INTAKT RECORDS – REVIEWS

ALEXANDER  HAWKINS – SOFIA JERNBERG
MUSHO

Intakt CD 420 / 2023

Cover Web:ALEXANDER  HAWKINS – SOFIA JERNBERG: MUSHO. Intakt CD 420

 

 

Musho (Intakt CD 420) zeigt den Pianisten ALEXANDER HAWKINS in einem ganz besonderen Duett, nämlich mit Liedern, die SOFIA JERNBERG anstimmt mit ihrer beim Fire! Orchestra angehimmelten Stimme. Wobei sie mir mit The End noch mehr ans Herz fasste.

Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Newsletter, March 2024 (DE)


Der britische Pianist Alexander Hawkins (42) mag den Austausch in Duos. Neustes Beispiel ist dieses Album mit der schwedischen Vokalistin Sofia Jernberg (40), die auch gern musikalische Grenzen auslotet. Für «Musho» interpretiert das Duo Lieder aus Jernbergs Geburtsland Äthio-pien, aus Armenien, England und Schweden. Aus der Begegnung von Stimme und Piano resultieren einladende Klangwelten zwischen Ur-musik und seelischen Echo-räumen.

Frank von Niederhäusern, Kulturtipp Magazine, Switzerland, April 2024 (DE)


Musho è il titolo del nuovo raffinato e profondo disco, in uscita presso l’etichetta Intakt Records, del grande pianista e compositore britannico Alexander Hawkins e della cantante Sofia Jernberg, anche se il termine “cantante” appare molto riduttivo. Un lavoro, a suo modo, strabiliante per originalità ed equilibrio e che affonda le radici nella musica etnica di paesi come l’Etiopia, l’Armenia, la Svezia, la Gran Bretagna. Sempre più spesso la musica di ricerca, il jazz e la musica cosiddetta “colta”, o sperimentale, attingono a piene mani dall’immenso patrimonio della musica etnica. Questa non può che essere un’eccellente notizia per due ordine di motivi: il primo è che ispirarsi a un tale patrimonio significa farlo vivere o rivivere, significa quindi non “museificarlo”, nel senso più deteriore del termine; il secondo è riferibile invece alla musica contemporanea che, spesso anche se non sempre, sembra essere priva di contenuto o quanto meno di contenuti profondi, appartenenti ad un sapere o ad un sentire comune, spesso a vantaggio di una ricerca di una sterile e non meglio identificata “originalità”, musica che qualche volta sembra essere addirittura un involucro vuoto, un contenitore senza contenuto, un puro formalismo, una astrusa banalità.

Mario Grella, Off Topic Magazine, April 19 2024 (IT)


Co w jazzie piszczy [sezon 2 odcinek 19]

Donos kulturalny, May 29 2024 (PL)


Der promovierte Kriminologe und Jurist Alexander Hawkins ist der vermutlich gefragteste Pianist der jüngeren britischen Improvisationsszene - man denke an sein Orgeltrio mit Steve Noble und John Edwards, seine Zusammenarbeit mit John Butcher, Evan Parker oder dem London Improvisers Orchestra, aber auch an seine Duoaufnah-men mit Angelika Niescier, Tomeka Reid und Nicole Mit-chell.

Ulrich Rüdenauer, Jazz Podium Magazine, June 2024 (DE)


Sofia Jernberg and Alexander Hawkins first performed together at Amsterdam's Bimhuis in 2016, under the name Musho - an Amharic word meaning 'sad song. Jerberg's work frequently takes her to the outer edges of vocal technique, while Hawkins does much the same on his chosen instrument. The pair are thus extremely well suited to each other.

Kevin Whitlock, Jazzwise Magazine UK, June 2024 (DE)


En amharique, le mot « Musho » renvoie à une chanson triste, une élégie, une complainte funéraire… De l’Éthiopie, il est beaucoup question ici. D’abord, car la chanteuse Sofia Jernberg – son nom d’adoption ne l’indique pas – est d’origine éthiopienne et qu’elle y a voyagé adolescente. Ensuite, car la moitié des huit compositions présentées sont empruntées au répertoire musical éthiopien.

Eric Therer, Jazz Mania, June 18 2024 (FR)


Marta Sánchez Trio “Perpetual Void” z albumu „Perpetual Void” – Intakt Records

Donos kulturalny, May 29 2024 (PL)


From Fay Victor's Herbie Nichols: SUNG to Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg's Accept When, 2024 has been a strong year for the song in avant garde music. Both projects create magic by placing beautiful melodies in imaginative settings, with the songs suggesting multiple possibilities for improvisation. That same dynamic animates Musho, the first album from the duo of pianist Alexander Hawkins and vocalist Sofia Jernberg. Honed in concert, their inspired programme draws on Jernberg's Ethiopian and Swedish heritage, with detours to Armenia and Elizabethan England.

