The Danish, Aarhus-based quartet Jacob D’s Tukaan was founded during the Covid-19 pandemic by local hero, reeds player-composer Jacob Rønne Danielsen (he plays the tenor sax and bass and contrabass clarinets), known from the Admiral Awesome trio and the local big bands Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and Blood, Sweat, Drum and Bass, with, keyboards player Dan Hjorth Jensen, bassist Frederik Sakham Lomborg (known from Bagland) and drummer John Riddell.

The self-titled album feature eight songs that are based on common stories from modern life and take the listener on adventures and inner journeys. Jacob D knows how to compose smart, accessible and uplifting melodies, often with a humorous twist. The opening piece «It’s Not a Samba», demonstrates his approach by taking the familiar Brazilian genre into a walk in the chilly Nordic soundscapes.

These melodic songs-stories highlight the emphatic and playful dynamics of Jacob D’s Tukaan as well as the charismatic leadership of Danielsen and the promising potential of this band. The atmosphere of the album is calm and leisured, delivered beautifully in the aptly titled songs «Dreaming in the Comfy Chair» and «She Lay Sleeping», with the quartet shifting to a lyrical, gentle chamber jazz mode, or with a more melancholic vibe on «Collector of Mourning Souls» and «Orphan Child». But this band can also swing hard with the driving pulse of «Blue Monster» and «Like a River».

Eyal Hareuveni 

Jacob Rønne Danielsen (ts, bcl, contrabasscl), Frederik Sakham Lomborg (b), John Riddell (dr), Dan Hjorth Jensen (Wurlitzer, p)