Sunday 19 May 2019

Log #138 - The Other Sides Of Jazz

Eddy Bamyasi

A couple of new jazz albums in the player this week. Quite different.

Firstly Kamasi Washington who seems to be a bit of a poster boy for the "new jazz revival". His latest album Heaven and Earth is of epic proportions, as was his previous release, the appropriately entitled The Epic. In fact it topped many "best of" lists for 2018. For me, I've tried to get into it, but so far I've been left slightly cold by the myriad of different tones which include samba beats, stage show numbers, soul, gospel, vocals and, most disturbingly, 80s style electronica. Kamasi seems a big personality and this is big music. I must try harder.

Much more my tea at the moment is a beautiful album from Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen which I discovered by chance after overhearing the track Re-Melt at a Brighton Festival Open House (I stood transfixed by the speaker unable to move until it was over). Fittingly from the ECM label The Other Side is Gustaven's eighth album.


The Alan Parsons Project Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
Tom Waits Nighthawks At The Diner
Fennesz Endless Summer
Tord Gustavsen Trio The Other Side
Emilie Simon Vegetal
Kamasi Washington Heaven And Earth


In contrast to the Washington album this is gentle minimalist jazz all about the subtle ebbs and flows and the space in between. Gustavsen explains:

There is this idea in the title of the way the trio plays as being the other side of virtuosity, a kind of paradoxical virtuosity where you don’t play all the notes you can but merely the notes that are really needed. It’s about subordinating your ego to the flow of the music – and that takes a kind of ‘radical listening’ – listen more than you play. That’s a passion the three of us share.

Indeed the trio display admirable restraint through twelve modestly lengthed tracks of sparse beauty. The piano playing is melodic and recalls the Debussy preludes - the classical influences are confirmed with three arrangements of Bach pieces. The piano leads but is backed by perfect double bass and drum accompaniment. 

Although potentially verging on the Keith Jarrett type easy listening stylings the album's sheer beauty, perfectly encapsulated in the lilting opening track The Tunnel (below), overcomes any accusations of "imperceptibility" as levelled at The Cinematic Orchestra last week.




Easily my album of the week, I've pretty much had this little gem on repeat play all weekend.





About The Author

Eddy Bamyasi

Eddy is a music writer from Brighton, England, named after a Can record. Each Sunday he logs and reviews the albums that happen to be in his vintage Pioneer 6-CD magazine changer, amongst other things.

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