Klaus Gesing/Björn Meyer/Samuel Rohrer: amiira

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Klaus Gesing (b cl)
Samuel Rohrer (d, perc)
Björn Meyer (el, b)

Label:

Arjunamusic

August/2016

Catalogue Number:

AMAC-CD711LC-12366

RecordDate:

March-December 2015

As Jack DeJohnette's recent trio release, In Movement, with Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison, proved, it's the bass guitar that can provide a substantial sonic point of difference in a trio. The instrument's mellow tone is perfect for creating painterly chordal layers, as well as spiky percussive and incisive melodic lines – not to mention creatively applied reverb, loops and electronics. Here it's former Nik Bärtsch bass man Björn Meyer who brings a similarly heavy ambiance to this mesmerising album as he sets his instrument's tone at the heart of this trio's songlike approach, with Gesing's bass clarinet adding classical melancholy to Rohrer's subtly bubbling rhythms. All three have worked with high profile singers – the drummer with Sidsel Endresen and Laurie Andersen, the bassist with Asita Hamadi – and closer to home Gesing has long partnered Norma Winstone alongside Italian pianist Glauco Venier. The sound here though couldn't be more of a contrast to those contexts, with opener ‘Shine On Me’ featuring watery bell-like percussion, chiming, softly metallic bass notes, and Gesing's sorrowful bass clarinet leading the way into a cycling song-like theme, with ghostly ambient layers hanging in the air. The group's art-rock aesthetic favours restraint but with enough improvisational colour and group empathy to pull you into an immersive soundworld. Rewarding repeat listens aplenty, this is a release that melts stylistic boundaries as much as it does musical ones, with hugely satisfying results.

Follow us

Jazzwise Print

  • Latest print issues

From £5.83 / month

Subscribe

Jazzwise Digital Club

  • Latest digital issues
  • Digital archive since 1997
  • Download tracks from bonus compilation albums during the year
  • Reviews Database access

From £7.42 / month

Subscribe

Subscribe from only £5.83

Never miss an issue of the UK's biggest selling jazz magazine.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine.

Find out more