«Before You Go», the duo album of Dutch pianist Diederik Wissels and Greek, Brussels-based Andreas Polyzogopoulos (known from the Tania Giannouli Trio) may be interpreted as an open letter to a virus. The album was recorded at Igloo Studio in Brussels, in October 2020, when inspiration, energy, emotions and vision were affected by the global pandemic. Wissels and Polyzogopoulos decided to stay positive and become stronger despite the troublesome times. Unexpectedly strong.

Wissels and Polyzogopoulos began to work as a duo in 2019 and had envisioned «Before You Go» as a journey, inspired by William Faulkner saying: «you cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore». The atmosphere of the album is of European chamber jazz, often associated with the ECM school of Nordic Jazz, lyrical and contemplative, ethereal and spacious with lush Mediterranean flavors and subtle electronics.

Wissels is the main composer and tends to sketch simple but highly expressive melodies. His melancholic and suggestive title-piece that opens and closes the album and is performed again in another, third variation in the middle of the album, captures beautifully the current unsettling times. Wissels and Polyzogopoulos are perfect partners, attentive to every nuance, and opt for a reserved yet expressive interplay. The moving ballads «Pieta» and «Masks», the elegiac «Remember!» and «Lost» and the Mediterranean sensual dance «Isla De Lobos» will linger on long after «Before You Go» is gone.

Fortunately, this sonic vaccination for Wissels and Polyzogopoulos’ comforting journey is already available.

Eyal Hareuveni  

Diederik Wissels (p), Andreas Polyzogopoulos (tp, flh, elec)