Known mostly in our minds for his work with English jazz singer Norma Winstone and Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem, this recording which was made by reedist Klaus Gesing over a few days of the middle of September in 2023 at a studio in the Latvian capital Riga, features singer Ana Pilat and the Latvian Radio Big Band.
Pilat’s style is a bit Winstone or Brigitte Beraha-like.
The style on ‘Sisyphus’ is quite doleful and there is an air of melancholia throughout usually carefully gauged and not at all self-indulgent or overly doomy, just thought provoking.
Highlights include ‘Drifter’ and ‘Dance Without Answer’
The longest track is ‘Drifter’ and like other tracks is a Gesing composition.
It has a certain grandeur to it built on a droney brass thick wedge of sound that is strong on tone and mood.
There’s a shorter version of ‘Drifter’ on Distances, Gesing’s acclaimed record with Winstone and Glauco Venier issued in 2008.
Song and Dance also includes the title track of another ECM album, Dance Without Answer.
Overall it’s more than OK. At least 3 or 4 tracks work well but not everything is compelling and ‘Lullaby for Max’ is too sentimental.
Specialising in soprano saxophone and bass clarinet Düsseldorf born 56 year old Gesing is worth hearing on masterpiece recordings of Brahem’s most recently Souvenance issued a decade ago.
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