Ingrid Jacoby

The Austrian mezzo-soprano Klaudia Tandl, the acting legend Gabriele Jacoby and the Irish pianist Niall Kinsella present "Schubert's Women" with Schubert songs and recitations by contemporary poets with a strong connection to women and the subject "love". There are classics like Das Heidenröslein, You Don't Love Me, The Girl's Lament or Only Who Knows Longing, but also lesser known songs like Luisen's Answer, Thekla or Gretchen's Request. This is accompanied by texts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ludwig Rellstab, Friedrich Schiller, Ignaz Franz Castelli, and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, which Gabriele Jacoby staged in a unique way.

Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and pianist Aki Takase initially performed together at Jazzfest Berlin in 2016, and they turned that encounter into ongoing spirited dialogues three years later for theirs first duo disc. As with Takase`s recent solo album, Hokusai, and Laubrock's small group albums, they unravel a series of sudden twists throughout a set of brief compositions. Serious technique support that playfulness here, as does a warm mutual empathy.

Canadian and Quebecoise singer Ingrid St-Pierre released a new album, Reines (Queens). The themes are homages to various women and introspection.

Ingrid Jensen has the talent to make a dent in the world of jazz, and her hard-edged sound on trumpet hearkens to some of the past masters such as Woody Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, and Clifford Brown. Her excellent choice of a second horn, tenor saxophonist Gary Thomas (who doubles on flute), should have been enough to catapult this recording to the top of the pack, but somehow, the somewhat placid arrangements detract from the whole. Instead of the breakthrough album that might have been, Jensen has produced a good, if fairly pedestrian, recording, one that contains moments of inspired playing but somehow leaves the listener wanting more. Jensen knows how to build tension and release it at unexpected times, and her clipped phrases highlight an otherwise ordinary set.

Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen continues to pursue the edges of "in" on her second disc as leader. This time around, Jensen gets some assistance via the ever explosive drummer Bill Stewart as well as the equally searching reedman Gary Bartz. This is solid post-bop jazz that deserves a listen.

For her first recording on the Linn label, Ingrid Fliter performs the two piano concertos of Frédéric Chopin with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jun Märkl, and both performances are presented in the hybrid SACD format. The multichannel treatment might seem excessive for these works, since the piano part is always clear and prominent, and the orchestration isn't dense or complicated. Even so, the myriad subtleties of dynamics, attacks, and phrasing come across with exceptional clarity and effectiveness in the state-of-the-art recording, which does a great service to Fliter and the orchestra.

The album Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt follows Ingrid Laubrock's landmark orchestral album Contemporary Chaos Practices from 2018 (Intakt CD 314). Ingrid Laubrock presents on this double album five compositions in double version. On the first CD, the EOS Chamber Orchestra Cologne interprets Laubrock's compositions. The soloists are Cory Smythe (piano), Sam Pluta (electronics), Robert Landfermann (bass), Tom Rainey (drums) and Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone). On a second CD of the double album a filigree ensemble around the core trio of Ingrid Laubrock, Cory Smythe, Sam Pluta and the guests Adam Matlock, Josh Modney and Zeena Parkins play the same five compositions.