Bobo Stenson Trio
Contra La Indecisión
ECM
★★★☆☆
Joachim Kühn New Trio
Love & Peace
Act
★★★☆☆
Keith Jarrett may be the keyboard star of ECM records, but Bobo Stenson is its pianistic backbone. Since 1971 the sensitive Swede has been abetting such label-mates as Charles Lloyd, Jan Garbarek and Tomasz Stańko, while releasing the occasional acclaimed album under his own name. On his first recording as leader in six years, he reminds us of his skill at finding joy within sorrow and vice versa.
Erik Satie isn’t often exuberant, yet Stenson’s trio turn his Élégie into swinging sunshine. Conversely, Béla Bartók’s festive Wedding Song becomes a wintry wander through a haunted forest of gongs and chimes. Finally, Silvio Rodríguez’s instantly loveable title track could almost be Dave Grusin-style smooth jazz. Yet Stenson skews its upwardly mobile mood with anxious blue notes and hesitancies.
The German keyboard artist Joachim Kühn was born in the same year as Stenson (1944) and shares the Swede’s interests in melody and mystery. However, a large chunk of his career was spent playing in American fusion bands under Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker and others. The rock testosterone lingers in this acoustic trio set, yet subtleties can be found. Few can pound a piano with as much sophistication.
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Kühn’s original tune Mustang is like The Blue Danube on steroids, the booming left hand questioning the necessity of a drummer. On the frantic Phrasen, Kühn attacks the keyboard flamboyantly against an ominous Afro beat. Yet he tangos romantically on Mussorgsky’s Le Vieux Château and turns the Doors’ The Crystal Ship into a blues with pulse and profundity. A big sound, but with hidden depths.
