Jakob Bro - Daydreamer

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:07
Size: 101,6 MB
Art: Front

(7:01)  1. Philadelphia
(4:43)  2. Countryside
(5:35)  3. Daydreamer
(4:38)  4. The Time Is Always Now
(4:46)  5. Highpoint
(6:00)  6. Optimistic
(6:30)  7. Everything All at a Time
(4:50)  8. Unfolded

Jakob Bro (1978) is a Danish guitar player and composer living in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is currently leading a trio with Joey Baron and Thomas Morgan and a quartet with Palle Mikkelborg, Thomas Morgan and Jon Christensen. In the spring of 2018 the quartet released a highly acclaimed album Returnings through ECM Records. In October 2018 the trio will be releasing a new ECM album, Bay Of Rainbows, recorded at the Jazz Standard in New York. Bro is also working with his tentet with Jesper Zeuthen, Peter Laugesen, Andrew D’Angelo, Chris Speed, Kresten Osgood, Jakob Høyer, Thomas Morgan, AC, Nikolaj Torp-Larsen and Søren Kjærgaard and he is currently composing music for a new choir project together with his long time friend and associate trumpet player Jakob Buchanan. Jakob Bro is a former member of Paul Motian & The Electric Bebop Band (Garden of Eden, ECM – 2006) and of Tomasz Stanko’s Dark Eyes Quintet (Dark Eyes, ECM – 2009). He has released 15 records as a bandleader including musicians like Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Bley, Chris Cheek, Thomas Morgan, Ben Street, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Andrew D’Angelo, Chris Speed, George Garzone, Craig Taborn, Oscar Noriega, David Virelles, Jon Christensen, Jesper Zeuthen, Anders Christensen, Peter Laugesen, Kresten Osgood, Jakob Høyer, Nicolai Munch-Hansen, Jonas Westergaard, Søren Kjærgaard, Nikolaj Torp Larsen and many more. He has toured in Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, South Africa, USA and most of Europe. http://jakobbro.com/web/2018/09/bio/

Personnel: Jakob Bro (Guitar); Chris Cheek (Tenor Sax); Ned Ferm (Tenor Sax)(; Mads Hyhne (Trombone); Anders Christensen (Bass); Jeppe Gram (Drums)

Daydreamer

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Jakob Bro, Thomas Morgan & Joey Baron - Streams

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:35
Size: 111,4 MB
Art: Front

( 4:40)  1. Opal
( 5:35)  2. Heroines
( 9:37)  3. PM Dream
(10:19)  4. Full Moon Europa
( 8:17)  5. Shell Pink
( 2:33)  6. Heroines (Variations)
( 7:30)  7. Sisimiut

"The music wants to go in its own direction," Jakob Bro declares, and "it's our job to follow it." If one central theme of jazz is "never the same way once," the Danish guitarist is someone who lives by it more than most. No two of his albums are made with the same cast and rarely do they repeat the same instrumental lineup. A given release may feature a quartet, nonet or fifteen-piece ensemble; there could be three horns or none, two extra guitars or just his own, occasionally no drums, or sometimes electronics and remixing. At other times a simple trio is all it takes. The music on Bro's second ECM Records outing wants to flow quietly and gently like its namesake. The pieces tend to stay as sparse as the lineup: the leader's compositions here are like the framework for a glass house with wide open windows, allowing lovely natural views and letting in a soothing breeze. He and his trio-mates are pleasantly relaxed and feel no undue pressure to fill the space. The rhythm section ambles with comfortable ease while the guitar's electric sheen lets unhurried notes ring in the air. As ample evidence for why he remains Bro's most frequent sideman, Thomas Morgan's double bass stays smooth and expressive in as few notes as necessary. The endlessly adaptable Joey Baron is taking this chair for the first time, but having played with Johns from Abercrombie to Zorn, of course he's eloquent enough to join the conversation and more than hold his own. He contributes mostly with light strokes or cymbal splashes, always showing a tasteful feel for just when to liven up more to match the others. Baron shines most in the disc's sole group improvisation as they pay tribute to the late Paul Motian (his frequent predecessor at the drum stool on past Bro recordings), beautifully simmering on the toms amid a cloud of tone haze and warmly plucked bass. Bro reaches for the distortion knob a bit more with "Full Moon Europa" and the gradual slow build of "Sisimiut," which respectively give the album's overall tone further subtle shadings of dark and light. They're balanced out in between with the prettiest melodic moment in "Shell Pink," followed by a stark guitar reprise of "Heroines" that offers the recording's surest embrace of emptiness. It all evokes the shifting and flowing its title suggests. Largely placid with the odd sharper current underneath, this Streams fluidly finds its path with understated beauty. ~ Geno Thackara https://www.allaboutjazz.com/streams-jakob-bro-ecm-records-review-by-geno-thackara.php

Personnel: Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Streams

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Jakob Bro - Bay Of Rainbows

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:11
Size: 110,2 MB
Art: Front

( 8:42)  1. Mild
( 8:35)  2. Red Hook
( 5:16)  3. Copenhagen
( 8:29)  4. Dug
( 4:51)  5. Evening Song
(11:17)  6. Mild  (Var.)

Danish guitarist Jakob Bro returns with another album made by his working trio with double bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Joey Baron, previously heard on Streams (ECM, 2016). Recorded live at Jazz Standard in New York in July, 2017, it is also Bro's first live recording for the label. The repertoire mainly documents Bro originals that the trio has been playing for years, most of them predating his ECM albums as leader. Opener "Mild" was first recorded on Bro/Knak (Loveland Records, 2012). Bro begins it with gentle fingerstyle rubato playing, appropriate for the title. Bass and drums enter gradually, and the arrangement builds to looped guitar halfway through. It may be mild, but it crackles with creative energy, and the sound of a band with experience and chemistry. "Red Hook" was titled "Red Hook Railroad" when Bro recorded it on Pearl River (Loveland Records, 2007). One of his earliest compositions, it is named for the Red Hook section of Brooklyn where he shared an apartment during his time in New York. Baron's melodic tom-toms open the tune, and he takes an active role in the free for all of the climax. "Copenhagen" is reprised from Gefion (ECM, 2015), Bro's ECM debut as a leader, with Morgan and drummer Jon Christensen. It features a beautiful unaccompanied bass solo which ends the performance. "Dug" (the only track with no prior recording history) continues with bass (and drums). Bro goes for a big reverberant sound, with energetic overdriven guitar taking the energy level up to maximum. "Evening Song" comes from Balladeering (Loveland Records, 2009), perhaps the best known of his pre-ECM recordings. "Mild (var.)" is a very different version of the opening tune, demonstrating the open approach taken by the trio. If anything it is even more rubato and slower building, and Morgan's bass takes a more prominent role. Bay of Rainbows is a fine addition to Bro's already extensive discography. His ECM albums have featured a classic production sound, everything taking place in a large, reverberant virtual space. It is satisfying to hear this music played in a club, coming to life in front of an audience and a potent demonstration of this trio's experienced, inspired music-making. ~ Mark Sullivan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/bay-of-rainbows-jakob-bro-ecm-records-review-by-mark-sullivan.php

Personnel: Jakob Bro: guitar; Thomas Morgan: double bass; Joey Baron: drums.

Bay Of Rainbows

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