Stewart Smith, The Wire Magazine UK, July 2024 (EN)


David Toop a questo ispirato lavoro della cantante Svedese nata in Etiopia con il pianista inglese. Il focus del disco non è solo sullo sterminato repertorio del paese del corno d'Africa ma si estende anche alle tradizioni armena, svedese e inglese. Otto gioielli che brillano di luce limpida, canzoni d'amore e di dolore per la terra, per il mondo, che prendono spunto dalla storia, dalle migrazioni, dall'identità, per spiccare il volo, tra languori antichi, mai didascalici, suoni di piano preparato e la voce duttile della Jernberg che sa farsi strega e uccello come nella torrenziale Correct Behaviour, da lei stessa scritta. Nitida e dolente Groung, sinuosa e enigmatica Y'shebellu, solenne la ballad Willow, Willow, la canzone di Desdemona in Otello: ogni traccia qui è un posto pieno di vento, che va attraversato più volte, spalancando le finestre, aprendo gli occhi verso dentro.

Nazim Comunale, Blow Up Magazine, Italy, June 2024 (IT)


HOW gloriously syncretic is jazz! In this album of drama, lamentation, resistance and powerful artistry, Oxford-born pianist Alexander Hawkins and Ethiopia-born and Sweden-bred vocalist Sofia Jernberg play and sing with extraordinary cosmopolitanism, tunes and songs from Ethiopia, Armenia, Tudor England and medieval Sweden.

Chris Searle, Morning Star Online, August 27 2024 (EN)


Der Tenorsaxer OHAD TALMOR, der sein Spiel gelegentlich mit Bassklarinette, MiniMoog, Prophet 10 und Programming aufmöbelt, offeriert auf Back to the Land (Intakt CD 408, 2xCD) 'Accords' und 'Variations' als unerhörte Fundstücke aus dem Nachlass von Ornette Coleman. Neben dem 1986 mit Pat Metheny angestimmten 'Kathlyn Grey', 'New York' und 'Peace Warriors', das John Zorn 1988 auf „Spy vs. Spy

Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Newsletter, Sept 2024 (DE)


Neither Alexander Hawkins nor Sofia Jernberg is the kind of artist that one can pin down. The English keyboardist’s CV includes the free-improvising organ combo Decoy, composing for the London Symphony Orchestra, exploring the AACM legacy with Tomeka Reid and accompanying Ethio-jazz man Mulatu Astatke. The Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised singer has played chamber jazz with Fred Longberg-Holm, sung Schönberg with the ensemble Norbotten NEO, dueted with pianist Hailu Mergia and kicked out the jams with Mats Gustafsson’s Fire! Orchestra. Their shared experiences with Ethiopian eminences serve as a starting point, and they’ve named their project after a style of dirge that is performed at Ethiopian funerals. But Jernberg and Hawkins also perform English, Armenian and Swedish folk songs; the enactment and transcendence of grief, not the reproduction of a particular national repertoire, is the point of this profoundly moving album. To that end, each has placed restrictions upon their contributions. Jernberg keeps the extravagant potential of her extended technique on a tight leash, and while Hawkins does not similarly limit himself technically, he sticks to grand piano. His work under the lid turns the instrument into a harp and percussion ensemble on “Mannelig,” sympathetically framing the singer’s gentle expression of a courtship lyric fraught with interfaith and interspecies fault lines. They strip the words from the exile’s lament “Groung,” distilling it to an inconsolable melody. But not all is tragedy; when two musicians finally let loose on “Muziqawi Silt,” they refashion the Afrobeat anthem into a deeply personal expression of freedom.

Bill Meyer, Downbeat Magazine, USA, Sept 2024 (EN)


Those accustomed to hearing pianist Alexander Hawkins in bracing free jazz sessions might not be aware of his wide-ranging musical interests and broad musical resources. On Musho, he and vocalist Sofia Jernberg perform a series of mostly traditional tunes, drawing from English, Swedish, and various African song traditions. The title is apparently an Amharic word for “sad song.” Jernberg is active in European improvising circles, and this long-running duo makes its recording debut here.

