#axel gilain

[zef-zef]

Drifter - Live at Belgian Jazz Meeting 2017

Alexi Tuomarila (piano, moog) Teun Verbruggen (drums) Nicolas Kummert (saxophone, backing vocals)     Axel Gilain (acoustic, electric bass, guitar, backing vocals)

[burlveneer-music]

ESINAM - Shapes in Twilights of Infinity - flute + soul + world beats; do check out the hypnotic “Let It Be” (track 4) and see if you don’t just melt into your surroundings

Built on futurist flute sounds, elaborate rhythms and sensitive melodies, ‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’ unfolds like a dreamlike path into an unparalleled musical universe. With her highly anticipated first full album, multi-instrumentalist ESINAM invites us on a cosmic journey, a trip towards horizons coloured with sounds and influences that reach as far as the eye can see. This record finds a balance between the acoustic and electronic, between the future and ancestral. The songs are deeply rooted in grooves and global sounds, at the same time composed and spontaneously evolving, always filled with a strong musical feeling. From ‘New Dawn’ with its pulsating beats, vivid flutes and poetical spoken word featuring of the Londoner Nadeem Din-Gabisi , over the soulful jazz vibe of ‘Lost Dimensions’, to the etheric melodies and mesmerizing singing of South-African guest vocalist Sibusile Xaba on ‘Flowing River’: ESINAM delivers nothing less than a profound patchwork full of musical connections, where traces of house, trip hop and hip hop intertwine with tones from traditionals, blues and psychedelica. Similar to this wide range of musical angles, her process of recording and producing is eclectic as well: ESINAM produced some of the tracks herself in her home studio, while others were recorded with her full band, formed with three musicians – Axel Gilain on bass, Pablo Casella on guitars and Martin Méreau on drums and vibraphone – who she picked precisely for their musical identities. The combination of their acoustic and electronic instruments brings a soulful and vibrant interpretation to ESINAM’s compositions, uplifting their groovy vibe. Based on loops, samples, impressions and field recordings, each song follows the other like a cycle that opens, evolves, transforms and returns to the starting point. ‘Shapes in Twilights of Infinity’ became a unique music that touches the soul with emotion, that grasps you, questions you, does you good. A music that is rooted in culture and tradition while flying far away, towards tomorrow, as a surprising and engaging infinity. “Nothing is Lost, Nothing is Created, All is Transformed. Nothing is Lost, Nothing is Created, Everything is Transformed. Nothing Escapes, Nothing is Lost, All is Transformed, All is a Transformation, All is a Cycle, For Ever to Infinity.”

[riffsstrides]

DRIFTER 'Flow'

Official Album Trailer

'An enjoyable and stimulating record... Kummert shows his Chris Potter-like facility in all its grandeur' MARLBANK (UK)

ALEXI TUOMARILA piano NICOLAS KUMMERT saxophone, vocals AXEL GILAIN double bass, vocals TEUN VERBRUGGEN drums

FLOW is the new album from the Belgium based quartet DRIFTER, co-led by Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila and Belgium saxophonist Nicolas Kummert, who won huge praise and acclaim across Europe and Australia as the Alexi Tuomarila Quartet in the early 2000’s. In the following decade during which the pianist and saxophonist expanded their musical horizons with constant touring, the band’s special relationship was not forgotten and, finally, the time was right for both Tuomarila and Kummert to reform the original quartet with a new sense of purpose and energy under the new collective name of DRIFTER.

[riffsstrides]

Drifter

Flow

Edition Records, released July 17, 2015

Alexi Tuomarila: piano;

Nicolas Kummert: saxophone, vocals;

Axel Gilain: double bass, vocals;

Teun Verbruggen: drums. 

FLOW is the new album from the Belgium based quartet DRIFTER, co-led by Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila and Belgium saxophonist Nicolas Kummert, who won huge praise and acclaim across Europe and Australia as the Alexi Tuomarila Quartet in the early 2000’s. Tuomarila shared the stage with some of the biggest names in jazz and his international profile was rocketing when, without warning label Warner Jazz ditched all jazz and classical acts leaving the band without any clear management or career direction. In the following decade during which the pianist and saxophonist expanded their musical horizons with constant touring, the band’s special relationship was not forgotten and, finally, the time was right for both Tuomarila and Kummert to reform the original quartet with a new sense of purpose and energy under the new collective name of DRIFTER. This next phase in the quartet’s history sees the band fuse the youthful energy and vibrancy of ten years ago with the experience of a decade on tour playing with some of the biggest names on the European jazz scene. As Tuomarila explains: “The music means so much more now. Ten years ago, we were just playing tunes that we loved to play. Now the music comes from within us and somehow encapsulates the feelings of the last ten years: having our recording contract taken away, the development of our friendship as a band and the greater sense of purpose we all have in our lives. It’s so exciting for us’.Edition Records’ recording connection with Alexi go back to the release of his acclaimed trio album Seven Hills (2013), but as a label we’ve been fans of the quartet since they first emerged onto the European scene and have watched their separate careers with great interest in the intervening decade. So it is with great pleasure that we are able to work with the group and help restore them to their rightful place at the top of the European, and world, jazz tree. An album that’s set to excite existing fans across the globe and finally fulfill this fantastic band’s full potential.

Drifter’s music has been compared to that of pianists Keith Jarrett’s “European Quartet”, the much celebrated ensemble that featured saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen. That particular Jarrett group was notable for the lyrical, song like quality of Jarrett’s writing, the excellence of the soloing and the well balanced feel of the ensemble as a whole, qualities personified on the classic studio albums “Belonging” and “My Song”.

Drifter take something of the lyricism of the Jarrett group and their growing maturity also ensures that this too is a well balanced group with a distinctive sound and a tangible collective chemistry.

“Flow” is an enjoyable album that features some strong compositions and some exceptional playing, particularly from Tuomarila, a musician whose skill and imagination demands that he continues to be considered as one of Europe’s most exceptional piano soloists. I was also highly impressed with Verbruggen who drums with power and invention, his playing is consistently bright and imaginative as well as being highly supportive of his colleagues.

Ian Mann in The Jazzmann.com