Baptiste Trotignon

For this new album, pianist Igor Gehenot continues the adventure of his international quartet and adds the blowing of French saxophonist David El-Malek (Baptiste Trotignon). Between post-bop and contemporary music, “Cursiv” takes us deep into the heart of a sulphurous New York and on to the bare plains and fjords of Norway.

The new album of Catalan drummer Marc Miralta, entitled 'Flamenco Reunion' (Contrabaix / Karonte) is simply very good, one of those albums worth hearing several times because all the music contained therein excellence rubs and it is always outstanding. Yes, jazz, flamenco and flamenco jazz, enjoys an enviable health. Fifteen years ago Miralta edited 'New York Flamenco Reunion', a great drummer disk where acknowledged his debt to flamenco music that (re) discovered while in the United States. Are those paradoxes of life: Miralta had to go outside to see the value of flamenco for your own music.

Un Di Battista dal multiforme ingegno, parafrasando Omero, in veste di leader, sassofonista sia soprano che contralto e compositore di quasi tutti i brani di "Trouble Shootin'". Brani influenzati dai giganti del passato (Cannonball e il Duca su tutti), com'e giusto che sia, ma mai scontati o al sapor di "gia sentito". La creativita del sassofonista romano si fa sentire sin dalla prima traccia, "I Will Love You", per poi esplodere in pezzi come "Under Her Spell" (intesa perfetta tra sax e tromba) e "Alexanderplatz Blues", in onore di uno dei locali piu cari a Stefano. Solo tre le cover, omaggi a Bobby Timmons, Kenny Burrell e Horace Silver, cover (tanto per restare in sintonia col resto del disco) decisamente interessanti.

In between projects and musical collaborations in Europe and Africa, Brussels saxophonist Toine Thys recorded his third album as a trio, ‘The Optimist’, in New York with some major names from Jazz and African music. Desertions, snowstorms, cancelled flights, fires and calendar issues; everything seemed to go against the creation of this new album. With unbeatable energy and optimism in the face of all the trials, Toine Thys finally managed to bring these magnificent musicians together in a New York studio to record this album.