“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
– Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Taking inspiration from the Japanese jazz loving novelist Haruki Murakami works wonders on these at times moving, tender and ingeniously scaled tunes that work on both a small group level – like a band within a band Russian doll fashion – and when a switch is turned as a powerful big band statement.
Garlanded Kenny Wheeler inspired German trumpeter Frederik Köster has worked with tabla icon Trilok Gurtu and pianist Sebastian Sternal. In what here must surely be something of a career high working with NDR Big Band conducted by Geir Lysne there’s great elegance in the playing. Soloists include the great English trumpeter Percy Pursglove and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel makes a big contribution. It’s the small details that count as much as the bigger set pieces whether you count these as the quiet woodwind build up transition passages on a piece like ‘Aomame and Tengo’ or elsewhere in the extensive mood painting that goes on.
Close your eyes and picture the Murakami character Aomame standing on a brutal road with a gun between her lips. She yearns to meet her beloved Tengo only to have him slip away at the last minute. The followers of the cult leader she assassinated are determined to track her down and she has been living in hiding. Can they find each other before they themselves are found? The vivid scenes the writing is capable of establishing are striking. But the brassier segments of the album like ‘HB Wonderland’ are more filler. Nevertheless they serve their own purpose and don’t forget to allow some sentimental fast swinging fervour to become part of the broader hugely jazz centred picture. There’s a lot here, a kind of jazz noir that stokes the imagination – it’s a real achievement and is in no way a self indulgent period piece given the progressive chamber jazz originality that lies at the heart of the compositions.
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