ALVIN QUEEN TRIO - Night Train To Copenhagen
Stunt Records: STUCD 21062
Calle Brickman (piano) Tobias Dall (acoustic bass) Alvin Queen (drums)
Recorded in Elsinore, Denmark on March 22 & 23, 2021.
American drummer Alvin Queen has the distinction of being Oscar Peterson’s drummer on the final tours of the maestro pianists illustrious career. Having, like many of his fellow musician’s, found in Europe a more fertile market for straight ahead jazz than existed in seventies America, Queen emigrated in 1979 finding particularly appreciative audiences in cities like Copenhagen. Hence the title of his latest release as leader which combines a homage to his former employer with his veneration of the Danish capital and its vibrant scene.
Produced by Danish pianist Niels Lan Doky and featuring thirty something Swedish pianist, Brickman and Dane, Tobias Dall on bass this is Queen’s second Stunt album to capitalise on the Peterson connection, `O.P` -A Tribute to Oscar Peterson` having been released in 2018 but with different collaborators. The playlist features tunes drawn from two of Oscar’s most celebrated albums namely `Night Train` of 1963 and `We Get Requests` of the following year, adding an original piece by Lan Doky and a Danish folk tune – which sounds remarkably like a close relation of `Oh Susanna`. These like the plaintive rendition of `Some Other Time`, which closes the session, are all solo piano performances and serve as a pleasant diversion from the trio tracks.
Unlike Queen’s previous pianist, Zikr Romme Larsen, Brickman doesn’t attempt to emulate Peterson’s bravura style, taking a more measured, gentler approach to the music but retaining sufficient dynamism to impart the necessary fizz required of burners like `Night Train`, `C Jam Blues ‘and `Moten Swing` whilst his take on `Days of Wine and Roses` is shorn of its usually lachrymose sentimentality and given a sparkly makeover. Dall’s bass is warm, pliant and elegant in solos whilst Queen strokes, stokes and provokes with silky brushwork, snappy accents and shimmering cymbals, his session honed excellence always evident but never overwhelming.
Some may feel that it’s unnecessary to have further versions of these familiar tunes but just as the gourmand will never pass up another tasty morsel the dedicated jazz fan never tires of a further encounter with the standard repertoire especially when it is interpreted and performed as brilliantly as it is here.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Stunt Records: STUCD 21062
Calle Brickman (piano) Tobias Dall (acoustic bass) Alvin Queen (drums)
Recorded in Elsinore, Denmark on March 22 & 23, 2021.
American drummer Alvin Queen has the distinction of being Oscar Peterson’s drummer on the final tours of the maestro pianists illustrious career. Having, like many of his fellow musician’s, found in Europe a more fertile market for straight ahead jazz than existed in seventies America, Queen emigrated in 1979 finding particularly appreciative audiences in cities like Copenhagen. Hence the title of his latest release as leader which combines a homage to his former employer with his veneration of the Danish capital and its vibrant scene.
Produced by Danish pianist Niels Lan Doky and featuring thirty something Swedish pianist, Brickman and Dane, Tobias Dall on bass this is Queen’s second Stunt album to capitalise on the Peterson connection, `O.P` -A Tribute to Oscar Peterson` having been released in 2018 but with different collaborators. The playlist features tunes drawn from two of Oscar’s most celebrated albums namely `Night Train` of 1963 and `We Get Requests` of the following year, adding an original piece by Lan Doky and a Danish folk tune – which sounds remarkably like a close relation of `Oh Susanna`. These like the plaintive rendition of `Some Other Time`, which closes the session, are all solo piano performances and serve as a pleasant diversion from the trio tracks.
Unlike Queen’s previous pianist, Zikr Romme Larsen, Brickman doesn’t attempt to emulate Peterson’s bravura style, taking a more measured, gentler approach to the music but retaining sufficient dynamism to impart the necessary fizz required of burners like `Night Train`, `C Jam Blues ‘and `Moten Swing` whilst his take on `Days of Wine and Roses` is shorn of its usually lachrymose sentimentality and given a sparkly makeover. Dall’s bass is warm, pliant and elegant in solos whilst Queen strokes, stokes and provokes with silky brushwork, snappy accents and shimmering cymbals, his session honed excellence always evident but never overwhelming.
Some may feel that it’s unnecessary to have further versions of these familiar tunes but just as the gourmand will never pass up another tasty morsel the dedicated jazz fan never tires of a further encounter with the standard repertoire especially when it is interpreted and performed as brilliantly as it is here.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
