May 23 2018
New and same: Gustaf Ljunggren & Emil de Waal
What’s relevant is this:
There is a warmth and intimacy to this music that is positively intoxicating.
That’s what I wrote about previous collaborations between Emil de Waal and Gustaf Ljunggren. The recorded gold from those sessions was some of the best music to be released during their respective years. With pianist Søren Kjærgaard and clarinetist Elith “Nulle” Nykjær on board, the music breathed fresh vitality into a classic jazz sound. It was everything jazz was and still could be.
For this 2018 session, it’s just the duo of de Waal and Ljunggren, and they go off in a very different direction. Gone are the boisterous melodies and swinging tempos of New Orleans via Denmark. Instead, the duo navigates a path that takes them through folk, electronica and indie-pop musics. The duo runs the sing-song melody of “Skomakarskeppet” through a cyclical pattern that accentuates both its addictive and minimalist qualities. There’s how the electric sizzle and pop of “Krathuset” is juxtaposed over a resolute drone, creating a tempo that is both lively and meditative. “Strung Hi” has a countryside tranquility, as if sunlight settling in over wide open fields of green… an infusion of energy into a trance state. It sounds nothing like what’s been featured previously from these two, and yet present throughout every moment of this lovely recording is that very same warmth and intimacy, and that same feeling of intoxication.
This duo has been collaborating for twenty years and counting. Their new album is more reason to hope it never ends.
Your album personnel: Emil de Waal (drums, percussion, electronic effects) and Gustaf Ljunggren (keyboards, guitars, effects).
Released on DME.
Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Soundcloud page.
Music from Copenhagen, Denmark.
The secret that a lullaby lies at the heart of all the pieces comprising North is fully revealed on “21:34.” Tiny melodic visions peek out of lively rhythmic dialog on opening tracks “North” and “Lapse,” and it comes couched in a groove on “Mohr,” hinting all the lullaby only momentarily when pianist Federico Gerini switches over to Fender Rhodes for some dreamy melodicism. But it’s on “21:34” that the fullness of those melodic inspirations comes to light. The trio 
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The subtlety of the music from the trio LAWAAI extends far past the Dutch translation of their name to ‘noise.’ The expectation would be music that is loud and disruptive. Their self-titled EP Lawaai meets only the latter half of that expectation. The fabric of this recording is peacefulness. The environment is one where tranquility would seem likely to thrive. But the trio of pianist Kamil Piotrowicz, bassist Stan Callewaert and drummer Jeppe Høi Justesen spend the length of the recording creating tiny disturbances that ripple throughout the six pieces, instigating a sense of unease that never allows that tranquility to fully take hold. Sometimes it’s the slow, steady droplets of melody of “Glacier” and sometimes it’s a brisk downpour, like on the hypnotic “#5,” and there is a moment on “#10” when the simmering tension threatens to boil over.
Also, it worth pointing out that the bassist, Stan Callewaert, put out an excellent recording with his Donder trio. If you like Lawaai, you should
May 25 2018
I am so glad Steve Tibbetts made it back to the recording studio, and “Life Of” is why he shouldn’t be allowed to leave it
And much like albums previous, Tibbetts’ newest has an ephemeral source of influence. It’s a little bit modern jazz, a little bit folk, and a little bit World Music. The only thing that really changes is the part of the world that the music tethers itself to. Sometimes the music echoes that of Nepal and sometimes that of Norway and sometimes of his Midwest roots… but always in just the vaguest sense, as if it just drifted in with the tide and entered a confluence with Tibbetts’ own personal aesthetic. But all of it is beautiful.
There’s nothing quite like a Steve Tibbetts recording. When you require a tool to bring peacefulness into your life or when you’ve already attained it and just need an appropriate soundtrack, Tibbetts’ music is a sure bet. Life Of is further evidence of why. It’s also an example of why he needs to be coaxed back into the recording studio much more frequently to create much more of this wonderful music.
Your album personnel: Steve Tibbetts (guitar, piano), Marc Anderson (percussion, handpan) and Michelle Kinney (cello, drones).
Released on ECM Records.
Music from Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota.
Available at: Amazon
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2018 • 3 • Tags: ECM Records, Steve Tibbetts