DOMINIK SCHÜRMANN TRIO - Moons Ago
Mons Records
Max Ionata, tenor saxophone; Yuri Storione, piano; Dominik Schürmann, bass; Janis Jaunalksnis, drums
Recorded at Hammer Studio, Basel, Switzerland, 13/14 November 2021
Dominik Schürmann seems to be keen on focussing on ‘smooth’ jazz, as all of the tracks on Moons Ago certainly fit this description, and he composed them all. His contact with music and particularly with jazz started at a very young age. He commenced with piano lessons at the age of six before changing to the bass later. He quickly became a fixture in the Swiss jazz scene and now works regularly with internationally renowned musicians.
The quartet manages his compositions extremely well, bringing a soft, silky-smooth texture to the performance that admirably suits the lush, old-school ballads, the Latin tangs and the hard-bop era traditions that chase each other’s tails. The key element of this style is the saxophone line, which runs throughout, delivered magnificently by Italian-based saxophonist, Max Ionata. Schürmann found him to be the ideal tenor saxophone player for his compositions, praising his sensitive and soft, full sound. These provided exactly the timbre that he sought.
Schürmann had also chosen Italian pianist Yuri Storione for the band, his inspiring talent and commanding sense of musical vernacular had already stimulated interest across his seemingly inexhaustible output and had brought him both recognition and approval. Latvian Janis Jaunalksnis is a responsive drummer, who listens to his fellow musicians before replying to their play and then in an appropriate, adroit and sensitive manner.
Can anybody not refer to the Covid pandemic? Track 2, The End of a Bug Affair, of course recalls Sinatra’s The End of a Love Affair from the 1959 album Close to You. Dominik Schürmann has suggested that “… the song conveys a certain melancholy, but also hope and the confidence that one day things will improve.” I have to wonder, though, if it would have carried that thought to me, if I hadn’t seen it first in writing.
Moons Ago is very smooth jazz. Very easy listening.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Mons Records
Max Ionata, tenor saxophone; Yuri Storione, piano; Dominik Schürmann, bass; Janis Jaunalksnis, drums
Recorded at Hammer Studio, Basel, Switzerland, 13/14 November 2021
Dominik Schürmann seems to be keen on focussing on ‘smooth’ jazz, as all of the tracks on Moons Ago certainly fit this description, and he composed them all. His contact with music and particularly with jazz started at a very young age. He commenced with piano lessons at the age of six before changing to the bass later. He quickly became a fixture in the Swiss jazz scene and now works regularly with internationally renowned musicians.
The quartet manages his compositions extremely well, bringing a soft, silky-smooth texture to the performance that admirably suits the lush, old-school ballads, the Latin tangs and the hard-bop era traditions that chase each other’s tails. The key element of this style is the saxophone line, which runs throughout, delivered magnificently by Italian-based saxophonist, Max Ionata. Schürmann found him to be the ideal tenor saxophone player for his compositions, praising his sensitive and soft, full sound. These provided exactly the timbre that he sought.
Schürmann had also chosen Italian pianist Yuri Storione for the band, his inspiring talent and commanding sense of musical vernacular had already stimulated interest across his seemingly inexhaustible output and had brought him both recognition and approval. Latvian Janis Jaunalksnis is a responsive drummer, who listens to his fellow musicians before replying to their play and then in an appropriate, adroit and sensitive manner.
Can anybody not refer to the Covid pandemic? Track 2, The End of a Bug Affair, of course recalls Sinatra’s The End of a Love Affair from the 1959 album Close to You. Dominik Schürmann has suggested that “… the song conveys a certain melancholy, but also hope and the confidence that one day things will improve.” I have to wonder, though, if it would have carried that thought to me, if I hadn’t seen it first in writing.
Moons Ago is very smooth jazz. Very easy listening.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
