This follow-up to 2019’s debut brings together the successful combo of Nils Landgren/tb-voc, Michael Wollny/p, Lars Danielsson/b-cdl and Wolfgang Haffner/dr melding intelligently pop vocals with jazz foundations.
The foursome mixes originals with pop hits as well, with Landgren’s baritone in a bluesy mood on Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years”, while his trombone is chamberlike with Wollny on the S&G “Sounds of Silence”. “Spring Dance” has Wollny driving hard, while Elton John’s “Your Song” is assured and relaxing with Wollny and Landgren in control. The team gallops through their own “Chapter II” and are elegiac Sting’s “Fields of Gold”. The team is a bit poppish as Danielsson’s cello yearns on “April Rain” and the team gets funky on “Sunrise”. Is popular jazz an oxymoron?