ALEX TUOMARILA – Kingdom
Edition: EDN1090
Alex Tuomarila: piano; Mats Eilertsen: double bass; Olavi Louhivuori: drums.
We are very fortunate, in the last few years, to be able to listen for some fine examples of the jazz piano trio and their efforts to push a perennial structure in new directions. Some of these have worked interesting melodic shapes and others have developed danceable rhythmic structures. Few have been able to intertwine rhythm and melody with as much finesse as this trio. Having cut their teeth with, among others, Tomasz Stanko, Tuomarila and Louhivuori are well aware of the ways in which well crafted music can cut straight to the soul. They take on the bulk of the composing duties here, with Eilertsen providing one tune, and Bob Dylan’s ‘The times they are a-changin’ getting a work over.
The take on ‘The times they are a-changin’ works the piece as a lilting, wistful ballad, where the dominant feeling seems to one of regret for the loss of bygone times than the angry call that ‘there’s a battle outside and it is ragin’. In the context of the rest of the songs here, this version works surprisingly well. The whole CD is, according to Tuomarila’s press release, concerned with settling down after years of touring. Perhaps the version of the Dylan song is more about taking stock of life and accepting the change in the times, rather than trying to force the pace.
Tuomarila has a deliciously liquid tone and an effortless ability of shift from gentle ballad to rolling bebop and back in the space of a single tune. As he moves up the gears, Louhivuori has a telepathic ability to keep pace, anticipating the twists and turns of the rhythms, and Eilertsen lays down a superlative bass line that provides a deeply thoughtful counterpoint to the melody lines. Here is a trio that wears its years of working together with a graceful ease and with a strong sense of meshing like a single machine. This is a consummate example of what the contemporary piano trio can do, and what it ought to sound like.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Edition: EDN1090
Alex Tuomarila: piano; Mats Eilertsen: double bass; Olavi Louhivuori: drums.
We are very fortunate, in the last few years, to be able to listen for some fine examples of the jazz piano trio and their efforts to push a perennial structure in new directions. Some of these have worked interesting melodic shapes and others have developed danceable rhythmic structures. Few have been able to intertwine rhythm and melody with as much finesse as this trio. Having cut their teeth with, among others, Tomasz Stanko, Tuomarila and Louhivuori are well aware of the ways in which well crafted music can cut straight to the soul. They take on the bulk of the composing duties here, with Eilertsen providing one tune, and Bob Dylan’s ‘The times they are a-changin’ getting a work over.
The take on ‘The times they are a-changin’ works the piece as a lilting, wistful ballad, where the dominant feeling seems to one of regret for the loss of bygone times than the angry call that ‘there’s a battle outside and it is ragin’. In the context of the rest of the songs here, this version works surprisingly well. The whole CD is, according to Tuomarila’s press release, concerned with settling down after years of touring. Perhaps the version of the Dylan song is more about taking stock of life and accepting the change in the times, rather than trying to force the pace.
Tuomarila has a deliciously liquid tone and an effortless ability of shift from gentle ballad to rolling bebop and back in the space of a single tune. As he moves up the gears, Louhivuori has a telepathic ability to keep pace, anticipating the twists and turns of the rhythms, and Eilertsen lays down a superlative bass line that provides a deeply thoughtful counterpoint to the melody lines. Here is a trio that wears its years of working together with a graceful ease and with a strong sense of meshing like a single machine. This is a consummate example of what the contemporary piano trio can do, and what it ought to sound like.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
