Bassface Swing Trio – Bossa, Ballads and Blues (Stockfisch DMM 180g Vinyl LP)

Weightlessly light, yet grounded: that’s how the music on the new album from Bassface Swing Trio sounds. One has never heard this trio with such relaxed and airy arrangements. Bassist Jean-Philippe Wadle plucks bass lines that are as soft as clouds, Florian Hermann plays his drums with controlled restraint, Thilo Wagner shows himself as lyrical pianist on the classy Fazioli piano. For this session they invited Bruno Müller, one of Germany’s most renowned jazz guitarists, and it was worth it! Whether it’s the playful standard “Stardust”, the relaxed bossa “Estate”, the dreamy ballad “The Shadow of Your Smile”, or the bluesy piece “Georgia on My Mind”: these four musicians casually and gently celebrate the classics of jazz history, adding emotional depth and a subtly perceptible swing feeling. Guitarist Bruno Müller is a perfect fit for the swing trio with his warm guitar sound. His improvisations project a delicate sparkle. The fact that they recorded these tracks live through an analog chain with the Neumann VMS-82 lathe cutting a DMM-Matrix in real-time shows at what a high-level these musicians are playing. Direct-To-Disc: honest music with no safety net and no ground. The listeners experience a maximally authentic reproduction of the sounds of the instruments as the musicians elevate swing-standards into the sphere of timeless beauty.

– Udo Hinz