Tiny Reviews: Dennis Rollins, Cyminology, Cholet/Kanzig/Papaux, & Eyvind Kang

Featuring Tiny Reviews of albums by Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio, Cyminology, the Cholet/Kanzig/Papaux trio, and Eyvind Kang.

Let’s begin…

Dennis Rollins Velocity Trio – 11th Gate

The trombone-organ-drums trio format isn’t territory that gets explored too often, which makes UK jazz vet Dennis Rollins’ attempt that much more exciting. Known mostly for his involvement with hard funk ensembles, Rollins breaks away from that typecast and creates a surprisingly textured series of tunes, each way more individualistic than one might initially assume could be derived from the trio concoction of trombone, organ, drums.  I was kinda skeptical about the whole thing when I first learned of the album, but Rollins sold me on this recording, big time.

Your album personnel: Dennis Rollins (trombone, electronics), Ross Stanley (Hammond organ), and Pedro Segundo (drums & percussion).

Yes, there’s plenty of groove throughout, but tastes of Latin, some ballad, some avant-garde deconstruction, some swing… and it all seems to fit somehow.  A real solid album that should earn Rollins plenty of respect not just for the quality of the music but also the difficulty of of the task.  Title track “The 11th Gate” ends the album on an outstanding note.

Released on the Motema Music label, always a good source for tasteful jazz.

Jazz from the UK scene.

Download a free album track on AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist and label.

Available on eMusic.

Cyminology – Saburi

One of the most refreshing titles of the recent ECM drop on eMusic is by Iranian/German vocalist/composer Cymin Samawatie.  Mixing Persian with jazz and backed by a piano trio, Cymin manages to take the best of both modern ECM worlds: The introspective piano tinkering and the world music that really ain’t jazz. The end result is a serene yet upbeat mix of old world music in a modern jazz setting. For those of you who have grown picky with your ECM selections by way of experience, this is definitely one to look at, especially fans of Marcin Wasilewski and Anouar Brahem.

Your album personnel: Cymin Samawatie (vocals), Benedikt Jahnel (piano), Ralf Schwarz (double bass), and Ketan Bhatti (drums & percussion).

Released on the ECM Records label.

Available on eMusic.

Cholet-Kanzig-Papaux Trio – Connex

Nice piano trio date that gets better than nice when the bass gets aggressive and adds a delicious layer of tension to the recording.  It’s the fourth album for this trio, following on the heels of a collaboration with jazz great Charlie Mariano.  Nice example of the jazz coming out of Switzerland.

Your album personnel:  Jean-Christophe Cholet (piano), Heiri Känzig (double-bass), and Marcel Papaux (drums).

No embeddable audio available.

Released on the Cristal Records label.

Available on eMusic.

Eyvind Kang – Visible Breath

Avant-classical more than jazz, but Kang has strong jazz roots, having collaborated often with Bill Frisell.  Known primarily for his violin, Kang has peppered his discography with a series of classical-ambient-electronica-drone albums.  Visible Breath should appeal to the same people who wake to his music just as the sun rises or bliss out to at the end of a very long Saturday night of Too Much Fun.  Just beautiful.

Well, I couldn’t find a full track to embed, and I hate doing song samples (in fact, I detest them with every inch of my heart), but I’ll make an exception for Eyvind Kang, I dunno, just because…

Released by Ideologic Organ.

Music from the Seattle scene.

Available on eMusic.

That’s it for today’s article.  There’ll be some more on Monday & Wednesday from this same batch of recs.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks“, courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.