Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Nadje Noordhuis: Full Circle

Nadje Noordhuis: Full Circle

By Chris May
December 2, 2022
View read count

In terms of an honest assessment of an artist's qualities, press releases are rarely worth the paper they are no longer printed on. An exception is the release accompanying Australian-born, New York-based trumpeter and composer Nadje Noordhuis' exquisitely lyrical Full Circle. It is an exception partly because it is written by

Elan Mehler

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Elan Mehler, the artistic director of audiophile label Newvelle Records and a pianist who first blew the mind of this reviewer with his quietly sensational sophomore album, The After Suite (Brownswood), back in 2009.

More to the point, it is an exception because Mehler's observations are spot on. "There's a feeling I get listening to Nadje Noordhuis' music that perhaps everything will be OK after all," writes Mehler at the top of the page. Five hundred words later, he concludes: "There's a very clear point of view in this music. A perspective hard-earned but not at all jaded. [It is] suffused with the knowledge that things will be alright. If we bring beauty to the world, the world will come and greet it."

Those five hundred words tell the story of Noordhuis' struggle, as a woman, to be accepted as a brass player, and the fact that her eureka moment regarding choice of instrument(s) came a year into her time at college in Melbourne when she was tasked with transcribing "Kind Folk" from

Kenny Wheeler

flugelhorn
1930 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Wheeler's chef d'oeuvre, Angel Song (ECM, 1998).

Roll all that data together and there is enough information to get into Noordhuis' ballpark. If in any doubt, factor in the accompanying rhythm section: pianist

Fred Hersch

piano
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Hersch, bassist

Thomas Morgan

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Morgan and drummer

Rudy Royston

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Rudy Royston. Yes, here is another quietly sensational little masterpiece to file alongside Wheeler's.

Full Circle is the concluding release in the quartet of albums Newvelle has issued in autumn/winter 2022 under the title the Renewal Collection. First up was Elan Mehler's own There Is A Dance, followed by

Michael Blake

saxophone, tenor
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Blake's Combobulate and

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman's Trust And Honesty. Quietly sensational describes each of them, though Blake's is at times closer to rambunctiously sensational.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Little Song; Hudson; Northern Star; Entwine; Full Circle; Ventura; Braidwood; Nebula.

Personnel

Nadje Noordhuis

trumpet

Fred Hersch

piano

Thomas Morgan

bass, acoustic

Rudy Royston

drums

Additional Instrumentation

Nadje Noordhuis: trumpet, flugelhorn.

Album information

Title: Full Circle | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Newvelle Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Chris May's Best Albums Of 2022
< Previous

While We Wait For A Brand New Day
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.