Punkt.Vrt.Plastik, Kaja Draksler, Petter Eldh, Christian Lillinger – Somit (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 45:34 minutes | 532 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Intakt
Kaja Draksler, Petter Eldh and Christian Lillinger are among the most thrilling, deep, and versatile figures to emerge in Europe over the last decade and the music of the trio is nothing less than a hybrid of personalities largely unimaginable if one examined the work of the players outside of this configuration. They knew they had something special right away. Lillinger and Eldh have been working together for much of the last decade, forming an implacable bond within the wildly agile quartet Amok Amor with trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Wanja Slavin. “We’ve really found a way to morph and stretch forms and groove, and I feel there’s a very strong core between us,” says the drummer. “And Kaja is able to avoid that and deal with it at the same, which means she is able to shape or color things in her own way.”
(more…)
Michael Wollny with Emile Parisien, Tim Lefebvre & Christian Lillinger – XXXX (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:44 minutes | 860 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The beasts are loose! At the end of 2019, just a few months before the curtain fell over the world, pianist Michael Wollny (who has gone electric for this album), saxophonist Émile Parisien, bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Christian Lillinger all entered the A-Trane club in Berlin with no set-list and no roadmap. Over the course of eight sets, these four fascinating, crazy, contemporary jazz scientists conversed, provoked, fought, embraced, and entwined. What they created here was electro, krautrock, free, progressive – it was more than simply jazz. The sound defies classification, and maybe it’s better that way. With the help of producer Jason Kingsland, who mainly deals in rock productions (Kaiser Chiefs, Band of Horses, Belle and Sebastian), they turned almost eight hours of live recording into 45 minutes of studio material. The result is a fascinating experience. Naturally, XXXX is rather less accessible than Sidney Bechet’s Petite fleur. But the listener can’t help but be carried away by the generosity of these wild exchanges and the energy of the four musicians who never fall into the trap of a complacent, inward-looking jam. Sensitive souls steer clear! Curious souls, get stuck in! – Marc Zisman
Read more