’ve tried to compose in a way that points out new directions to us. We’re testing new forms of expression, but at the same time we naturally want to be recognized as the Tingvall Trio. This time the music is clearly the boss, not the trio.” However the songs may sound as Martin Tingvall pens them – certainty doesn’t emerge until the end of the day when Omar Rodriguez Calvo (double bass) and Jürgen Spiegel (drums) join him in approaching a new composition. Each piece a struggle, a game, a drama that revolves in circles (“Cirklar”) until it’s ‘done’. The guiding lines: the stories that life presents us with and the very personal, very different perception of what has been experienced, depending on the person’s phase in life. Martin Tingvall: One of the pieces on the new album is called “Bumerang”. A song that begins with mighty drumbeats and drives ahead, followed by a musical phrase repeatedly ‘cast’ toward the listener like surf against the shore before finally vanishing. Playing with no end, music going full circuit. “Sometimes the contradictions in perceiving time seem so strange to me,” Tingvall establishes. “My parent’s generation is getting old now. Their clocks tick to a completely different rhythm. In contrast to my hectic everday life, to me it’s like it’s almost unreal.” A perception found in the ballad “Evighetsmaskinen” (‘Eternity Machine’). Not at all typical of the trio, a song comprised of nearly meditative sounds and rhythms that appears to lead straight into eternity. As for “Karusellen”, “Det Gröna Hotellet” and “Skansk Blues”, despite the many spots on this album where the trio’s new sounds are going to surprise listeners: when push comes to shove, distinctively Tingvall.

“Cirklar” might turn out to be the musically most diversified album to date. As early as this summer fans can let themselves be delighted by the new program at festival appearances such as Jazz Baltica, Kulturzelt Kassel or Palatia Jazz before the trio commences an extended tour across quite a few countries. The Netherlands, France, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Italy and of course Germany are already scheduled.

1 Evighetsmaskinen 04:48

2 Bumerang 05:20

3 Vulkanen 04:49

4 Bland Molnen 05:44

5 Skansk Blues 03:43

6 Cirklar 04:17

7 Sjuan 03:34

8 Det Gröna Hotellet 03:44

9 Tidlös 03:22

10 Psalm 04:34

11 Karusellen 04:15

12 Elis Visa 04:36

13 Labyrint (Bonus Track) 02:47

Martin Tingvall, piano

Omar Rodriguez Calvo, double bass

Jürgen Spiegel, drums, percussion

Wolfgang Schlüter & Boris Netsvetaev - Breathing As One (2016) SKIP RECORDS

German Jazz has brought forth only a few international stars. Vibraphonist Wolfgang Schlüter even managed to make it into the Downbeat Critics Poll. A rock of ages in the history of German Jazz, a gem “in which nearly all of the vibraphonists glimmer and shine” (M.Naura) Among his major influences you can hear Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson but to dismiss him as a King of Swing would only throw light on a partial aspect of his artistic repertoire, because there’s no doubt that he is among the key talents on his instrument in Europe and that he contributed substantially to how playing the vibes has developed over the years. On November 12th 2013 the vital instrumentalist celebrates his 80th birthday.

01. Blues for Michael

02. Summertime in Rhen

03. Julchens Dilemma

04. Hot house

05. Tekla

06. Time and tide

07. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz

08. Zoe

09. More than you know

10. Kinderträume

11. I remember Karin

Wolfgang Schlüter, vibes

Boris Netsvetaev, piano, keys

Emil Brandqvist Trio - Falling Crystals (2016) SKIP RECORDS

PRESENT

Emil Brandqvist Trio - Falling Crystals (2016)

Over the last few years drummer Emil Brandqvist from Gothenburg, Sweden, played his way into the intimate upper ranks of European Jazz; his trio stands for low-key, picturesque, touching melodies and sounds that remain with listeners.

