Who says jazz isn’t world music? On saxophonist Oded Tzur’s meditative Here Be Dragons, recorded in Italy, we have an Israeli playing East Indian–inflected music on an instrument invented by a Belgian in the context of American jazz. With Tobias Hoffmann’s lively Retrospective, recorded in Vienna, we have a native German writing tunes rooted in American jazz, playing an instrument invented by a Belgian, and working with Swiss and Austrian musicians. Unlike football, baseball, or the United States Constitution, jazz has rooted itself in the imagination of people everywhere, just like its progenitor, the blues, and its younger siblings, R&B, soul, and rock and roll.

Oded Tzur
Here Be Dragons (ECM)
A review
The first thing that may strike you about Israeli saxophonist Oded Tzur’s album Here Be Dragons is how much he sounds like a flutist. It’s not surprising when you discover that Tzur, who comes out of the lively Israeli jazz scene, spent the last 13 years studying extensively with India’s bansuri master Hariprasad Chaurasia and developing a unique technique on his instrument. His sax glides through the music with a fluidity and microtonal control that owes much to the subtle intricacies of the classical Indian tradition. In places, such as the piece “Miniature 3,” the brass instrument magically takes on the distinctively grassy tone of a bamboo flute. His compositions—there are seven originals on the album, with one cover—are based on ragas, both traditional and DIY, and they develop in a manner that is more horizontally than vertically oriented. He is joined by a most sympathetic trio of sidemen—Nitai Hershkovitz on piano, Petros Klampanis on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums—who ably support the album’s subdued and meditative atmosphere and help Tzur marry Indian and jazz sensibilities. The title track (based on a Tzur raga), opens the proceedings in a slow, measured tempo with mystery and melancholy, the latter of which is assuaged by a comforting Klampanis solo. “To Hold Your Hand” (based on the Indian Charukesi scale) slowly simmers with a nice consistent heat and features quick, calligraphic brushstrokes of notes from the piano in a fine solo. The piano details on the elegiac “20 Years” are also noteworthy. Three miniatures—solo pieces for piano, bass, and sax—offer a sensitive, reflective interlude before “The Dream” (based on a Tzur raga) animates the mood with anticipatory excitement. The album closes with an inspired choice of a cover: “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” forever associated with Elvis, offers a stately expression of tenderness and a perfect close for the album.

Tobias Hoffmann Nonet
Retrospective (Alessa Records)
A review
Out of the blue came an email from the award-winning German saxophonist, composer, and arranger Tobias Hoffmann. Based in Vienna and previously unknown to me, Hoffmann asked if I’d like to have a listen to his new album, Retrospective. I’m happy to report that my yes introduced me to a worthy and confident musician whose animated album, offering 10 original compositions performed by a well-synched nonet, is full of light, clarity, an astute blending of instrumental textures, and engaging rhythms. Since 2014, Hoffmann has been coleading and conducting the Spittelberg Jazz-Orchestra for which he also works as a composer and arranger. You can hear that experience in the way he rubs the nonet’s parts against one another. His strong postbop writing and arranging and the superior talents of the musicians, who get plenty of room to blow, keep your ears continuously on their happy toes. Among the highlights is the funky “Procrastinator,” which paints a portrait of self-inflicted nervous anxiety with a panicked bass clarinet solo, a trombone solo that attempts to convince you that all is not lost, and a final burst of crazed guitar that perfectly reflects the final frantic rush. The upbeat “Who’s to Blame” features sharp rhythmic punctuation, a fluid bari solo, and a hard bop piano solo, while the tender “Remembrance” bestows a posthumous honor on a departed friend. “Frülingserwachen” (“Spring Awakening”) captures the delicacy and determination of green shoots and, in the opening piano, our gratitude for the returning sun. “Horns Alone,” which is exactly that, offers a hymnlike blessing, and those same horns rub against one another both rhythmically and melodically in the peaceful closer, “Am Ende des Tages,” with a fine solo from Hoffmann. The disciplined and inventive musicians include Hoffmann (tenor sax), Simon Plötzeneder (trumpet and flugelhorn), Stefan Gottfried (alto sax), Daniel Holzleitner (trombone) Fabian Ruckner (bass clarinet, baritone sax), Christopher Pawluk (guitar), Philipp Nykrin (piano), Andreas Waelti (bass), and Michael Prowaznik (drums).
Here’s a video of the title track, courtesy of Mr. Hoffmann, whose solo makes me think he’s been listening to Wayne Shorter:

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© 2020 Mel Minter