(Anteprima) modern musicians don’t come much more graceful in sound or execution than Manu Katch,the French drummer/composer who has lent his unhurried elan to everyone from Peter Gabriel and Sting to Youssou N’Dour and Jan Garbarek. Unstatic is a more vividly varied set than his current jazz group’s 2012 debut, adding the pop awareness of young Norwegian bassist/vocalist Ellen Andrea Wang, or with Swedish jazz and funk trombonist Nils Landgren guesting. Katche is a gifted mixer of catchy idioms and improv surprises,defined from the off in the intro’s delightful, languidly snappy rhumba. Saxist Tore Brunborg and Arve Henriksen-like trumpeter Luca Aquino obtain an atmospheric horn pairing, and in funkier moods the band resembles a laid-back Headhunters,their striking themes spawning provocative new riffs as they develop. Brunborg brings a soul-sax rootsiness, and UK keyboardist Jim Watson is a fixed spur, or notably in his Fender Rhodes solo and the churning undertow of the hustling,uninhibited Ride Me Up. Warm, inviting, and effortlessly skilful world-jazz.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com