Makiko Hirabayashi, Klavs Hovman, Marilyn Mazur - Surely (2013)

Another prodigious album, the third by the gifted Makiko Hirabayashi and her trio partners: bassist Klavs Hovman and drummer, percussionist Marilyn Mazur. Recorded in 2013 the trio entered the Realistic Sound studio in Munich and laid down thirteen tracks. Makiko is predominantly credited for writing eight of the tunes, but Marilyn Mazur also contributes three first-rate compositions and the remaining two small tracks are attributed to the trio as a whole. Fundamentally, the album showcases Makiko wonderful skills as pianist and compelling composer. Her sound is bright and alluring, sumptuously balanced by Klavs Hovman's exalting bass-lines, all the while backed by Marilyn Mazur's driving drum set. The listener is taken on a wide-ranging journey becoming truly lost in the scintillating rhythms and the majestic composure of Makiko's piano playing. In addition, on a few tunes Marilyn Mazur adds further colouring with her unique voicing. The interplay among the players is very sharp and crisp, utterly captivating and instantly enjoyable. In many ways, it is not an easy-listening album but one that engages the listener into a musical experience that is truly memorable, if not paradoxical. The trio ushers forth music that is seemingly full of contradictions, but this trifling simplicity is sustained by subtle complexity, creating an encounter that’s not diminished by further playtime, enjoy! 

Enja\Yellowbird Records, yeb7738, 2013
Recorded 22nd, 23rd April, 2013 at Realistic Sound, Munich, Germany 

Musicians:
Makiko Hirabayashi - Piano
Klavs Hovman - Bass
Marilyn Mazur - Drums, Percussions, Voice (#7,11) 

Tracks:
01. Surely {Makiko Hirabayashi} (4:14)
02. Moon Bells {Makiko Hirabayashi, Klavs Hovman, Marilyn Mazur} (1:08)
03. Asunder Asunder {Makiko Hirabayashi} (5:38)
04. Life Of A Cactus {Makiko Hirabayashi} (6:29)
05. Stepping On It {Makiko Hirabayashi} (4:08)
06. Black {Makiko Hirabayashi, Klavs Hovman, Marilyn Mazur} (1:28)
07. Ode To Okinawa {Makiko Hirabayashi} (4:31)
08. Eagles And Angels {Marilyn Mazur} (5:22)
09. Parachute City {Makiko Hirabayashi} (2:25)
10. Våd Vinkel [Wet Angle] {Marilyn Mazur} (5:19)
11. Paradox {Makiko Hirabayashi} (5:49)
12. Challenge {Marilyn Mazur} (2:05)
13. Indigo {Makiko Hirabayashi} (2:30) 

Total Time: 51:14

Credits:
Producer - Makiko Hirabayashi, Werner Aldinger
Recording & Mixing - Florian H. Oestreicher
Mastering - Christoph Stickel
Photography - Karolina Zapolska
Cover Design - Franziska Erdle [Gold-Unlimited.DE] 

Våd Vinkel [Wet Angle]

Pia Boda - Chasing Pixies (2015)

The debut album of Los Angeles-Born, Danish saxophonist and educator Pia Boda is an evocative attempt to relive old Viking stories about elves and fairies. The symbolic images about a living nature, the chase of the invisible elves and fairies who were supposed to hover in the air, and we can only sense "contours of creatures moving to somewhere," motivated Boda to create her own personal musical universe. Chasing Pixies, features Boda's Copenhagen-based quartet which formed a few years back. The quartet is an international unit - Tokyo-born pianist Makiko Hirabayashi, a leader of her own Nordic trio and member of percussionist Marilyn Mazur trio, Swedish double bassist Erik Olevik and native Danish drummer Andreas Fryland, who replaced original percussionist Lisbeth Diers. This quartet charges the typically Nordic-sounding, lyrical and melodic images of Boda with edgy yet emphatic, improvised interplay. Boda knows how to compose a cycle of arresting, story-like narratives, and even titled one of of the most beautiful pieces, "Storyteller." She and Hirabayashi, are the obvious narrators, and both enjoy an emphatic, conversational interplay that highlight each other's qualities. Boda's tone is warm, gentle and suggestive, focused on concise, linearly-flowing ideas, while Hirabayashi always offers highly original and more improvised abstractions of these ideas. Olevik and Fryland envelope while Boda and Hirabayashi exchange ideas with solid yet open pulse, except on the brief, free-improvised "Haiku #1" and "Haiku #2." The drama in these stories is usually quite minor and subtle but "Mammoth March" evokes a sense of mysterious adventure and the playful "African Flavour" that offers a kind of imaginary dance. Promising, evocative and beautiful. ~ by Eyal Hareuveni, AAJ. 

Gateway Music, CD 0915-01, 2015 

Musicians:
Pia Boda - Soprano & Tenor Saxophones
Makiko Hirabayashi - Piano
Erik Olevik - Double Bass
Andreas Fryland - Drums 

Tracks:
01. The Dark Side Of The Night (5:36)
02. Chasing Pixies (5:35)
03. Storyteller (5:42)
04. Homeland (4:18)
05. Mammoth March (5:42)
06. Haiku #1 (2:05)
07. Metamorphosis (4:30)
08. Time Of The Wind (2:43)
09. African Flavour (5:36)
10. Drifting (6:54)
11. Haiku #2 (1:55) 

All Compositions by Pia Boda 

Total Time: 50:36

Pia Boda & Chasing Pixies - Drifting (2013)