1. Easy Healing
2. No Pope No Party
3. Alobar e Kudra
4. Las Hortensias
5. Vale
6. Teddy
7. Ismene
8. Tales from the Time Loop
9. Joy in Spite of Everything
Stefano Bollani – Piano
Mark Turner – Tenor sax
Bill Frisell – Guitar
Jesper Bodilsen – Double bass
Morten Lund - Drums
When I reviewed a previous ECM album by Stefano Bollani, ( http://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2009/Bollani_1794161.htm), I
used such words as “subdued” and “rarefied” to describe what I felt was a less extrovert performance than we have often received from Stefano. The same is
true of this new CD, where the ECM atmosphere seems to have taken over as it often does, replacing flamboyance with reticence. This doesn’t imply that the
album is not worthwhile: it simply means that we have had more showmanship from Bollani on some past CDs.
The other thing that slightly disconcerts me is the number of ostinati that Bollani’s group uses. The opening Easy Healing is an example, where a
riff continues almost relentlessly. Nevertheless this tune has a pleasing buoyancy, with hints of a West Indian rhythm, underlined by Bill Frisell’s
Caribbean guitar. Tenorist Mark Gardner and bassist Jesper Bodilsen as well as Stefano improvise over the beat of the riff, which passes through various
transformations but keeps returning.
No Pope No Party
uses fractured rhythms rather in the style of Thelonious Monk, and some of it sounds like free improvisation between Bollani and Gardner, and then Bollani
and Frisell. Stefano is at his best when improvising cheerfully with just drums and bass, which get their own solos in turn. Bodilsen and Lund are part of
Bollani’s regular trio and the three men have built up considerable empathy, which is particularly noticeable in the trio tracks.
Aloba e Kudra
is by the trio alone in meditative mood, with sparkling piano from Bollani. Vale is equally pensive but its seemingly fragmentary nature makes it
difficult to grasp, and it only warms up with Mark Gardner’s increasingly muscular solo.
Stefano says that Teddy was inspired by pianist Teddy Wilson. It is a duet for Bollani and Frisell, and it starts off almost sketchily before it
gets itself together rhythmically, with hints of Teddy Wilson in some of the piano playing. Ismene is another thoughtful ballad – this time for
Frisell and the trio, seemingly floating along a placid stream. Tales from the Time Loop introduces Mark Gardner again but it tends to drift until
Bollani enters for a piano solo which somehow injects more direction.
The album closes with the title-track, a playful number by the trio, which displays their togetherness and invention. It provides an antidote to the album
cover, whose mood of disheartening catastrophe is outweighed by Bollani’s cheerful approach to life, and to music. Stefano proves that music can give us
joy – in spite of everything.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
ECM 378 4459
