Despite jazz’s aptitude for pushing the envelope and keeping a finger on the popular pulse at the same time – from inflaming Charleston-kickers in the 1920s, to jivers in the 50s, acid-jazzers in the 90s and rappers today – its adherents still sometimes find themselves fending off complaints of smart-ass elitism. Switzerland’s Vein trio embody the ideal reply to that (because they’re very good at being both impossibly smart-ass and charismatically engaging), and Symphonic Bop joins piano-and-drums siblings Michael and Florian Arbenz and bassist Thomas Lähns with Sweden’s much-feted Norrbotten Big Band. This two-decade-old powerhouse specialises in meeting the challenges of maverick jazz guests, including the UK’s John Surman and Django Bates, so they’re seasoned handlers of Vein’s simultaneous virtue and occasional problem – of knowing how to make a blur of musical scene-changes happen dizzyingly fast without losing the sense of a plot.
On five full-ensemble tracks, plus a fast-cornering, Chick Corea-like piece, Vein seamlessly merge their jump-cut methods with sophisticated, classically influenced orchestral scoring (on Florian Arbenz’s 15-minute Boarding the Beat), confirm their delicacy with soft-toned nuances (on the spacey Passacaglia), their languid hipness at juggling jazz hooks and abstract improv (Lähns’ Willi’s Pool), and their exuberant appetite for slamming together old-school swing riffs, boneshaking funk, and shapely free-piano improv at warp speeds (the closing Groove Conductor). Symphonic Bop music might veer a little close to hyperactivity for some – but it’s a crossover tour de force, and would make an enthralling live show, too.
Also out this month
Pianist Sarah Tandy, one of the flourishing London jazz underground’s standout players, debuts on record with Infection in the Sentence – a quintet mix of bent-bebop licks, anthemic McCoy Tyner-esque themes, and horn power from tenorist Binker Golding and trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey. Meanwhile, brilliant German pianist Michael Wollny and trombonist/vocalist Nils Landgren cover pop hits by Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and Sting on 4 Wheel Drive – but the quartet’s jazz/improv potential feels overly sidelined by so many pop-soul outings for Landgren’s smooth-jazzy voice. At the other end of the sonic universe come New York abstractionists David Torn, Tim Berne and Ches Smith, unfolding breathtaking electro/acoustic sound-paintings (augmented on one track by pianist Craig Taborn, plus strings and extra guitars) on Sun of Goldfinger.
