Tag Archives: CD Releases

Artist, CD-Reviews

Mette Juul: New York – Copenhagen

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Danish Jazz singer and songwriter Mette Juul released her new EP ‘New York – Copenhagen’ on March 6, 2020. This release is a follow-up on her album ‘Change’ from September 2019, which received and still receives many good reviews internationally and revealed new sides of herself through intimate solo, duo and trio sessions.

‘New York – Copenhagen’ continues with this setup and presents five songs where she is either accompanied by double bass and guitar or guitar only.

The EP was recorded partly in Juul’s own home in Copenhagen and partly in New York and Sweden and the musicians are also either from New York or Scandinavia. The three duets on this recording are all with Mike Moreno from New York and the two trios are with Lars Danielsson (DK/SE) on bass and Per Møllehøj (DK) or Ulf Wakenius (SE) on guitar.

Mette Juul tried to capture the difference between the vibrant energy of New York and the Nordic simplicity and warmth. So let’s listen carefully to these five songs.

The album starts with ‘Some Other Time’ by Leonard Bernstein, a duet between Mette Juul and Mike Moreno, who is responsible for the songs for the category ‘New York’.  This duet is very open in time and transparent in sound. Both musicians have a lot of space and they never get in each other’s way. Mike Moreno’s guitar playing is full of creative ideas and Mette’s voice is clear and precise with just a little vibrato.

‘Skylark’ comes next, again with Mike Moreno on guitar. This song has more drive and impresses with a solo by Mette and Mike in unison and the perfect intonation by Mette Juul over the clustered chords by Mike Moreno.

‘For Jan’ is the next song and we change to Copenhagen with Ulf Wakenius on guitar and Lars Danielsson on double bass. The different spirit of this song comes from the 3/4 time and the dialog between bass and vocals with the guitar adding some soft chord arpeggios.

The album continues with another trio, this time with Per Møllehøj on guitar and again Lars Danielsson on bass.  The song they play is a rather sad version of ‘You Must Believe in Spring’. This sadness comes mainly from Mette Juul’s interpretation. The unspectacular but straight playing of guitar and bass supports this mood perfectly. Really my highlight on the album.

The last song on this EP is called ‘The Peacocks (A Timeless Place) Part 2′ a song which is also found on the album ‘Change’. Mette gets perfect support from Mike Moreno for the difficult melody with whacky intervals. A little fade-out closes the album and leaves us with doubts and hope at the same time, this ambiguity is the major characteristic of this album, not only for the Copenhagen part but also for the songs that refer to New York.

Not the easy listening but the deep musical sense and the perfect balance between voice and guitar makes this album outstanding and unique.

More information about Mette Juul including concert dates (I see that she will play with pianist Søren Bebe) and some interesting videos can be found on her website:
http://www.mette-juul.com/

And here is the complete album on Spotify:

 

Artist, CD-Reviews

Billy Prim: Thalassa

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Today’s album comes from Greek drummer Billy Prim and is called “Thalassa” which is the Greek word for sea. Billy lives and works in Budapest and he recorded this album with some great musicians from Hungary. The line-up is:

  • Attila Blaho – Piano
  • Andor Horváth – Double Bass
  • Júlia Csillag – Voice
  • Áron Turcsányi – Electric Bass
  • Billy Prim – Drums

Billy explained to me the creation-process of this album:  “The whole album is a first take, we did not record any song a second time. At that given moment in my life I had the chance to realize and see the collateral beauty of effortlessness. Each song is not perfectly rehearsed, I wanted to give to every song a real feeling of pure energy and pleasure in our playing.”

The album starts with “Enlightenment” a very impressionistic song with the piano playing steady arpeggios and the drums producing the sound of waves and little stones at the beach.

“Waves of Emotion” is the next song and it stays initially in this impressionistic and melancholic mood, Andor Horváth on double bass enjoys a lot of freedom in his playing. The band increases the intensity and the dynamics at around 5 minutes and reduces volume for a very special bass solo.

Billy produced a nice video for this song:

“Keep the Child Alive in You” picks up much faster after the piano introduction before it switches to a very slow ballad. Áron Turcsányi on electric bass caters for the distinct sound in this song. This song is my personal highlight on the album, it shows perfectly the dynamic range which this band is able to master and you can feel the energy and the pleasure in the playing, which Billy explained.

“Én Felkelék” features singer Júlia Csillag. The melody she sings is a traditional Christian folk-song accompanied by drums and electronic keyboard, a complete different sound and mood but also very atmospheric, not in contrast but in addition to the other songs on the album.

The album closes with “Midnight Sea” returning to the classical piano trio line-up with Andor Horváth on double bass. He is also featured in his song. Piano and some soft drumming prepare the layer on which Andor Horváth improvises rather freely.

Billy Prim with the great support from an outstanding Attila Blaho on piano created a beautiful album that shows all the elements of contemporary European jazz music where a line is drawn from traditional and classical music into improvisational music. Especially Hungary seems to be the place where all those elements are easily accessible and where jazz musicians take advantage of them.

The reaction on the live performances are according to Billy Prim all very positive, even excited. So when being asked if the album shows the same level of spontaneity as the concert it is easy for him to answer with a simple “Yes” because the circumstances of the recording and the live situation during a concert are not really different. Congratulations on this album.

For more information about Billy Prim check out his website:

http://www.billyprim.com/

And here is the complete album on Spotify: