HØBAMA is the trio of Danish trumpeter Claus HØjensgård, who recently completed a two-years residency in Bologna, with Italian drummer Nelide BAndello and fellow-Italian, keyboards player Emanuele MAniscalco, known from The Third Reel trio and his collaborations with guitarist Mark Solborg, who studied in Copenhagen but recently returned to Bologna. The trio draws its inspiration from the free, chamber jazz of the early sixties and especially from seminal trio of Jimmy Giuffre with young pianist Paul Bley and bass player Steve Swallow, but refreshes this aesthetics with Scandinavian airiness and the Italian subtleties.

The trio debut album was recorded in Bologna in april 2017 after a short Italian tour and released as a vinyl with download option. The spirit of this album is lyrical and indeed airy, but more on the contemplative side than on the melancholic one. Højensgård warm, expressive voice suggests the core ideas of each piece. Maniscalco vintage electric keyboards resonate gently these ideas and adds fragile nuances while Bandello colors the emphatic interplay with more detail.

The trio offers elegant and touching melodies as «Tumbleweed», but most of the short pieces are based on spontaneous improvisations. These pieces – «Animated House», «Worth Now-There» and «Senza Fiori» – sketch more tense, sometimes even mysterious cinematic narratives.

A promising debut.

Eyal Hareuveni

Claus Højensgård (tp), Emanuele Maniscalco (keys), Nelide Bandello (dr)