Cantando
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Artist: Bobo Stenson List Price: £14.99 Our Price: £11.98 You Save: £3.01 (20%) Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours  |
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 | Product Details: Release Date: 25 August 2008 Record Label: ECM Rating:  Sales Rank: 2295 | | Look for similar items by category:
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| | Customer Reviews: Another important album by the most important piano trio today (06 January 2009)As I said in my review of Stenson's 2 CD "Serenity", Bobo Stenson is the most important pianist and trio leader in not just jazz, but in music, since Bill Evans. Where even a Bill Evans piano trio and a Mozart piano trio are still just that, piano trios, Stenson's aren't. His trios are perfectly balanced between all three musicians. Drums and bass are just as important as the piano. Stenson's playing might dominate one piece, drums or bass are bound to dominate the next one. Often, it's impossible to make out any dominating instrument. It's not by chance that his conspirators in his musical adventures usually contribute more material than he does himself. This release features a new drummer, Jon Fält. He plays on bass drum, toms and snare more than either Jon Christensen or Paul Motian like to do. This all but forces Anders Jormin (who is one of the finest bassists of not just his, but of any generation) to play even more powerfully. This occasionally shifts the scales in favor of Stenson's sidemen. This is a good thing, because it does lend a (slightly) new sound to the band and diversity (among recordings) is an important factor. Even though there still is that same (some say Northern) feel of space and focus on detail, that is characteristic of Stenson's recordings (and has, of course, become characteristic of a generation of musicians, usually releasing their work on ECM), but there is also some of the most dynamic, intense, most "happening" music on this recording. Another truly rewarding album by one of the very few the true masters of the art. Get this Album (11 November 2008)Must have. It's a great album. Not much else to write that has not been written. Great trio and must have album songs and praises (23 October 2008)As with the case of fellow veteran and former Stenson collaborator Charles Lloyd, 2008 has seen Bobo Stenson release his finest album in at least a decade. "Cantando" has the purity of sound and consistency of 2000's "Serenity" and the diversity of 2005's "Goodbye" but where the latter's mix of originals, classical pieces, the odd standard and Latin numbers was uneven, here it gels wonderfully. Indeed there are few groups who move at all from the elegant tango of Astor Piazolla's "Chiquilin de Bachin" to the extended improvisation of the 13 minute "Pages" to the restless energy of Ornette Coleman's "A Fixed Goal" to the Alban Berg-composed "Liebesode" and none of whom I can think who do such with such verve and ease. As before, Stenson's piano playing has a crystalline quality, full and inventive without being showy or fussy. Anders Jormin remains the perfect foil deploying his signature use of bowed bass on a number of tracks. Much has been written of young drummer Jon Falt who has performed live in the Stenson trio for a number of years but makes his recording debut follows in the intimidating lineage of Jon Christenson and Paul Motian. Suffice to say that he more than matches his illustrious predecessors. Despite the sustained excellence, the highlights are the two versions of "Song of Ruth", by Petr Eben who, until his recent death, was the most prominent contemporary Czech composer if not the leading cultural figure in his country. The interpretations of the track originally scored for organ and soprano are full of yearning and atmosphere and provide a perfect snapshot of the interplay between piano, bass and percussion and the fact that the trio never ceases to sing throughout this wonderful release. |
