Jesper Lundgaard Trio feat. Enrico Pieranunzi, Alex Riel - 60 Out Of Shape (2015)

Bassist Jesper Lundgaaard is one of the veterans of the Danish "bass monarchy", where Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen is the one who will forever reign at the top. On June 12 and 13 last year, he was on stage at Jazzhus Montmartre in Store Regnegade in Copenhagen, together with drummer Alex Riel (another person who has influenced Danish jazz life since the early 60s), and Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi (Italy's leading jazz pianist for the past 20 years). And from these two concerts, this brilliant recording of familiar standards is now available. It opens with "Autumn Leaves", before we get "All The Things You Are", "I Can't Get Started", "My Funny Valentine" and "What Is This Thing Called Love" in a medley with "Everything I Love" and "'Round Midnight", before the three go in for landing with Sonny Rollins' fine "Oleo". Trio music from the top shelf is served throughout. Pieranunzi is a brilliant interpreter of these standards, and with a following like Lundgaard and Riel, you can hardly go wrong. All the songs have nice dynamics, and you can hear that the musicians are having two good nights in Montmartre. In the cover text, journalist Peter H. Larsen asks the question of whether there is any difference between European and American jazz, in a nice little essay. I'm not so sure if we get any answers through this album, but one thing is certain, and that is that these three gentlemen in their prime, deliver jazz music that is very close to the "American model". And there are few, if any trios "over there" who do this better than the Italian and the two Danes. ~ Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts.eu. [Translated From Norwegian] 

Storyville Records, 1018452, 2015
Recorded 12th & 13th June, 2014 Live At Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen, Denmark 

Musicians:
Jesper Lundgaard - Bass
Enrico Pieranunzi - Piano
Alex Riel - Drums

Tracks:
1. Autumn Leaves {Joseph Kosma} (9:21)
2. All The Things You Are {Jerome Kern} (8:50)
3. I Can't Get Started {Vernon Duke} (8:07)
4. My Funny Valentine {Richard Rodgers} (12:05)
5. Medley (16:25)
    What Is This Thing Called Love {Cole Porter}
    Everything I Love {Cole Porter}
    Round Midnight {Thelonious Monk}
6. Oleo {Sonny Rollins} (7:03) 

Total Time: 61:51 

Credits:
Producer - Jesper Lundgaard, Christian Brorsen
Recording & Mixing Engineer - Mik Neumann
Mastering Engineer - Jorgen Vad, VADYD
Photos - Torben Christensen
Design - Kenneth Schultz
Liner Notes - Peter H. Larsen
Translation - Steve Schein 

Oleo