Mount Meander
Confirming that jazz is an universal language, here is a trans-national quartet featuring musicians from Germany, Latvia and Poland, in the two last cases living in Copenhagen. If you don’t recognize the names of these four representatives of a new generation of European musicians, namely Karlis Auzins, Lucas Leidinger, Tomo Jacobson and Thomas Sauerborn, certainly you’ll know some of those with whom they already established exciting partnerships: John Tchicai, Mat Maneri, Lotte Anker, Andrew D’Angelo, Adam Rudolph, Randy Peterson, Kresten Osgood, Sidsel Endresen and Frank Gratkowski. This gives you an idea of what to expect: music with an attitude, and the attitude is to function as one organism. Not a simple gathering of four individuals, but a complete being committed to intuitive and collective free improvisation. Does it mean this is non-idiomatic improvised music, to use the label invented by Derek Bailey? Not quite: the band Mount Meander uses musical idioms to tear down the borders between jazz, the avant-garde, world music, rock and pop, and precisely because this CD isn’t about genres. It’s all about unity, equality, trust and communication. Are you ready for them?
- Pedro Costa
“Ambitious compositions, pushing limits.”
The Best Jazz Albums of 2016 Honorable Mention
(Tom Hull - on the Web : retired Village Voice writer and Jazz Consumer Guide creator- http://tomhull.com/blog/archives/2422-Streamnotes-August-2016.html)
(http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/notes/eoyjazz-16.php)
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“This quartet shows us that there need not be a compromise when it comes to jazz that is both bold and enjoyable to listen to. Here, stunning melodies go hand-in-hand with restless experimentation, and the end-result is music that is endlessly alluring.”
4/5 stars
(Derek Stone - Free Jazz Blog - http://www.freejazzblog.org/2016/11/tomo-jacobson-and-friends.html)
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“While it might seem that there is a production line for outfits hailing from Scandinavia, Mount Meander demonstrates that the output is far from standardised.”
3.5/4 stars
(John Sharpe - All About Jazz - https://www.allaboutjazz.com/mount-meander-mount-meander-clean-feed-records-review-by-john-sharpe.php)
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1 Sunsail part #1
2 Sunsail part #2
3 Sunsail part #3
4 Politeness Is God
5 Thrill
6 Motoric Animal
7 A Bird In The Hand...
8 Swung
9 Bow
All compositions by Karlis Auzins, Lucas Leidinger, Tomo Jacobson & Thomas Sauerborn
Recording by Thomas Sauerborn at Monastic Studios, Copenhagen on 9th May 2015 | Mixing & Mastering by Christian Heck at Tonart Studio
Produced by Mount Meander | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Artwork & Design by Travassos | Photos by Malwa Grabowska
Cleanfeed Label