2022

"After doing three solo albums, the challenge of interpreting Eric Satie's music seemed challenging, appealing and also like a good way of finding new angles and flavours in my own music.<br/>What struck me while digging deeper in his catalogue was how modern and progressive he still appears, beside the soothing and calming mellowness that I think we all associate his music with, I found very brave, sometimes stubborn minimalism and besides the blue harmonies that we now associate with jazz, I found really salty, almost cluster-like colours that must have been extremely challenging for the end of 19th century ears.<br/>I humbly thank Satie for letting me borrow his music for a while (he didn't have a say though), giving me both the meditative peace I hope you will also experience while listening and, like in the Nocturne, challenging my ears and fingers to reach new territories.<br/>" - Martin Hederos<br/><br/>Artists: <br/>Martin Hederos: grand piano, celesta, felt piano, violin, Philocorda organ, Juno 60 synthesiser<br/>Dan Berglund: Double bass on tracks 1+8<br/>Konrad Agnas: Drums on track 10<br/>Anton Sundell: samples and programing on tracks 6, 9

Norah Jones: Come away with me 2002 (Rem) [Digibook / 3 CD]

"After doing three solo albums, the challenge of interpreting Eric Satie's music seemed challenging, appealing and also like a good way of finding new angles and flavours in my own music.<br/>What struck me while digging deeper in his catalogue was how modern and progressive he still appears, beside the soothing and calming mellowness that I think we all associate his music with, I found very brave, sometimes stubborn minimalism and besides the blue harmonies that we now associate with jazz, I found really salty, almost cluster-like colours that must have been extremely challenging for the end of 19th century ears.<br/>I humbly thank Satie for letting me borrow his music for a while (he didn't have a say though), giving me both the meditative peace I hope you will also experience while listening and, like in the Nocturne, challenging my ears and fingers to reach new territories.<br/>" - Martin Hederos<br/><br/>Artists: <br/>Martin Hederos: grand piano, celesta, felt piano, violin, Philocorda organ, Juno 60 synthesiser<br/>Dan Berglund: Double bass on tracks 1+8<br/>Konrad Agnas: Drums on track 10<br/>Anton Sundell: samples and programing on tracks 6, 9

Jones Norah: Come away with me (20th anniv.) [Gatefold / Vinyl LP]

Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen is a remarkable new album produced by Larry Klein that presents stunning renditions of the legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen's profound songs performed by an extraordinary line-up of guest vocalists: Norah Jones, Peter Gabriel, Gregory Porter, Sarah McLachlan, Luciana Souza, James Taylor, Iggy Pop, Mavis Staples, David Gray, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Hear Taylor's sublime version of "Coming Back to You" which is available to stream or download today. <br/><br/> "Leonard Cohen had been a friend since 1982 or so, and in the last 15 years of his life, he became a close friend," says Klein. "He was possibly the wisest and funniest friend that I had, and someone that I enjoyed, immensely, in every way. After he passed away, I found myself frequently covering his songs with other artists that I was working with. One reason, of course, is that the songs are so good-in a certain way, Leonard is the best pop songwriter ever-but the other reason was that it helped keep him in the air around me."<br/><br/>So Klein decided to assemble an album's worth of Cohen songs, matching vocalists from different genres with an exceptional core band of jazz-based musicians-or, as he puts it, "a group of the most prescient and forward-looking musicians in the jazz world"-guitarist Bill Frisell, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Nate Smith with additional contributions from Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar and Larry Goldings on organ.<br/><br/>The album's 12 tracks offer a range of Cohen's compositions, with songs drawn from his beloved 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen all the way up to selections from his final album, You Want It Darker, released just days before his death in 2016. The set covers some of his best-known classics and less familiar deep cuts, all given new life through thoughtful and unexpected arrangements and performances. The resulting collection is ultimately reminiscent of the concept that guided Klein's production of Herbie Hancock's 2007 album River: The Joni Letters, which won the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year (and on which one of the featured singers was, in fact, Leonard Cohen).<br/><br/>"It was an immensely gratifying experience to recontextualize these poems, and shine a different light on them," he continues. "I hope that this musical language that we developed together, the context that we put these things in, makes the songs connect with people in a new way."

Parker Charlie: Live in Sweden 1950 [Digipack / 2 CD]

En världsnyhet briserade tidigare i höstas, när ACT meddelade att <b>Esbjörn Svenssons</b> änka hittat tidigare okänd solopianomusik som Esbjörn spelat in i hemmet, bara några veckor innan han förolyckades 2008. Nu släpps albumet HOME.S. - en improvisatorisk dröm, signerad en av Sveriges största jazzartister.<br/><br/>The release of HOME.S., the only existing, previously unreleased solo album by pianist Esbjörn Svensson, is nothing less than a sensation. The recordings were made in Svensson's Swedish home - just weeks before his tragic death on June 14, 2008, after which they rested undiscovered on a hard drive in his wife Eva Svensson's personal archive for nearly ten years. HOME.S. consists of nine piano songs, with a combination of written-out fragments and Svensson's unique, melodic style of improvisation. Heartfelt, soulful and deeply personal. A "message smuggled across the border, carried by love, space, time and never-ending creative power." (Eva Svensson)<br/><br/>Esbjörn Svenssons HOME.S. hyllas i världspressen!<br/>"Esbjörn Svensson, utan kompisarna Dan Berglund och Magnus Öström, tar ut svängarna på ett delvis annat sätt. Han låter pianospelet omväxlande svälla ut i något som närmar sig den klassiska musikens pianokonserter, omväxlande vända sig inåt i en vackert jazzig melankoli som, med vetskap om hans bortgång, förlänas en gripande sorgkant." (Dan Backman, SvD)<br/><br/>"Itimacy, serenity and majestic clarity." -Télérama (FR)<br/><br/>"A gift from heaven." -Politiken (DK)<br/><br/>"These inventive deliberations are very much his own, ranging from sublime stillness to eruptive vivaciousness.... A delight" -The Scotsman (GB)<br/><br/>"A real discovery, this solo album by the man who is still regarded as one of the most influential pianists of recent decades.'' -De Volkskrant (NL)<br/><br/>"Buoyant, capricious, sweepingly melodic" -The Guardian (GB)<br/><br/><b>Esbjörn Svenssons "HOME.S." från Actmusic är ett av årets bästa jazzalbum 2022, enligt The Guardian!</b> "Between the mid-1990s and his tragic accidental death in 2008, the Swedish pianist/composer Esbjörn Svensson gave classy piano-trio jazz an enthralling stadium-rock drama and drive. These delicate unaccompanied piano pieces, unreleased until now, show a contrastingly private Svensson - but with just the same vivid imagination and subtlety of touch." (John Fordham, The Guardian)