(ECM)
Disappointments, even honourable ones, don't usually warrant inclusion over better offerings among the limited column-inches jazz secures. But since Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick, a regular member of genre-bending cult band Jaga Jazzist, has been a creative sideman for others ? notably guitarist Jacob Young on 2004's Evening Falls, and bassist Lars Danielsson's 2009 Tarantella ? a misfire is worth investigating. This set breaks ECM's usual quick-take, played-as-live house-rules, conceived instead over five weeks by the versatile Eick (playing vibes, guitar and bass as well as trumpet) as a series of sketches subsequently filled out by guests, including the superb Jan Garbarek-influenced saxophonist Tore Brunborg. The pop-recording approach may have conspired with Eick's song-shaped melodic sense to impart Skala's elevator-music feel. Though there are vivid moments, such as the wraithlike tenor sax on the Latin-swaying title track, Day After, and the finale to Epilogue with its racing Pat Metheny Group feel, Eick mostly couples his warm, softly flaring sound very closely to unmemorable pop-ballad melodies. A Joni Mitchell-dedicated theme hints at Kenny Wheeler's wistful elegance, but it still doesn't shake off the sense that each trumpet phrase is filling a space rather than probing it.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/24/mathias-eick-skala-review
Ana Paula Lemes Vanessa Simmons Chyler Leigh Julie Berry Lori Heuring
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