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Ulrich Drechsler asks and answers the question: how can the saddest music in the world be delivered with so much hope? Humans & Places follows Drechsler's loving tribute to Thelonious Monk on the 2004 disc The Monk In All Of Us, where his bass clarinet conjured the spirit of Eric Dolphy. On this quartet recording his music directs itself more towards Bill Evans than Dolphy. Perhaps the influence of Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen is what imparts this music with the stark emotions you would expect from Manfred Eicher's ECM sessions…

This is the type of CD that frustrates completists and veteran collectors; the 13 selections are taken from a variety of sessions and the recording dates that are given are often incorrect. The great boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons is heard on five of the nine piano solos he recorded at Blue Note's debut session in 1939 along with a solo number apiece that were cut for Columbia and Storyville…..