The Millennial Generation brings a different shade to the tradition of jazz, shown on these latest releases.
Yokada, consisting of Alex Zethson/p, Johan Berthling/b and Johan Holmegard/dr deliver original compositions. The overall mood is of sepia tones, reflective and thoughtful with everyone taking a part in percussion and melody as on the galloping “Faceless” and the melancholic “Henry’s Vacation” with a thoughtful bass pulse. The team gets up beat as they charge forward on “Repeat, Dance, Forget” and charge with abandon on the modal “Every Impossible Rebellion” as Holmegard crashes and burns, while Zethson is reflective on the contemplative “Cloudspotting.” Long shadows.
Clay Harper sings with a gravitas voice on this album that mixes folksy and funky moods with a rotating team of piano, bass, drums, guitar, percussion and strings. Quirky moments brood along during “Stephanie Sleeps” and a dash of twangy country is deliverd on “We Still Have Time” and minstrel moments abound during “The Kindness of Strangers” and “Let Me Sleep I’m So Tired.” The gospely title track and 70s funk of “Friday San Francisco” make the album feel like a collection of intriguing sketches in search of a center of gravity for the compass.
Pianist/composer Demian Coca teams with the woodwind section of Antoine Humberset/fl, Benjamin Knecht/as, Nicolas Gurtner/ts-bcl and Balthasar Hurner/g, Marius Meier/b with Adrian Bockli/dr for a collection of rich harmonic dramas. The mix of Coca’s elegiac piano with the fluffy horns creates rich moods on “Illimani” and the tender “Piedreas” while Bockli gently pushing the sounds forward as Meier bows with aplomb on the dramatic “K’antus” and the driving “Pueblo.” Hurner’s chunky chords make for a mscular “Celeste” while the airy “Coroico mixes cirrus clouds of sound with galloping hoofs of energy. Clever and attractive on many levels.