Veteran Danish, jazz double bass player Jens Jefsen and fellow-Jutalnd, jazz pianist Martin Schack like to play games with classic, loved melodies that stood the test of time. «Dust Shines» offers the duo interpretations to 14 classic melodies but do not try to enforce themselves on these melodies. You can feel warmth, the passion, sometimes even the passion and the pathos of the originals, but in reserved, saccharine-free doses that serve the melodies. Simply dusting off these worn-out melodies and letting them shine.

«Dust Shines» was recorded in one day session on June 2017 at Finland Studio at Aarhus. The interplay between Jefsen and younger Schack, who played before on Jefsen «Jam Me Up» (Gateway Music, 2014), is emphatic and unassuming, leaving enough space for each other. The duo avoids deliberately any signs of sentimentality even when it plays such emotional standards as «Can’t Help Falling in Love With You» and «Love Me Tender», often opts instead to radiate a sober, playful perspective. Similar approach is employed when the duo plays standard as «Lili Marlene», but this time Schack and Jefsen decide to trade the song’s burdensome pathos for a rhythmic, game-like improvisation on the melodic theme. Only «My Way» follows the overflowing pathos of the original version, as sung by Frank Sinatra and others, but dilutes the pathos doses to healthy, bearable ones. The only exception – George Harrison’s «While My Guitar Gently Weeps» loses its enigmatic, dramatic impact in a straight ahead jazz arrangement.

Eyal Hareuveni

Jens Jefsen (b), Martin Schack (p)