Mixed Dreams (UNIT Records 2014)
Rolf De Marchi (music journalist) about the music
Tracks:
1 Gliding over the Clouds ..... 07:39
2 Blues for Peter Kowald .......07:54
3 Tajine ..................................06:28
4 Hip 7 ...................................06:06
5 9'o'Clock Blues ...................07:34
6 Tundra .................................09:28
7 Edda ....................................07:33
8 Mixed Dreams .....................08:59
Rolf De Marchi 2014:
"Mixed Dreams" – A colourful style mixture full of power and poetry
With tenderly pearling sound chains, fluctuating up and down, the e-piano enters the CD "Mixed Dreams" inviting everyone: open your ears, dear listener, and listen to what kind of fascinating stories, creatively wrapped in music, the Tassilo Dellers Jazz Quartet has to tell you. Thus the opening piece "Gliding over the Clouds", which, with its poetically dabbed sounds, conjures up a tenderly glittering atmosphere inviting you to dream: ethereal gliding over a fluctuating sea of clouds glistening in the sun, shaded in manifold white.
This music seems to be deeply rooted in the rich tradition of European jazz with associations to the first years of the legendary Munich record label ECM. But be careful: to reduce this music to cheap retro sound would be a mistake, as the title "Tundra" proves. Especially the thematic intro with the individual chord progression by Adrian Schäublin on the e-piano testifies independent creativity. Not least, this composition also owes its sensuality to the lightly expressive refined playing of the bandleader Tassilo Dellers on the soprano saxophone. Precisely interlinked, on the other hand, unexcitedly letting the music flow the rhythm group acts with Florian Abt at the bass and Felix Handschin at the drums. It seems the quartet has accepted a piece of crucial knowledge, which once the legendary jazz drummer Art Blakey had reached: "It is about music, not about technique!"
That the Tassilo Dellers Jazz Quartet does not only master handling delicately woven sounds, but also knows how to express itself most powerfully, is proved by the "9 o'clock Blues". After a quietly formed intro with lyrically blown lines of the tenor saxophone the music ends up in a dynamic theme, arranged for two voices, to which more and more a driving rhythm is put underneath. Like clockwork rhythmized piano chords are interlinked with funkily played bass riffs and robustly pulsating drum rhythms. This dynamically formed part is rounded up by an expressively blown soul-like saxophone solo and a piano solo pushing forward.
This piece is even topped by the title "Blues for Peter Kowald", in which the quartet still more deeply dives into classic jazz funk. Supported by the piano, bandleader Tassilo Dellers carves a whirlingly phrased theme on his flute with burning intensity, while the rhythm group drives a lightly rolling groove dynamically forward. If a rather hilarious atmosphere prevails in the piece "Blues for Peter Kowald", the intro of "Tajine" has almost the effect of a little ode to melancholy. The piece is a further prove that the CD of the Tassilo Dellers Jazz Quartet carries its title "Mixed Dreams" with reason. The silver disc indeed excels by a widespread stylistic mix of most varied sounds, complex atmospheres and diversified moods. A further facet of the CD is the title "Edda". Carried by warm, delicately blown arches of the flute, the music dives into the mythical Germanic realm of the Edda, that legendary collection of epics about gods and heroes, which was written and compiled by unknown authors in the Middle Ages.
Rolf De Marchi - 2014 (translated by Walter Dellers)