Dec 25 2017
Best of 2017 #22: Fabel – “Fabel” (Jaeger Community Music)
This video-as-album project is some serious enchantment. Pianist Kasper Staub, bassist Jens Mikkel and trumpeter Jakob Sørensen teamed up with cinematographer André Hansen, and their music and imagery are the perfect match for one another. One song melts into the next like scenes shifting to different landscapes and backdrops. Sometimes Sørensen’s trumpet is the moonlight filtering through the trees and sometimes it’s the fireplace generating warmth. Staub’s piano is the sunlight bending through a window pane, splashing a melody across the floor. The soft footfalls of Mikkel’s bass marks both the passing of time and the motion of passing through it. It’s an illustration how an economy of sound can radiate a presence like a storm cloud threatening rain. It’s proof that some of the most powerful melodies are crafted with nothing more than just a few perfect notes in a perfect place. Fabel is as lovely as it gets.
Music from Aarhus, Denmark.
Read more on Bird is the Worm.
Jan 6 2019
Best of 2018 #36: Christian Balvig 6tet – “Music For Humans”
Just on the basis of its sheer beauty, Music for Humans gets a slot on the Best Of list. Christian Balvig’s chamber jazz 2018 release is pure shot of harmonic joy. But how his 6tet is able to seamlessly weave incisive melodic statements and an absorbing rhythmic conversation into the fabric of those harmonies is what elevates this album up to an entirely new plateau. This is music you can just sink into and never come up for air or, instead, you can engage with it as if a contemplative chess match where there are no sides, only a graceful motion of pieces.
Released on AMP Music & Records.
Read more on Bird is the Worm.
Music from Oslo, Norway.
Available at: Amazon
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2018 • 0 • Tags: AMP Music & Records, Christian Balvig, Jazz - Best of 2018, Jens Mikkel Madsen, Oslo