JASPER BLOM QUARTET - Polyphony
Whirlwind Recordings
Jasper Blom - tenor; Bert Joris - trumpet; Jesse Van Ruller - guitar; Frans Van Der Hoeven - bass; Martijn Vink - drums; Nils Wogram - trombone (disc 2)
Blom is a well respected figure in jazz in the Netherlands and across Europe, and this tow-CD set presents him live in Amsterdam’s famous Bimhuis concert hall with his regular band of more then twenty years, and the addition of two guest soloists, Bert Joris and trombonist Nils Wolgram. It has become something of a policy of Blom’s to augment his stable quartet unit with additional players, giving the twin advantages of the familiarity of long association with the freshness of new input, and this release enables us to see how the approach works in practice. Joris’s more restrained lyricism contrasts with the earthier bluesy growls of Wolgram’s trombone in ‘Decidophobia’, but the empathetic interplay between the other four players is a constant across over 100 minutes of music.
‘Waltz For Magnus’ lilts along attractively, until Blom’s fierce chops raise the temperature; ‘Guidonean Hand’ has a Chet Baker sound from Joris over a mid-tempo swing, while ‘Virelai’ introduces an unexpectedly medieval sound to a storming jazz-rock hybrid. The quartet are flexible and supremely accomplished; their longstanding relationship is audible in the way they can pay attention to the smallest detail of texture and dynamic on tunes like the restrained ‘Fontayne’. There’s a constant playful return to the medieval concept on the first disc, evidenced by titles like ‘Beatus Vir’ and ‘The Lady And The Unicorn’ - ‘Ciconia’ has a jaunty percussiveness derived from the 14th Century Belgian composer of the same name. The second, trombone disc has less of the medieval and more fusion style quirkiness that edges towards the Zappa-esque at times in tunes like ‘Running Gag’ and the technically demanding ‘Least Of Your Worries’, though there is also space for some dreamy ambience in ‘Nancy In The Sky’. The levels of musical skill on display are very high, and the realisation of the varied and challenging material is consistently successful. though even in the most hectic moments there is a European reserve that straight up jazz heads may find hard to penetrate.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Whirlwind Recordings
Jasper Blom - tenor; Bert Joris - trumpet; Jesse Van Ruller - guitar; Frans Van Der Hoeven - bass; Martijn Vink - drums; Nils Wogram - trombone (disc 2)
Blom is a well respected figure in jazz in the Netherlands and across Europe, and this tow-CD set presents him live in Amsterdam’s famous Bimhuis concert hall with his regular band of more then twenty years, and the addition of two guest soloists, Bert Joris and trombonist Nils Wolgram. It has become something of a policy of Blom’s to augment his stable quartet unit with additional players, giving the twin advantages of the familiarity of long association with the freshness of new input, and this release enables us to see how the approach works in practice. Joris’s more restrained lyricism contrasts with the earthier bluesy growls of Wolgram’s trombone in ‘Decidophobia’, but the empathetic interplay between the other four players is a constant across over 100 minutes of music.
‘Waltz For Magnus’ lilts along attractively, until Blom’s fierce chops raise the temperature; ‘Guidonean Hand’ has a Chet Baker sound from Joris over a mid-tempo swing, while ‘Virelai’ introduces an unexpectedly medieval sound to a storming jazz-rock hybrid. The quartet are flexible and supremely accomplished; their longstanding relationship is audible in the way they can pay attention to the smallest detail of texture and dynamic on tunes like the restrained ‘Fontayne’. There’s a constant playful return to the medieval concept on the first disc, evidenced by titles like ‘Beatus Vir’ and ‘The Lady And The Unicorn’ - ‘Ciconia’ has a jaunty percussiveness derived from the 14th Century Belgian composer of the same name. The second, trombone disc has less of the medieval and more fusion style quirkiness that edges towards the Zappa-esque at times in tunes like ‘Running Gag’ and the technically demanding ‘Least Of Your Worries’, though there is also space for some dreamy ambience in ‘Nancy In The Sky’. The levels of musical skill on display are very high, and the realisation of the varied and challenging material is consistently successful. though even in the most hectic moments there is a European reserve that straight up jazz heads may find hard to penetrate.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