Jason Bivins, Point Of Departure, September 2024 (EN)


Sofia Jernberg i Alexander Hawkins to zapewne jedne z najbardziej wielowymiarowych i ekspresyjnych osobowości muzycznych dzisiejszej sceny improwizowanej. Ona ze Szwecji, artystka z ogromnym powodzeniem badająca granice technik wokalnych w bardzo różnych kontekstach twórczych, od Pierrot Lunaire Schönberga, przez współprace z Trondheim Orchestra po Gustafssonowką Fire! Orchestra czy freeimprowizatorskie akty w towarzystwie Eve Risser czy Petera Evansa. On, brytyjski pianista, improwizator, nauczyciel często opisywany jako bezkonkurencyjny we współczesnej muzyce kreatywnej, innowator działający z równym powodzeniem jako lider własnych projektów czy towarzysz Anthony’ego Braxtona w jego standardowych eskapadach albo ceniony nauczyciel akademicki.

Maciej Karłowski, Jazzarium, September 2024 (PL)


Europe Jazz Media Chart - May 2024

Europe Jazz Media Chart - May 2024, Europe Jazz Network, (EN)


Club de Jazz 8/07/2024 || Como un pájaro: conversación con Alexander Hawkins

Patreon, July 2024, (EN)


Top-Pianist trifft spannendes Label Der studierte Jurist Alexander Hawkins zählt zu den spannendsten britischen Jazzmusikern, als Komponist für große Ensembles und als freier Improvisator in kleinen Gruppen.

WDR, July 2024, (DE)


This playlist is a case study in low-simmering and yet scorching music, handle with care!

Ludovico Granvassu, All about Jazz, October 22 2024 (EN)


Saxophonist Ohad Talmor has assembled a pool of collaborators, rather than a conventional ensemble, for this unique and fascinating record. The players include: Talmor (tenor, Prophet 10 and MiniMoog synthesizers); Shane Endsley, Russ Johnson and Adam O'Farrill (trumpets); Denis Lee (bass clarinet); Leo Genovese and David Virelles (piano and/or synthesizers); Joel Ross (vibraphone); Chris Tordini (bass); Eric McPherson (drums); plus Grégoire Maret (harmonica). There is no track that features every player, and Lee and Maret only appear once each.

Phil Freeman, The New York City Jazz Record, October 22 2024 (EN)


Nato a Oxford nel 1981, Alexander Hawkins è musicista di punta della propria generazione e della scena contemporanea internazionale. Persona di grande disponibilità e affabilità, è tra i pochissimi musicisti che nella sua fascia di età si confrontano in modo congruo al temperamento dei pionieri che dagli anni Sessanta in poi si sono avvicendati sulla scena della musica afroamericana. È costantemente chiamato a collaborare da questi personaggi per la sua duttilità stilistica, per la preparazione, per l'attitudine a esplorare, per la vasta competenza nei confronti di approcci e linguaggi differenti.

Artist Feature: Alexander Hawkins, by Giuseppe Segala, All About Jazz, November 25, 2024 (IT)


WELCHE MUSIK WIR ZUM FEST EMPFEHLEN

Best of 2024, Die Zeit, Switzerland, December 2024 (DE)


At festivals in Italy and Portugal in March and May of this year, I met and talked about music with Oxford pianist, organist, composer, bandleader and teacher Alexander Hawkins, who was premiering his new quintet and playing with Michael Formanek, Ricardo Toscano and Tim Berne. An avid record listener and fan, with tastes ranging from classical to global, soul, jazz and beyond, this passion led him to hosting the weekly radio program “Break a Vase” starting in 2023 (on mixcloud then reprised on the online radio station OneJazz), where he talks about favorite tracks selected for audiences to get acquainted with or revisit. Before he embarked on a series of dazzlingly diverse gigs in the US, from San Francisco to Ann Arbor, and then more shows in Europe, he agreed to browse through his shelves and extract seven discs that mean a lot to him, for any reason, be it influential pianism, production qualities, pure listening pleasure or composed works he finds baffling.

Artist Feature: Alexander Hawkins, by David Cristol, The Free Jazz Collective, October 26, 2024 (EN)


Sofia Jernberg & Alexander Hawkins, Musho (Intakt) I was fortunate to witness the first time singer Sofia Jernberg and pianist Alexander Hawkins performed together in Amsterdam at the October Meeting organized by former Bimhuis director Huub van Riel back in 2016. Jernberg is of Ethiopian descent and had worked with Hailu Mergia, while Hawkins continues to work regularly with Mulatu Astatke, so the two tunes they performed at their auspicious debut were from that nation’s rich repertoire. In the years since, however, the duo has expanded its material to include folk themes from as far afield as England, Armenia, and Scandinavia—to say nothing of an original tune by Jernberg that turns up on this stunning album.

Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street, January 27 2025 (EN)


 

 

back to top

HOME

Newsletter in English | Newsletter in German

Intakt Records Facebook icon

Digital Download Store

© 2024 Intakt Records | P.O. Box, 8024 Zürich, Switzerland | intakt@intaktrec.ch | +41 (0) 44 383 82 33