The great writer Gertrude Stein once said: “Jazz is tenderness and powerful violence.” A definition that has shaped the pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch already at the beginning of his career – and which now again perfectly applies to his new album “Eye of the Storm”. Whereby improvisation as the primal ground of these strong forms of expression is absolutely part of it.
And yet “Eye of the Storm” is now something completely different, something new. Not only because, in contrast to the often well-prepared confrontation with freedom in the past, it really was a spontaneous leap into the deep end. But above all because “for the first time I had the feeling of being an adult as an artist,” as Kreusch tells us. “Until now, the great predecessors and role models were always a source of inspiration. This time I was completely with myself from the first note.
A maturity and independence that you can hear on the album. Everything is an expression of the dazzling personality of Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, who is as extroverted and spiritual as he is grounded and consistent. As wild as it can get with the musical storm of thoughts, an almost classical undertone, immersed in inner listening, is dominant. And as much as every note, every chord, every change, every touch is unmistakably Kreusch, at the same time he succeeds in giving each improvisation part its own note.
More infos: https://www.glm.de/en/product/cornelius-claudio-kreusch-eye-of-the-storm/
Listen to the music: https://glmmusic.de/EyeoftheStormWE
The trio got to know each other intensively for the first time in 2017 during a short tour of Germany and Switzerland. Alex Riel invited Marian Petrescu and Joel Locher to come to Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen to play two double concerts together. For Joel Locher it was quickly clear that a live CD had to result from this.
He is, of course, addressing his esteemed fans and listeners when the great gypsy swing guitarist Wawau Adler calls his new album “I Play With You.” But he could also be referring specifically to his instrument. He changes playfully between the Selmer No. 828, a classical guitar from the forties, over modern types to the electric guitar. Finally, the title could also refer to the repertoire that is played here: After Adler has interpreted in his earlier recordings mainly standards – his last album “Happy Birthday Django 110”, released two years ago, was, for example, explicitly dedicated to his and the great role model of all gypsy jazz guitarists Django Reinhardt – and interspersed in each case only a few original compositions, it is now for the first time exactly the opposite.
Think big! Bigger, further, faster! We are no longer used to attaching importance to the small. We don’t have enough attention span for details in the ever more confusing mountains of images and sounds that pile up in front of us. Nuances are no longer perceived at all, they are not recognised behind the filters of the present or they are wiped away like an annoying little creature.