Jakob Bro – ‘Taking Turns’

While all of the seven pieces are composed by Jakob Bro, their interpretation is arrived at jointly, with each of the players combining to create an emphatically ego-less feel that proves very winning. The stylistic roots definitely owe something to drummer Paul Motian’s trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, which treated often familiar tunes with great freedom amid acres of acoustic space, and who Bro has recalled seeing in New York and marvelling at such unforced mastery. The presence of the legendary Lee Konitz – a great hero of Bro’s, who is heard playing soprano sax as well as alto – also inevitably recalls the influence of various historic cool school recordings, and perhaps that whole alternative tradition of jazz aesthetics that’s sometimes traced back to Lennie Tristano.

Whatever the antecedents, ’Taking Turns’ is a landmark recording, even if that landmark should be a decade in the past. The influence of Bill Frisell is also a double one, as Jakob Bro is a notable follower of the older guitarist, to the extent that it’s difficult to tell one from the other. The less-is-more approach and a penchant for pedal-driven atmospherics that Frisell has said owes something his admiration for the ambient recordings of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, are significant features here, heard to superb effect on the final track, ‘Mar Del Plata’. It’s a gorgeous tune led by the sound of two sinuously entwining electric guitars, and on which Konitz does not appear to play, leaving the field even more open than usual. Jason Moran – as throughout here – is content to pick out a few delicate and entirely congruent piano patterns that greatly enhance the peaceful and meditative audio landscape.

Elsewhere, Konitz plays a lot and sounds absolutely great, his trademark style relatively intact at the advanced age of 86. He died six years after the recording, in 2020. The album’s second track, ‘Haiti’, features Konitz playing soprano sax against a very West African-sounding rhythmic backing, and sounding perfectly at home, while his solo on the opener, ‘Black is All Colors At Once’ is a lyrical gem. That the players sound so good together must owe a huge debt to the rhythm team of Thomas Morgan on double bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. In apparent lock-step throughout, they never force the pace or depart from a sympathetic background role, while when listened to intently one grows aware of how much artistry it takes to appear so self-effacing. This may well be one of the albums of the year, ten years late.

Release Date  29 Nov 2024

from https://ukjazznews.com