Five Worthwhile Releases From Early 2025

These are short reviews of several albums released during the first months of 2025.

Pablo Tarantino
Charnia
PKmusik
2024

Drummer Pablo Tarantino is originally from Argentina but currently resides in Germany. The music on his debut CD moves with the slow grace and spacious beauty of some of ECM's releases. It is dominated by impressionistic romantic sweeps coming from the combination of Roman Polatzky's alto sax and Emmanuel Walter's piano. The two excel as they progress through the grand creep of "The Uproot" and "Song for Terezinha." The Mediterranean intensity of "Train by the Sea" and the dreamlike slow heat of "Canto a la Telesita" are also stand-out examples of the atmospheric beauty this group conveys.

Claire Ritter
Songs Of Lumiere
Zoning Records
2025

This is pianist's Claire Ritter first recording since 2019. Nine of the tracks comprise her suite, "The Songs of Lumiere" while the rest are either older compositions or well-known standards. The album sways back and forth between romantic delicacy and sporty flash. Originals like "Color the Dream" and "In a Sky Full of Rainbows" have an ethereal charm which contrasts nicely with the stately Latin rhythm of "River of Joy" and the formal drama of "Soul of the Grass." The outside selections, such as "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Let's Do It," bring occasional sparks of fun to the recital.

Jessica Jones
Edible Flowers
Reva Records
2025

This two-tenor quartet features Jessica Jones and her husband, Tony Jones on the twin saxophones. The band maintains a good balance between the boisterous rhythms supplied by Stomu Takeishi's bass and Deszon Claiborne's drums and the cool wailing of the saxophones. Takeishi's bruising bass lines play nicely off the Jones' jaunty strolls through "Bird's Word," "Higher Than" and "Manhattan," whether the couple is harmonizing or playing in unison. The best track is the band's slow-building march through Jackie McLean's "Little Melonae" with a thick, fibrous bass sound and the saxophones stretching out in impassioned solo howls.

Roberto Magris
Freedom Is Peace
JMood Records
2024

This album captures the 2024 reunion gig of Europlane, a band of European musicians led by pianist Roberto Magris that had not played together since 2003. Recorded at a festival in Austria, the group plays modern mainstream jazz with a confident swagger. "Freedom Is Peace" and "The Isle of Nowhere" have the snap and energy of top-shelf Jazz Messengers with an extra measure of unbridled fire out of the horns. Magris gets to show his elegant Ellingtonian piano chops on "Something To Save From EU (You)" and the saxophones swing with a vengeance on "Loose Fit." The group shows its range by snaking effectively through the Latin rhythm of "When You Touch Me" and the sighing ballad, "Laverne" which also features lovely soprano sax work from Tony Lakatos.

Jerry Kalaf
Safe Travels
Self Produced
2025

This lovely chamber jazz album combines a piano trio led by drummer Jerry Kalaf with a string quartet known as ATLYS. All the music is written by Kalaf and arranged by Doug Walter to strike a nice balance between the strings and the trio. The opening "263 Beacon" is a gently swinging merger of the two elements while on "Bailing" the piano trio sets a turbulent mood enhanced by the quartet's sympathetic accompaniment. Tom Ranier's romantic piano rustles through "Safe Travels" and Trey Henry's bass takes the spotlight on the strolling bounce of "Shearing." Both are enhanced greatly by the background shiver of the strings. This album has something of the sly charm of the Modern Jazz Quartet but gets additional depth from the presence of the string quartet.

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Tracks and Personnel

Charnia

Tracks: Charnia; Alma Canta; Song for Terezinha; The End of Evolution; The Uproot; Accept & Surrender; The Right Path; Train by the Sea; Canto a la Telesita

Personnel: Pablo Tarantino: drums; Roman Polatzky: alto saxophone; Emmanuel Walter: piano; Max Muller: double bass.

Songs of Lumiere

Tracks: In a Sky Full of Rainbows; Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love; The Cloud & the Moonbeam; I Wish You Love (take 1); Color the Dream; Painting the Stars; Girl with the Tattooed Eyes; Soul of the Grass; Waltzing Hope; When You Wish Upon a Star; Prelude to the Angels; River of Joy; Crazeology; Dancing with the Egrets; Greener Than Blue; I Wish You Love (take 2).

Personnel: Claire Ritter: piano.

Edible Flowers

Tracks: Manhattan; Bird's Word; No Relation / Just Us; Little Melonae; Higher Than; Soft Target.

Personnel: Jessica Jones, Tony Jones: tenor sax; Stomu Takeishi: bass; Deszon Claiborne: drums.

Freedom Is Peace

Tracks: Freedom is Peace; The Island of Nowhere; Malay Tone Poem; Laverne; Something To Save From EU (You); When You Touch Me; Loose Fit; Hip! For The Conference.

Personnel: Roberto Magris: piano; Tony Lakatos: tenor sax, soprano sax; Florian Brambock: alto sax, baritone sax; Lukas Oravec: trumpet, flugelhorn; Rudi Engel: bass; Gasper Bertoncelj: drums.

Safe Travels

Tracks: 263 Beacon; Another Summer; At The End Of The Day; Bailing; Epilogue; Perspectives; Safe Travels; Shearing.

Personnel: Jerry Kalaf: drums; Tom Ranier: piano; Trey Henry: bass; ATYLS: Sabrina Tabby, Jinty McTavish: violin; Erin Rafferty: viola; Genevieve Tabby: cello.

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