Act

Sexfaldiga Grammy Awards-vinnaren Al Jarreau, både inom jazz, pop och R&B, gick bort i februari 2017 vid en ålder av 76. Under hösten 2016 gjorde han sin sista Europaturné, ihop med Nordtyska Radions Storband, i ett program med Duke Ellingtons låtskatt.<br/><br/>"It was Al's style and personality that held it all together. The whole thing was a true combination of Jarreau's and Ellington's musical mastery - it appealed to audiences all over Europe, they loved the programme."<br/>(Jörg Achim Keller, NDR:s kapellmästare)<br/><br/> "Al Jarreau är på gott humör och det är härligt att höra hans fina tolkningar av låtarna som Ellington brukade framföra med sitt berömda storband. NDR Bigband och Jarreau bjuder på finfint musicerande, ett strålande avslut på sångarens karriär." (Andreas Lagercrantz)

Baldych Adam & Leszek Mozdzer: Passacaglia [CD]

Somuah Peter: Highlife [CD]

Mozdzer Leszek: Komeda [CD]

Digipack.<br/><br/>With their all-embracing vision of jazz, Esbjörn Svensson Trio (pianist Esbjörn Svensson, bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Oström) was without doubt one of the most widely admired and influential European instrumental ensembles in the first decade of the new millennium. e.s.t., as they came to be known, rode the crest of a wave with their combination of highly singable themes, mesmerizingly chilled grooves and visually stimulating, high energy 'live' performances. They filled large rock stadium venues and reached out to non-jazz audiences in a way that has not been equaled previously in the history of homegrown European jazz. e.s.t. regularly topped pop as well as jazz album sales charts and became the first band from Europe to make the front cover of the illustrious US jazz journal Downbeat.<br/><br/>All the more tragic then, that on reaching even greater heights of creativity and new audiences into the latter half of the noughties, e.s.t. were cut off in their prime in 2008 when the trio's pianist, composer and talismanic leader Esbjörn Svensson died suddenly in a scuba diving accident. Tributes poured in as the contemporary jazz world mourned the loss of a truly illuminating figure, especially for a younger generation of musicians. Eight years on and it's perhaps an appropriate time to not only celebrate but begin to reevaluate the rich recording legacy left by the band.<br/><br/>The striking new release E.S.T. SYMPHONY on the trio's former recording label ACT does just that. It benefits from the skillful hand and colourfully expressive musicality of the esteemed, musically eclectic Swedish arranger-conductor Hans Ek. He has arranged an outstanding selection of Esbjörn's compositions from e.s.t.'s rich 13 album catalogue for a widescreen orchestral canvas. Performed exquisitely by the 90-piece Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Ek's orchestrations integrate organically with solo contributions from a handful of Scandi-jazz superstars of today and tomorrow. Featured are the saxophonist Marius Neset, trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, pianist Iiro Rantala and the unique pedal steel guitarist Johan Lindström, a member of Tonbruket, a band led by the innovative ex-e.s.t. bassist Dan Berglund who's clearly the lynchpin of this project alongside his ex-bandmate/drummer Magnus Öström.

Crossover is a thing of the past: the future is Tonbruket!<br/>This band, formed around e.s.t. bassist Dan Berglund, "loves to tear down genre borders [...] and exposes a fascinating sound somewhere between jazz and rock" (Stern magazine). Now, with its fourth album, Tonbruket continue their adventure-loving expedition into the no man's land between the most divergent of musical directions with "Forevergreens". The four musicians are in no way about any kind of crossover, their goal is sensual internalization.<br/>Melodies, images, motifs, rhythms and sounds mix. Any attempt to locate this free-play on the accepted genre map is doomed to fail, because each song offers new hints as to its whereabouts. Just as many possible styles can be derived from the primal treasure of Tonbruket material as are influences required to accomplish in this mixture, which is as powerful as it is explosive. Tonbruket comprises four extreme individualists, who discover a unique collective identity here.<br/><br/>The dense band sound that interweaves the various instruments has priority over solo excursions. "Forevergreens" again lives and thrives on Berglund's and Werliin's enthralling grooves, on the variable guitar sounds of Lindström's and Hederos' solemn keyboard surfaces, but most of all on the tight-knit interplay of all these components together. Tonbruket stands for experiencing the sounds of the present, as they are shaped by hectic and stress, but also by an irrepressible longing for balance, harmony and peace.

Islandsbördiga pianisten, sångerskan och låtskrivaren Anna Gréta, bosatt och verksam i Stockholm sedan 2014, släpper sitt andra album på ACT - en lågmäld, innerlig och djupt personlig skiva. Downbeat Magazine om debuten (ACT9744) som kom 2021: "An album with the metamophoric diversity of a year's seasons and a voice like the ever-changing colours of the Northern lights".<br/><br/>Lira Gillar<br/> "Tonen, anslaget och arrangemangen låter kristallklara och helt och hållet synkade vilket alstrar låtar som i det närmaste är perfekt balanserade och fullständiga." (Lira, Ignacio Concha-Ferreira)