Så er vi straks inne i vintermånedene, og her er hva de europeiske jazzmagasinene har varmet seg på den senere tiden:

Christine Stephan, JAZZTHETIK:
NILS WÜLKER Decade (Warner)

Viktor Bensusan, jazzdergisi.com:
PETER BRÖTZMANN Saxophone Special (Naughty Dog)

Henning Bolte, Written in Music:
SUNGJAE SON/SUWUK CHUNG/YULHEE KIM/SOOJIN SUH Near East Quartet (ECM)

Anna Berglund, OrkesterJournalen:
SANNA RUOHONIEMI Start from Nothing (Eclipse Music)

Cim Meyer, Jazz Special:
MIKKEL PLOUG/MARK TURNER Faroe (Sunnyside)

Lars Mossefinn, Dag og tid:
ATOMIC Pet Variations (Odin Records)

Axel Stinshoff, Jazz thing:
JOHANNES ENDERS Endorphin (Enja)

Luca Vitali, Giornale della Musica:
HENRIKSEN/AARSET/BANG/FRENCH The Height Of The Reeds (Rune Grammofon)

Madli-Liis Parts , Muusika:
MERJE KÄGU ENSEMBLE When Silence Falls (Losen Records)

Paweł Brodowski, Jazz Forum:
ANNA MARIA JOPEK & BRANFORD MARSALIS Ulotne (AMJ 001)

Mike Flynn, Jazzwise:
FLYING MACHINES New Life (Ubuntu)

Anna Filipieva, Jazz.Ru:
WAYNE SHORTER Emanon (Blue Note)

Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts.eu:
HANNA PAULSBERG CONCEPT + MAGNUS BROO Daughter Of The Sun [Odin Records)

Why did I choose –
Cim Meyer:
Only guitar and tenor sax. A stunningly subdued performance by two musicians who have worked together regularly for ten years.

Paweł Brodowski:
The great American saxophonist joins the Polish jazz singer as co-partner on her newest double CD project released on her own label. The album’s title “Ulotne” means “Volatile”, referring perhaps to the transitory nature of music and the feelings which it tries to capture and reflect. Anna Maria sings, of courses, in Polish. The repertoire focuses on her jazz-tinged renditions of Polish folk melodies and her own folk inspired songs. Tomasz Stanko’s “A Farewell to Maria” is a tribute to the late icon of Polish jazz. In addition to the strong presence of Branford Marsalis, who excels on soprano saxophone, the album features Mino Cinelu on percussion and some of the top Polish jazz players, including Krzysztof Herdzin and Marcin Wasilewski on piano. Plus the ubiquitous Atom String Quartet.

Jan Granlie:
Hanna Paulsnerg and her band, Concept have made their best album to date with «Daughter Of The Sun.» Not only because they have gotten the Swedish trumpeter Magnus Broo as a guest. But as much that Paulsberg has found his place in the music. Her way of composing has grown a lot, and she appears as the strong band leader she is, without stepping on any of the other musicians feet. A record from a band I look forward to listen to the next time they show up. And a record with many roots in the jazz history with a lot of inspirations from South Africa, and with five musicians who follow each other all the way to the door in a brilliant way. Even in the bonus track, which comes after some seconds after the sixth track, where we get Grönberg and Paulsberg in a beautiful duet at the start, before Fiske and Hulbækmo comes in, is briliant. I do not quite know why this should be a bonus track, because it works well together with the other tracks as the whole, but maybe it’s a test for us to write about the album, if we bother to hear through the entire recording?

Victor Bensusan:
A real gem of European Free Jazz from 40 years ago in the then-western border of Eastern Europe. Tunes with no titles and until now an album with no physical CD. The line-up (or sax-up) will tell the rest of the story: Peter Brotzmann – sax, Evan Parker – sax, Willem Breuker – sax, Steve Lacy – sax, John Tchicai – sax, Klaus Koch – bass and Gunter “Baby” Sommer – drums.

Henning Bolte:
What you hear here is music taking time and enlarging space, music of a different beguiling pace – a conjunction of rare beauty.
It is music expanding and contracting, condensing and unloosening. It’s music that is raw and sophisticated, driving and lingering, ethereal and visceral, highly awake and traumverloren. What these two male and two female Korean musicians play is full of productive paradoxes generating a captivating sound world carrying listeners out far beyond known wavelengths. The music personally struck and seized me not least as (female) drummer Soojin Suh has listened deeply to the drumming of Paul Motian.