Achim Kaufmann: Verivyr

Achim Kaufmann, piano; Valdi Kolli, bass; Jim Black, drums

Achim Kaufmann
1. Permission (Dingbats) 5:15
2. Elephant and Boats 5:22
3. Kobuk 4:50 4. Gåtur i Christiania 8:03
5. Bright Industrial Smile 3:30
6. Fada Verde 5:32
7. Le Quadrimoteur (Wols) 3:35
8. Lonceng-Lonceng 6:13
9. Berlin No Lights 5:57
10. E Jinx 2:26

Sounds hover in the room like so many particles; suddenly they are brought together as if attracted by some magnetic force, finding form. So begins the music from this trio - music that thrillingly draws in all within its reach. Jazz's proto-chamber music formation has seldom sounded as extraordinary as it does here. Achim Kaufman has been acclaimed by the influential Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as one of the boldest pianists on the current German jazz scene. And in Kaufman's musical universe, he, bassist Valdi Kolli, and drummer Jim Black go their own very individual ways - and demonstrate that all the musical possibilities of piano trio play have not been exhausted. This German-Icelandic-American trio is able to create an exciting combination of freedom and structure. Kaufmann's music is wild and at the same time tightly controlled - brought forth in compositions with subtle, lyrical themes and intense, freely moving voices. These are compositions with a secret; the CD title "Verivyr" already suggests such is the case - a fictitious word with which Achim Kaufman wishes to set up associations - such words as "verify", "river", and "Kyrill", for instance. The last was the name given to a major storm that hit Western Europe in 2007 that had inspired this trio's previous highly praised CD. Kaufmann still calls the group the Kyrill Trio.

Price: $24.98