Soundscapes of The Urban Past

Growing up in an urban environment could lead to obliviousness to the natural world. Having grown up in a rural environment, saxophonist/composer Jeremy Udden was very aware of nature but living in metropolises made him seek nature’s touch in the city’s midst. Udden’s children have grown up in Brooklyn and he is frequently amazed at how attuned to nature his city kids are, just one of the intriguing juxtapositions he reflects in his new recording, Wishing Flower.

Scandinavian jazz musician Geir Lysne says he had decided it was time to meet new people, make new music and broaden his sphere of activity when he started planning the aptly-titled "New Circle", on which he works for the first time with a relatively small ensemble joined by a panoply of well known guest stars. Although his ensemble only contains five acoustic instrumentalists, New Circle sounds as "orchestral" as his earlier big band albums. The key element here is Reidar Skar, a "true master of the computer," as Lysne says.

'Three Little Words' concludes Dominique Fils-Aimé's album trilogy exploring the roots of African-American musical culture. Each album carries with it a lesson that has been learned and then moulded into each subsequent volume. This final album is Fils-Aimé's adaptation of soul music in the truest sense of the term: music that comes from the depths of her soul and is meant to challenge and enrich the souls of her listeners.

Vancouver pianist and composer Chris Gestrin has drawn comparisons to Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, if either of those masters were young today and equally at home with the acoustic and the electronic, jazz and ambient. Gestrin's handpicked versatile quintet, featuring trumpeter Brad Turner, creates rich images in sound. From a tender solo piano improvisation to swirling group inventions, a narrative of almost cinematic sweep unfolds. Gestrin’s compositions range across jazz, experimental music, new age and world music for their ideas, but this is not “fusion” in any ordinary sense; there is too much originality and panache for that. The multi-channel remix opens on an imaginary environment that connoisseurs of surround sound, whether jazz fans or not, will surely appreciate.