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Johanna Burnheart: B?r

By Chris May
June 7, 2024
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German-born London-based violinist, singer and composer Johanna Burnheart made a big impact fast on the Britain's underground jazz scene. After graduating from Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2018, and before the pandemic shut things down, she played on three significant albums: spiritual-jazz band

Maisha

" data-original-title="" title="">Maisha's There Is A Place (Brownswood, 2018), trombonist

Rosie Turton

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Rosie Turton's 5ive (Jazz Re:freshed, 2019) and trumpeter

Yazz Ahmed

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Yazz Ahmed's Polyhymnia (Ropeadope, 2019). Then, in autumn 2020, Burnheart released her own-name debut, Burnheart (Ropeadope), which she co-produced with Yazz Ahmed's producer, flugelhornist

Noel Langley

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Noel Langley.

A high-voltage fusion of jazz and electronic dance music, Burnheart was like nothing else coming out of London then (or now). Its sole comparator was the work of another violinist, Norway's

Ola Kvernberg

violin
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Ola Kvernberg, who had also been influenced by edm (as well as, by the sound of it, industrial quantities of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine). Kvernberg's sonic vision touched on the orchestral, while Burnheart fronted a quartet, albeit a precisely arranged one. But there was a considerable overlap. Neither musician, incidentally, was aware of the other (until introduced by AAJ's matchmaking bureau in 2021). Kvernberg's 2xLP Steamdome II: The Hypogean (Grappa, 2021) is highly recommended.

Now, in June 2024, Burnheart has released her second album, B?r. And it is a slam-dunk winner, developing the blueprint set out on its predecessor. Langley returns, co-producing with Burnheart. The quartet is expanded to a septet, with a new drummer,

Ben Brown

drums
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Brown, a second bassist,

Twm Dylan

bass, electric

" data-original-title="" title="">Twm Dylan, a second keyboard player,

Al Macsween

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Al Macsween and, in a particularly inspired expansion of the palette, a vibraphonist,

Jonny Mansfield

vibraphone
b.1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Jonny Mansfield. Synth player

David Swan

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">David Swan and bassist

Jonny Wickham

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Jonny Wickham return. Eight of the tracks are written or co-written by Burnheart, and a ninth is a cover of Billy Barnes' "Something Cool."

Burnheart's work is strikingly her own, but it carries resonances of two other musicians in addition to Kvernberg. There are the complex interlocking drum and bass patterns which defined composer

Nik Bärtsch

piano
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Nik B?rtsch's Japanese-inspired "zen funk" in the 2000s, and more recently, bassist, singer and composer

Ruth Goller

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Ruth Goller's otherworldly Skylla (Vula Viel, 2021) and Skyllumina (International Anthem, 2024). Burnheart's wordless vocals on the new album's brief opening track, "Rix," resemble Goller's overdubbed-choral work on Skyllumina, and Burnheart's use of the bass equals Goller's in sophistication and textural exactitude, with B?r's two bassists between them playing electric bass, double bass and synth bass.

On the aforementioned cover of "Something Cool," the title song of

June Christy

vocals
1925 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">June Christy's 1954 debut album (Capitol), Burnheart also reveals herself to be a drop-dead-cool classic-style jazz chanteuse straight out of a Raymond Chandler film script (who knew?). The track is atypical of the rest of B?r but it is so good, and so unexpected, that is the featured YouTube below.

P.S. An interview Burnheart gave to AAJ when Burnheart was released in 2020 can be found here.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Rix; Falke; Botlierskop; Above The World's End; Ems; Something Cool; Cylla Burna; Clemen; Fossa Offekonis.

Personnel

Johanna Burnheart

violin

Al Macsween

piano

David Swan

piano

Jonny Mansfield

vibraphone

Jonny Wickham

bass, acoustic

Twm Dylan

bass, electric

Ben Brown

drums

Additional Instrumentation

Johanna Burnheart: violin, voice; Al MacSween: keyboards, synthesizers; Johnny Wickham: double bass, synth bass; Ben Brown: drums, percussion; Noel Langley: flugelhorn, conch shells (4).

Album information

Title: B?r | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Self Produced

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