Depart 2008 Mountain Messenger

Genre: Jazz
Rate: 128 kbps CBR / 44100
Time: 00:56:44
Size: 51,87 MB



The histories of the players who make up the powerhouse trio Depart are distinguished, but give only a small clue to the nature of the music they offer on Mountain Messenger or its predecessor, Reloaded (ACT Music, 2006), the group's debut.

Austrian saxophonist Harry Sokal and the Swiss rhythm team of bassist Heiri Kanzig and drummer Jojo Mayer have all, together and separately, been members of Mattias Ruegg's Vienna Art Orchestra. Sokal has also played with pianist Carla Bley and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Kanzig with trumpeter Art Farmer and France's Orchestre National de Jazz, and Mayer with pianist Monty Alexander and his own band Prohibited Beatz.

The clue is Mayer's Prohibited Beatz. On Mountain Messenger, as on Reloaded before it, Depart play a raucous, hard rocking and even harder swinging, open-ended collision of blues, R&B, hard bop and free improv, propelled by Kanzig's murderous ostinatos and Mayer's explosive post-rock beats (and leavened by the occasional ballad and re-arranged Swiss yodel song).

You'd call it groove music if it wasn't for the giddy rhythmic invention which Kanzig and Mayer bring to the occasion, and for the mainly acoustic nature of the line-up—and above all for the presence of Sokal, who performs in a manner which owes something to King Curtis and the old-time honking and screaming tenor men, but a lot more to the sound and improvising style of Sonny Rollins.

Playing mainly tenor—sometimes embellished by multi-tracking, a harmonizer or guitar-like tone distortion, and staying on-mike for most of the session—Sokal thrills as much for the consistent inventiveness of his improvising, which like Rollins' is playful, theme-led and motivic, as for its ferocity, funk and primal, testifying impact.

Most of the tunes were written by Kanzig, who also re-arranged the two traditional Swiss folk tunes. Sokal co-wrote another two, Mayer wrote one. The covers are Holland/Dozier/Holland's "I'm A Road Runner," played by Sokal like Junior Walker on a headful of speed, and Cahn/Brodsky's pretty "Be My Love" (which at less than two minutes is essentially a divertissement between the hard driving "Better Report" and "Slice Of Bread," the latter a calypso on which Sokal stirs particularly strong comparisons with Rollins).

It's refreshingly hard to categorize the music on Mountain Messenger. But it's undeniably affective and exciting stuff, and practically guaranteed to raise both a smile and your feet. (http://www.allaboutjazz.com)



Tracklist:

01 - Slam The Door Stewart 04:40

02 - I'm A Road Runner 04:21

03 - Wenn Min Schatz Go Fuetere Goht 04:22

04 - Prospection 06:47

05 - Night Breeze 04:39

06 - Damenwahl 04:13

07 - Hip Pop Tamus 04:05

08 - Better Report 06:21

09 - Be My Love 01:46

10 - Slice Of Bread 05:01

11 - Mountain Messenger 04:30

12 - Und Wenn's E Mol Ober Isch 05:59





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Depart 2006 Reloaded

Genre: Jazz
Rate: 262 kbps VBR / 44100
Time: 00:49:53
Size: 91,21 MB



Born in Vienna in 1954, the saxophonist Harry Sokal has developed a considerable reputation both as an improviser and as an ensemble player. From 1979 to 1999 he was a member of the Art Farmer Quintet; since 1977 he has played with the Vienna Art Orchestra. That he could make important contributions in two such musically different contexts (he has also gigged with both Wynton Marsalis and Carla Bley!) says much for his flexibility and his technical skills. Both are much in evidence on this new CD.

It reunites a trio – Depart – which played with great success between 1985 and 1984. Depart’s other members are Swiss, bassist Heiri Känzig and drummer Jojo Mayer. Both are formidable musicians and can similarly draw on very varied musical backgrounds. Känzig also played with Farmer and the Vienna Art Orchestra. He has appeared regularly with musicians such as Kenny Wheeler and Didier Lockwood. A musician of eclectic tastes – and an interesting writer – he was the driving force behind the recent coming together of musicians from Austria and Switzerland with performers from Central Asia, the ‘Thien Shan-Schweiz-Express’. Drummer Jojo Mayer’s jazz credentials include a long spell with pianist Monty Alexander; based in New York since 1991, Mayer works in a huge range of musical contexts – including computer-generated groove music - far beyond the narrower confines of jazz.

The music on this CD, though informed by the eclectic interests and experiences of the three performers, belongs pretty firmly in the jazz tradition. ‘Du liebä Bueb von Ämmital’ (‘Sweet Boy from the Emmental’) may be based on a Swiss folk song, but has the infectious rhythms of one of Sonny Rollins’ jazz calypsos. ‘Mingus’, unsurprisingly, pays audible tribute to the compositional style of the great bassist and the ‘Eddie’ of ‘One for Eddie Who?’ sounds like Eddie Harris – an impression reinforced by Sokal’s use of the harmonizer. The standard ‘They Say It’s Spring’ gets a lovely performance which nods to the whole tradition of jazz ballad playing that descends from Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young.

The intuitive interplay between the members of the trio is impressive, and all three also take their opportunities as soloists with panache and concision. A thoroughly enjoyable album of high-class sax-led trio jazz, which should interest anyone who enjoys the post-Coltrane approach to the jazz tradition of, say, Joe Lovano. (Glyn Pursglove)



Tracklist:

01 - Timeless Dreams 05:21



02 - Du Lieba Bueb Vom Ammital 05:14



03 - Magic Transition 04:28

04 - Chluppli Groove 04:50

05 - Mingus 05:47

06 - Drei Im Quadrat 04:24

07 - Another World 03:54

08 - One For Eddie Who? 04:42

09 - Funky Fun-Key 04:23

10 - Bassaxunison 03:20

11 - They Say It's Spring 03:30





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