Record Reviews

ALBERT KARCH / YUTA OMINO ~ HARE ALPAKA 006 ~ POLAND ~ Free Jazz / Improvised Music Recorded: 2017 Released: 2018 This is the debut album by the quartet co-led by Polish Jazz drummer Albert KarchFind albums by this artist and Japanese bassist Yuta OminoFind albums by this artist, which also includes pianist Momo OtaniFind albums by this artist and trumpeter Hiroyuki IshikawaFind albums by this artist. The album presents twelve original pieces, three by Karch, two by Omino and one by Otani, and the remaining six pieces are improvised (implicitly credited to all the quartet members). The music presents two quite contrasting facets: the three opening composed pieces and the closing piece are quite mainstream Jazz oriented, whereas the improvised pieces and the rest of the composed pieces clearly tend towards Free Jazz / Improvised Music. Therefore as a whole the album slightly lacks focus and clear musical direction. However considering the fact that it was recorded in a one-day recording session during the quartet´s tour of Japan, it is certainly a worthy and interesting effort. It is obvious that Ishikawa is the more improvisation inclined musician, as Otani is often absent during the improvised pieces and plays melodically at all times. The rhythm section plays splendidly from start to finish, doing a perfect job both in the more melodic pieces and during the improvised ones. Overall this is a most welcome meeting between Polish and Japanese musicians, which will hopefully continue to flourish in the future and encourage additional musicians from both countries to play together. Definitely worth investigating!

Updated: 14/09/2018Posted: 14/09/2018

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