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Eshed Korten Biolcati Kim: A Way Out
Forming the band name under which the album is being presented, Eshed Korten Biolcati & Kim are the last names of cast members who are each highly gifted musicians in their own right and sought-after New York-based collaborators. Their individual strengths are presented in a balanced set of original modern jazz scores with a couple of standard-esque sketches sprinkled on top.
Massimo Biolcati
bassb.1972
Lionel Loueke
guitarb.1973
Wayne Shorter
saxophone1933 - 2023
Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
In light of tendencies traceable within much jazz music produced in the past decade or two, some ingredients here sound like familiar territory. Among them one will find a number of through-composed sequences, often graced with unison lines shared between pianist
Lex Korten
pianob.1994
Yoav Eshed
guitar
Jongkuk Kim
drums
Kurt Rosenwinkel
guitarb.1970
Praise, because of how adequately these players pay their influences respect. Praise, for the seamless way in which the group fuses familiar repertoire with its own character, resulting in a unique and exciting blend of the modern and the traditional. Praise, simply because the quartet's interplay flows like an unstoppable waterfall and sees each bar filled to the brim with nothing but energy and creativity.
Dark block chords on piano make quite an impression on opener "Rogue"—an urgently forward-driven exercise that brings to mind the melodicism found within pianist Aaron Park's language and a craving pace not unlike some of Kurt Rosenwinkel's hungrier cuts. But there's much versatility to this quartet and the album's diverse array of styles and sounds isn't always in need of references but can stand on its own. The title track, penned by Korten, takes the group to post-bop territory while introducing counteracting lines within a softer sound world. Korten's impeccable musicianship and characterful playing can be marveled at during an extensive piano solo his sidemen accompany with deft swing.
The guitarist's balladic contribution "Piano Rain" is a sonic highlight of the record, demonstrating the transparent scope of the recording while presenting the group in a more restrained light, whereas "It Might As Well be Spring"—the only real standard of the session—paints the ensemble in another entirely different shade. Leaving modern idioms behind, the four rely on old-school bop and swing language that sees them increasingly meld together, forming a single organism that competently juggles impulses back and forth throughout a dynamic seven-minute arc.
Counterpoint phrases and a whiff of dissonance prove to be rhetorical devices Korten is prone to, as the pianist's other, nimble-fingered contribution, "The Time In Between" proves—singling his compositional approach out as an especially distinct kind.
Joe Zawinul
keyboards1932 - 2007
Kenny Wheeler
flugelhorn1930 - 2014
Bill Frisell
guitar, electricb.1951
Dave Holland
bassb.1946
"Frog Mode," the second Eshed-penned contribution, closes the proceedings with gentle sound and jaunty interplay. This time around the guitarist borrows baroque counterpoint as a defining technique—the piece being based on the Phrygian church mode—and pushes the quartet to its classical boundaries, while the core continues to swing.
Eshed Korten Biolcati and Kim undoubtedly share a special chemistry and deliver an inspired debut record that plays it safe enough to sound pleasant to the ear, but reveals daring enough where it needs to be in order to stand out from a crowd of projects with a similar sonic objective. Their immaculate instrumental abilities and seemingly implicit understanding of one another of course help them on the way. A Way Out is a great record and this group would miss out on something even more special if they stopped here. ">
Track Listing
Rogue; A Way Out; Piano Rain; Young And Fine; It Might As Well Be Spring; The Time In Between; Nicolette; Frog Mode.
Personnel
Album information
Title: A Way Out | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Sounderscore
Tags
Eshed Korten Biolcati Kim
Album Review
Friedrich Kunzmann
A Way Out
Sounderscore
Massimo Biolcati
Lionel Loueke
Wayne Shorter
Herbie Hancock
Lex Korten
Yoav Eshed
Jongkuk Kim
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Aaron Park
Joe Zawinul
Kenny Wheeler
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