Daily jazz blog, Marlbank

Live album, top Eurojazz & album of the week: Tomasz Stańko Quartet, September Night, ECM *****

The performance element of September Night - the accidentalism of a night that is long gone when something particular somehow happened - was created then. We only in the wider world know it now. Maybe you were even there in the Munich concert hall …

Published: 24 Jun 2024. Updated: 10 days.

The performance element of September Night - the accidentalism of a night that is long gone when something particular somehow happened - was created then. We only in the wider world know it now. Maybe you were even there in the Munich concert hall that night 20 years ago. Since then Stańko departed this mortal coil in 2018 and this is a gift from beyond the grave with some of the musicians who understood him best in the stirred by Soul of Things and Suspended Night period of his life out on the road - Europe's greatest living jazz pianist Marcin Wasilewski (reason for saying that, En Attendant) here with double bassist Sławomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michał son of Henryk ''More Love'' Miśkiewicz. Certainly an instant classic - live album of the week and one of Manfred Eicher's best productions in a long while and of course his bar is set exceptionally high. What's here is up there in the Stańko pantheon with Leosia, the trumpeter's greatest album and all the more remarkable given that September Night was created live. Interestingly even Leosia's magical 'Euforila' seems reborn given Sławek's ability to seize the day. Sheer poeticism - in dreams - is what makes this album so miraculous above all else and surely the ultimate aspiration of any aesthete.

Tags: Reviews

Track of the week: A House Is Not A Home (Blue Engine), Sarah Hanahan

A room is still a room: Drawn from the Jackie McLean-esque US soulful alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan's Among Giants backed superbly by drummer Jeff 'Tain' Watts along with hip pianist Marc Cary and ex-Jay Mac bassist Nat Reeves who leads things off …

Published: 24 Jun 2024. Updated: 12 days.

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A room is still a room: Drawn from the Jackie McLean-esque US soulful alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan's Among Giants backed superbly by drummer Jeff 'Tain' Watts along with hip pianist Marc Cary and ex-Jay Mac bassist Nat Reeves who leads things off here. This version of the searing Burt Bacharach classic 'A House is not a Home' sung miraculously by Luther Vandross is notable for Hanahan's scalding, very compelling timbre and outrageous sense of tender power. It then translates the song's lyrical strength into standalone instrumental grace sensitively comped by Cary. He chooses all the best chords and imbues them with his unique study of touch and sense of immaculate timing.