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Double bassist and composer Gina Schwarz with her ensemble opus, this time with eight other players in the group Multiphonics 8. After the Pannonica project, she also proves with this group that she is one of the most progressive artists on the Central European jazz scene. Her original fusion of jazz and contemporary classical music on the album Way To Blue even reaches some imaginary heights. Instead of strings, this time the winds play the main role, especially the clarinets. Multiphonics 8 was created thanks to the Multiphonics Festival in Cologne, where Schwarz was composer-in-residence in 2020 and 2021. In July 2020, her father died and the day after the funeral she began working on the music she had dedicated to her father. She was inspired by stories of her and her father’s childhood in the 1970s, which were marked by the songs of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948-1974). Through the music’s impressive depth, full of despairing melancholy, tender hope and message (e.g. in songs such as Time Piece, Way to Blue, Riverman, Blossom, Fruit Tree, Come Into the Garden and others), she not only came to terms with the death of a loved one, but also created an immensely mature and evocative instrumental cycle as a tribute to a brilliant but unfortunate creator who left our world too soon. The backbone of the album (with 18 tracks) is seven miniatures named Chat and numbered 1-7 only. As the title suggests, these are freely improvised conversations between the double bassist and one of her bandmates each time. The other pieces are artfully interspersed and embellished with wonderful solo choruses. They are saturated with lush timbres, minimalist undercurrents, a clash of melancholy and sadness with passion, tenderness with often brutal expressions. All this awaits the listener in tracks such as Red Grapevine, Caveman, Blue Sunbean and Behind. A downright minimalist thrust drives Rabbit Trap forward. Sandy Tracks, on the other hand, is a jazz-rock-tinged briskness, where alongside the electric guitar solo there is no shortage of drum eruptions. And the standout timbral treats are the tracks Choral (also with a wonderful double bass solo) and Long Ago with its amazing bass flute. The album climaxes with the seven-minute balladic masterpiece Looking for John, masterfully built to ecstasy … A masterpiece!

Ján Hocek –  14.04.23

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