Tiny Reviews: Joe Fiedler, Sonic Drei, Alex Riel, Brothers Two Others, and Emmanuel Cremer

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Joe Fiedler Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut, Sonic Drei Paralelepipedo, Alex Riel Full House, Brothers Two Others Brothers Two Others, Emmanuel Cremer Coma.

*****

Joe Fiedler – Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut

I love when seasoned musicians who have typically staked out careers as sidemen get the opportunity to take the steering wheel and record something with their own name in the big print for a change.  No matter what the album sounds like, there’s two album qualities you can pretty much bank on: 1.) It will be a professional affair, and, 2.) They won’t be afraid to take chances.

Joe Fiedler‘s newest recording, Joe Fieldler’s Big Sackbut, a quartet of three trombones and a tuba, achieves both of those markers.  This isn’t your typical recording session, but it has an affable everyday-kind-of-music demeanor.  That Fiedler is able to guide unusual music to an easy access point is just one admirable aspect of this fun album.

Your album personnel:  Joe Fiedler (trombone), Josh Roseman (trombone), Ryan Keberle (trombones), and Marcus Rojas (tuba).

However, of this album’s many winning qualities, it’s the harmonies that shine brightest.  The first two album tracks illustrate this point clearly, but it’s the delicate opening to third track “Don Pullen” that really drives the point home.  Even in the presence of one charming melody after the other, it’s the harmonic ebb and flow that elevates these album tracks upward to something a little more special.

Released on the Yellow Sound Label.

You can stream several album tracks on the artist site, under the Listen tab.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Sonic Drei – Paralelepipedo

Sonic Drei is very much in the modern jazz environment with skittering rhythms and shifty melodies, regardless of whether the tunes shoot right out of the gate or take on the semblance of a ballad.  But it’s the music’s shiftiness that is its most appealing quality.  Take, for example, the second track “Why Not,” which transitions sweetly from a modern asynchronicity into a pleasant swing.  It’s tiny little surprises like that which make this such a fun album.  Post-rock fans will enjoy the trio’s sharp cuts and pleasant moodiness.

Your album personnel:  Florian Riedl (sax, clarinet), Peter Cudek (bass), and Martin Kolb (drums).

You can stream the entire album on the artist site.

Released on the Unit Records label.

Jazz from the Munich, Germany scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

Alex Riel – Full House

Recorded live at the Jazzhus Montmartre in celebration of Danish drummer Alex Riel’s 70th birthday.  He leads a quartet that includes alto sax, piano, and bass through a series of jazz standards.  Great straight-ahead jazz, with the rendition of Coltrane’s “Impressions” being a real treat.  Riel has made his mark on a number of excellent jazz albums, and following his name like a trail of breadcrumbs is an excellent journey to take.  I’ll start you out with a rec of his performance on Benjamin Koppel‘s Adventures of a Polar Expedition.

Your album personnel:  Alex Riel (drums), George Robert (alto sax), Jesper Lundgaard (bass), and Dada Moroni (piano).

Released on the Storyville Records label.

Jazz from the Copenhagen, Denmark scene.

Available at eMusic.

Brothers Two Others – Brothers Two Others

Brothers Two Others is a Swedish quartet that likes to play cool jazz a la Lenny Tristano.  Nice mix of tracks that swing and sway. Music that can double as rainy day jazz or for late night drives through the city.  Tracks like “Stompin’ at Ragsved” have some nifty step-for-step action between sax and guitar, but it’s the ballads where this quartet really shines.

Your album personnel:  James Gustafsson (tenor sax), Daniel Gustafsson (double bass), Niclas Lindstrom (drums), and Daniel Svensson (guitar).

Released on the NLM Production label.

You can download a free album track from the artist’s soundcloud page.

Jazz from the Stockholm, Sweden scene.

Available at eMusic.

Emmanuel Cremer – Coma

Solo cello album from Emmanuel Cremer, who has made a name for himself in both jazz improvisation and classical circles. A sublime album of all the cello loveliness one could ever ask for, but with plenty of complexities to prevent it from ever getting superficially banal.  This isn’t a Jazz album per se, but I found it listed there under new arrivals, and I’m a sucker for this kind of thing, so I’m giving it a mention.

Your album personnel:  Emmanuel Cremer (cello).

Released on the Alambik Musik label.

Music from the Marseille, France scene.

Available at eMusic.

*****

The Joe Fiedler and Sonic Drei reviews are original to Bird is the Worm, but portions of the other reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

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

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.