Vallon

“Rruga”, meaning ‘path’, ‘road’ or ‘journey’ in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer. After shared musical experiences on the Swiss jazz scene, they began their trio journey five years ago, and have grown into one of Europe’s most promising bands, shaping a rugged and individual music, inspired by songs and singers, and by the music of the Caucasus region as well as by the jazz tradition. Challenging conventions of the modern jazz piano trio, the instrumentalists meet on equal terms as the music is created, arranged and developed collective.

On its third ECM album Vallon again leads the group not with virtuosic solo display but by patient outlining of melody and establishing of frameworks in which layered group improvising can take place. With this group, gentle but insistent rhythms can trigger seismic musical events. Although Vallon (recently nominated for the Swiss Music Prize) is the author of nine of the pieces here, the band members share equal responsibilities for the music's unfolding. The gravitational pull of Patrice Moret's bass and the intense detail supplied by Julian Sartorius's drums and cymbals are crucial to the success of Vallon's artistic concept and the range of emotions the music can convey.

Le Vent, recorded in April 2013 at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio, is the second ECM album from the Colin Vallon Trio. Like the wind celebrated in its title track, the group has a subtle, insinuating power. Emerging from a still and silent place, its music can breathe gently, or steadily build pressure until attaining an eruptive forcefulness. This combining of poetic compression and quiet relentlessness was evident on the ECM debut Rruga three years ago, but with leader Vallon now writing almost all of the repertoire (although opening tune “Juuichi” is by Patrice Moret), and new drummer Julian Sartorius detailing its floating rhythms, the Swiss trio has entered a brave new space where touch and inflection are decisively more important than soloistic gesture.

Biedermeier Quintet - 19th Century Music for Wind Instruments - Danzi, Rossini, Reicha (2001) {Globe GLO 7003}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 223 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 140 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Globe | GLO 7003
Classical / Viennese School / Early 19th Century / Chamber Music / Wind Instruments

Composers - Franz Danzi, Gioachino Rossini, Anton Reicha. "Biedermeier" - A term used of the culture of German-speaking Europe between the Treaty of Vienna (1815) and 1848, the year of revolutions. It is associated especially with southern Germany and with the Austria of Metternich, the architect of political stability in post-Napoleonic Europe. The term is borrowed from the name of a fictional schoolmaster created in the early 1850s by Ludwig Eichrodt.