Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kaja Draksler / Susana Santos Silva: This Love

Kaja Draksler / Susana Santos Silva: This Love

By John Sharpe
January 22, 2016
View read count

Kaja Draksler / Susana Santos Silva: This Love

Slovenian pianist

Kaja Draksler

piano
b.1987

" data-original-title="" title="">Kaja Draksler and Portuguese trumpeter

" data-original-title="" title="">Susana Santos Silva came together at Lisbon's Culturgest in March 2015 to create This Love. While it's their first duet album, they've been making music together in various groups since 2008, first in the European Movement Jazz Orchestra, an international big band of young up-coming musicians, and later in short-lived units like Cows in Trees. Apart both boast burgeoning discographies with Draksler's solo The Lives Of Many Others (Clean Feed, 2013) attracting favorable attention, while Silva's ten dates as leader or co-leader include a brace with her LAMA trio with guest reedmen

Chris Speed

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Speed and

Joachim Badenhorst

clarinet
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Joachim Badenhorst.

In a program comprising two pieces from the pen of each woman, bookended by a pair of jointly credited improvisations, the overwhelming impression is of intimate dialogue shot through with space. Near telepathic execution brings to mind the correspondingly constituted duet of pianist

Satoko Fujii

piano
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Satoko Fujii and trumpeter

Natsuki Tamura

trumpet
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Natsuki Tamura, especially in the vamps and exploration of novel timbres. However the lyrical sensibility which forms an additional distinguishing trait here comes out even in the most unscripted situations, such as the minor key trumpet strain extemporized amid the unearthly string scrapes and resonance on the concluding "You Persevere."

Similarly wide ranging in her influences, Draksler often revels in the contrasts between different voices. Not only between the registers as expected, evidenced by the wistful title track, where her right hand runs sparkle like pinpricks of light against the prevailing darker patterns in the bass, but also between percussive attack on the piano body and manipulations of the strings and interior, which grounds "Hymn To The Unknown." That particular number also bears further testament to the shared love of melody as a Satie-esque air emerges from the taps and flutters, which Silva picks up on too for a lovely ending.

Even when only one instrument is in play, the ethos is to extend the overall mood rather than construct an individual statement. But it is in close tandem that they achieve the most affecting impact. Each cut presses the point. On "Laurie" interaction fluctuates between call and response and echoing phrases. It starts with a bubbling trumpet hum, before a questioning piano figure joins, then sweeping glissandos prompt a flurry of trumpet reveilles in reply.

Silva fosters unostentatious technique which mixes legato distortion, quivering tremolos and repeated motifs. She notably performs a beautiful series of yearning yelps on flugelhorn which reverberate and decay through the piano soundboard on the pensive "Forgotten Lands." Such mercurial give and take reaches its peak on "Foolish Little Something" where careening trumpet doubles roller coaster piano until fragmenting into more of the open interplay which makes this disc such a pleasure.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Laurie; This Love; Hymn to the Unknown; Foolish Little Something; Forgotten Lands; You Persevere.

Personnel

Kaja Draksler

piano

Kaja Draksler: pianoforte; Susana Santos Silva: tromba, flicorno.

Album information

Title: This Love | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Tuning Out
< Previous

Invitation
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.