Record Reviews

NICOLAS SIMION ~ TRANSYLVANIAN JAZZ 7DREAMS ~ ROMANIA ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2009 Released: 2009 As the title suggests, this is a Jazz-World Fusion album by Romanian saxophonist / composer Nicolas SimionFind albums by this artist, who revisits his musical roots combining them with his extensive experience of playing Jazz music. Simion´s discography includes several earlier Jazz-World titles, but this one seems to be the most profound attempt to present the music of the Balkans in a Jazz context, performed by a superb ensemble, which in fact includes more folklore instruments than traditional Jazz instruments. Even Simion himself plays the caval (a typical Balkan / Turkish end-blown flute producing an enchanting sound), in addition to the reeds he uses normally. The album includes twelve compositions, eleven of which were composed by Simion and one is an adaptation of the violin standard "Hora Staccato" by Romanian violin virtuoso / composer Grigoras DinicuFind albums by this artist. The ensemble performing the music is a septet and includes violinist Zoltan LantosFind albums by this artist, accordionist Martin LubenovFind albums by this artist, cymbalon (an East European version of hammer dulcimer) player Giani LincanFind albums by this artist, guitarist Sorin RomanescuFind albums by this artist, bassist Martin GjakonovskiFind albums by this artist and drummer Boris PetrovFind albums by this artist. The music is simply mind-blowing from start to finish. Simion´s captivating melodies are perfect vehicles for the improvised solos, with the Jazz and Folklore elements perfectly balanced, which is usually the biggest problem with other attempts to create such cross-genre music. The music is quite complex and sophisticated at times, but the overall atmosphere of the album manages to overcome all difficulties and makes the music sound groovy and extremely listenable / likeable. The individual performances are simply stellar, and the leader never stops to amaze, switching from one instrument to another with ease and elegance. This is definitely one of the best and most aesthetically pleasing attempts to organically combine Jazz and World Music elements that I have encountered and I wholeheartedly recommend it to every connoisseur of universally good music, regardless of where it comes from. Superb stuff!

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