Safe Place sees brothers Julian Wasserfuhr (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Roman Wasserfuhr (piano) joined by cellist Jörg Brinkmann for a set of originals played with the intimacy of a family fireside chat. It’s the trio’s second recording after Relaxin’ in Ireland (2018), this time with tenor saxophonist Paul Heller on two tracks.

The flugelhorn’s naturally mellow and dark tone sits well with the album’s relaxed vibe. But even when Julian is playing rapid flurries on the naturally brighter trumpet, his tone is soft and warm. Roman matches the mood on piano, the many years of their fraternal and musical relationship audible in the ease with which they play together.

The cello works so well in this chamber-jazz environment it’s surprising there aren’t more jazz cellists. For a start, the cello’s range of over four octaves means it can comfortably access the register of a double bass and a viola: something Brinkmann exploits by playing pizzicato in the low register to emulate a bass, and bowing in higher registers for playing a melody or lyrical solo.

All tracks are Wasserfuhr originals, apart from a version of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” that begins in a sombre mood but builds to a lively trumpet solo, before melting away to a quiet trio finish. The overall mood of the album is lyrical, peaceful jazz that occasionally drifts into more classical-sounding territory, for example the two Spanish-titled tracks “Movimento” (“movement”) and “El Caballo Valiente” (“the brave horse”), both of which begin with the melody played on bowed cello.

Paul Heller expands the tonal palette on “Solitude” (inspired by the isolation and loneliness people felt during Covid) with an expressive tenor saxophone solo, and on “El Caballo Valiente” with both a counter-melody and solo. Heller has had a long tenure in the WDR Big Band and cites Johnny Griffin as a major influence, and there’s a sense of that in his metal-mouthpiece tone, rapid flourishes and use of growl – a sense of raw power throttled to maintain the mellow mood.

The only other expansion on the trio format is Roman’s overdubbed bass and drums on “Luzifer”, a piece inspired by Julian’s concern for his ailing cat, whose mood is set by glacially sparse piano and cello harmonics before bass, cymbal splashes and subtle brushwork add ballast under Julian’s flugelhorn.

The title Safe Place suggests music that takes the listener to a place of comfort and reassurance, a brief fulfilled by this quietly charming album.

from https://ukjazznews.com