Till Brönner - Till Brönner (2012) 2CD Deluxe Edition
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 506 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 218 Mb | Scans included
Label: Verve/UMG/Bam Bam Music | # 06025 3719116 | Time: 01:28:37
Contemporary Jazz, Fusion, Crossover Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Orchestral Jazz
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 506 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 218 Mb | Scans included
Label: Verve/UMG/Bam Bam Music | # 06025 3719116 | Time: 01:28:37
Contemporary Jazz, Fusion, Crossover Jazz, Jazz-Funk, Orchestral Jazz
On his first instrumental album in over a decade, German jazz trumpeter/flügelhornist and pop star Till Brönner offers his own tribute to one of his earliest inspirations: the sound of Creed Taylor's CTI label. Co-produced by the artist with keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia and Samon Kawamura, these 12 tunes employ a crack studio band as well as strings, and evoke memories of the label's arrangers Don Sebesky, David Matthews, and Bob James, but with distinctly modern charts. The mood is relaxed, open, and fluid, and creativity runs high. The production is warm yet crystalline; though attention is paid to detail, nothing feels constrained by nostalgia. These 12 cuts wed hip, soulful jazz-funk grooves to modern jazz, sometimes infused with a subtly cinematic panache. "Will of Nature" has a tight front-line horn vamp (Brönner and saxophonist Magnus Lindgren) that invokes hard bop but sticks closer to spacy soul-jazz – Lindgren even quotes "A Love Supreme" in the intro to his solo. Di Gioia's Rhodes makes room inside the mix for exploration, while staying deep in the pocket provided by Wolfgang Haffner's drum kit and Albert Johnson's double bass. "The Gate" opens with lush, impressionistic strings that hover and float in the intro, highlighted by Lindgren's flute. They introduce Brönner's smoky flügelhorn melody, followed by double bass, rim-shot snare, and cymbals. The strings vanish and, in a nice timbral contrast, the slippery head is led by Lindgren's bass clarinet and the horn.