(ECM 276 4500. CD Review by Chris Parker
Dutch pianist Wolfert Brederode's first album with his international quartet, Currents, drew this comment from Jazz Journal's Michael Tucker: 'a patiently and intelligently shaped album […] the currents here are mostly deep and slow-moving, sometimes practically hypnotic in their ebb and flow', and this follow-up recording might be described in just the same way.
To assist him in achieving his often mesmeric effect, Brederode has Swiss clarinettist Claudio Puntin, Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen (something of an ECM regular, having recorded with Trygve Seim and Tord Gustavsen, among others) and another Swiss, Samuel Rohrer, on drums, and they flicker in and out of prominence around and behind his thoughtful piano musings, creating what Brederode calls 'a very natural way of working together … As we play the music one of us may be "featured" or come to the fore in a particular piece, but these things arise spontaneously, and change constantly.'
The material, mostly in-band originals, nine of the album's fourteen pieces by Brederode himself, is typical ECM fare: softly
pattering, lyrically fluent, occasionally rubato excursions hardening from time to time into quietly intense, subtle interaction between players more
interested in slow builds and unusual textures than in outright swing or straightforward propulsiveness.
Those listeners who came out of Tord Gustavsen's recent Cheltenham concert muttering about the difficulty they had staying awake during it will not be any more impressed with Brederode; more patient souls with a meditative streak, however, will find much to engage them in this painstakingly wrought and oddly compelling music.
ECM Records website
No comments:
Post a Comment