Together with pianist Tuomas Turunen from Finland and Max Thornberg from Stockholm on double bass, one of the trademarks for this multinational Scandinavian ensemble has been that the trio eagerly brings in guests to the studio to put the finishing brushstrokes on their audiophonic paintings. Much like designing a portrait, their music builds to reveal more and more layers.

On “Breathe Out” (SKP 9115), their first album for SKIP in 2013, it was the Sjöströmska String Quartet from Gothenburg that set gem-like accents. For the following album entitled “Seascapes” (SKP 9128), Emil Brandqvist and his trio invited a number of woodwinds and horns to add greater density to the atmospheric settings: flutes, clarinets, bass clarinets and flugelhorns.

“Falling Crystals” (SKP 9135) enhances the listeners’ range via moods and compositional structures that underscore just how exceptional these three ‘northern lights’ are. The aura and music were sensitively captured by Åke Linton, a Swedish studio legend whose credentials already include work with Bobo Stenson, Lars Danielsson and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio.

“The Sea Begins To Freeze” reveals an opening theme reminiscent of film noir in which Emil Brandqvist has revived his collaboration with the Sjöströmstra String Quartet. On the composition by Tuomas Turunen named “A Day In Memories”, synthesizer inserts turn the tables to astonishing effect. On “Longing”, bass-player Max Thornberg lets his bowing display a North African coloring to match the desire in the track’s name. “Shine” is equally surprising: Despite all the Nordic roots, here the trio shows that it too was raised on the kind of Jazz made famous by great trios ‘way back when’ in the USA. The whole album sparkles with solid compositions, a lasting sound where the trio definitively ‘shows its stuff’. In 2016 concert-goers in our latitudes will be able to look forward to more concerts from the Emil Brandqvist Trio than ever before; delightful evenings that may very well close with the bouncy lilt heard on “Through The Forest”.

Album introduction by Skip Records

EMIL BRANDQVIST TRIO #3

THE TRIO

ABOUT US

EMIL BRANDQVIST Drums

Emil Brandqvist is a drummer,a composer and bandleader. He is living in Gothenburg/Sweden and is educated at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. He is involved in many different projects both as drummer and composer. Inspiration to his composing often comes as a soundtrack to the nature of Sweden. And the titles of the compositions often comes only when the music is performed for the first time and the pictures are starting to move in the mind. The music is often fully arranged but there is a big open window for the trio musicians to make the music live to its full. Emil is also composing music for films and has worked with the score for many different film-projects. Emil is always seeking new ways to express his music and is very interested in exploring the possibilities in new collaborations for his composing and playing.

TUOMAS A. TURUNEN Piano

Tuomas A. Turunen is an award-winning Finnish jazz pianist, known as a solo artist and as a member of several Nordic jazz groups, especially Emil Brandqvist Trio, Skalle & Sharon and Kauhukakara. He is a frequent performer at the top jazz events in Finland as well as at other European festivals. Outside of Europe Tuomas has performed notably on the African continent, e.g. at Jazz à Dakar -festival and at the legendary Rainbow Jazz Club in South Africa. Tuomas lived in Sweden from 2004 until 2009 and studied jazz piano at the Music Academy of Gothenburg with Lars Jansson and Anders Jormin as his teachers. Since obtaining his Master of Music degree in 2009, he has been based in France, working as a freelance musician, composer, entrepreneur and educator. Tuomas was awarded the Jazz Scholarship of Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2009. In 2010 he won the Jury’s Special Price at Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition.

MAX THORNBERG Bass

Max Thornberg was born in Halmstad, Sweden, in 1985. He is a freelance double bass player and composer, and has performed with some of Swedens finest jazz musicians.He plays regularly all over Sweden, but also in Denmark and Germany. Max Thornberg is educated in the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and resides in Stockholm since 2007.

01. While We Are Here

02. Soaring

03. Crystals

04. Through the Forest

05. The Sea Begins to Freeze

06. Longing

07. A Day Inmemories

08. Across the Waters

09. Early Spring

10. Shine

11. Guds Gröna Ängar

12. The Oak Trees

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