The pure Christina von Bülow trio consists of musicians who all have a unique melodic sense. At a time when many jazz musicians are busy following new currents or looking for musical expressions that are "different" to mark their personality, one may be inclined to overhear those musicians who stay strictly within the conventions, as well may be unique artists. For that is exactly what the alto saxophonist Christina von Bülow, the guitarist Jacob Fischer and the Swedish trumpeter Jan Allan are. All three possess a melodic sense of extraordinary dimensions, but just as unusual is the way in which they rhythmically manage to rest in the music. This seems most striking to Allan. For there is no other trumpeter who is instrumentally able to unfold as freely as a saxophonist when, with his slightly dusty-sounding, legato tone, he moves around or across the metric pulse with an incomparable effortlessness, without noticing to lose touch with it. And I also know no one who plays like Christina von Bülow. With a melodic line and a tone that in its mild warmth and timbre lies somewhere between that of Paul Desmond and Stan Getz. Accordingly, Jacob Fischer knows all those other guitarists can too. He just makes it so much more compelling than most others, and when it comes to creating melodic continuity in his chord playing, he hardly has his equal. If one has to further emphasize a common feature of these three musicians, then that is the way in which they manage to seize each other's impulses in the air and then let them develop on their own. For bassist Jens Skou Olsen, it must be pure ‘sting’ to have such a trio standing in front of him, and that was also the case for us who watched the quartet's concert in Copenhagen JazzHouse. A joy that you can recall or retrieve as needed if you acquire the group's just released CD. For it is the repertoire from this that also made up the evening's program. A string of pearls ranging from Lennie Tristano's intricate "317 East 32nd" over evergreens like Brooks Bowman's "East of the Sun" and Richard Rodgers' "With a Song in My Heart" to such immensely beautiful features as Tom Harrell's "Sail Away", Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan" and Lars Gullin's "Silhouette". So, it's just saying "have fun". ~ Boris Rabinowitsch, Politiken. [Translated from Danish]
Music Mecca, CD 3059-2, 2001
Recorded 7th-9th May, 2001 at
OAL Studios, Stockholm, Sweden
Musicians:
Christina von Bülow - Alto
Saxophone
Jan Allan - Trumpet
Jacob Fischer - Guitar
Jens Skou Olsen - Bass
Tracks:
01. East Of The Sun {Brooks
Bowman} (8:27)
02. Sail Away {Tom Harrell} (8:06)
03. With A Song In My Heart {Richard
Rodgers} (8:26)
04. Isfahan {Billy Strayhorn}
(6:37)
05. 317 East 32nd {Lennie
Tristano} (6:37)
06. Silhouette {Lars Gullin}
(6:05)
07. Decent Eyes {Lars Gullin}
(5:40)
08. Tunnelbanelåten [The
Subway Song] {Lars Gullin} (6:05)
09. Dig {Miles Davis} (2:45)
10. Sand I Mit Øje [Sand In
My Eye] {Traditional} (2:32)
11. Jag Ligger På En Äng [I'm
Lying On A Meadow] {Georg Riedel, Barbro Lindgren} (2:02)
12. Visa Från Järna [View
From Iron] {Traditional} (1:53)
13. Joanne Julia {Kenny
Barron} (6:45)
Total Time: 01:12:00
Credits:
Producer - Christina von
Bülow
Executive-Producer - Henning
Schädler
Engineer - Lennart Strøm
Design, Design [DTP] - Kjeld
Brandt
Photography - Gorm Valentin
