What is classical? And where is the boundary with jazz or world music? It has become difficult to define these concepts. The lines are sometimes so vague. That's why 2 new albums in which Marius Gjersø and Stephan Micus flirt with different musical genres and call the traditional classification into question.
On his debut solo album Yūgen, Norwegian trumpeter Marius Gjersø brings together acoustic and electronic music. What stands out is that this CD is listed in both the jazz and classical distribution lists. This already proves how difficult it is to place this album in just one category. If I had to describe this music in one word, it would be "atmospheric". The electronics unfold an atmospheric sound world. With this layered cosmos as a backdrop, Gjersø improvises on his trumpet. Through texture and tone color, he creates a kind of musical meditation. Free from time and space, you are embraced by the sounds.
Jazz musician Stephan Micus also experiments with texture and tone color as a starting point. On his latest album Thunder, he brings together different musics from all over the world. Each piece is named after a different thunder god. From the Mesopotamian Ishkur to the ancient Greek Zeus and from the Slavic Perun to the Chinese Leigong. What unites them on this album is not only thunder but also a four-meter-long Dungchen (a Tibetan brass instrument). It was the timbre of this instrument that inspired Micus to create this album and to dedicate it to thunder. He explores the musical possibilities of this enormous wind instrument and places them in a meditative sound landscape. Once again, as a listener, you are swept along and immersed in an unusual sonic bath.
The sound worlds of these two artists translate into totally different sonorities. Yet they share a similar starting point: playing with tone color and weaving different textures. They push the boundaries of the possible and through sound experiments they create a unique audio panorama.
Returning to the question: is this classical, jazz or world music? No idea. But perhaps the answer is irrelevant. What can be confirmed with clarity, however, is the quality of their music. With fine sonic nuances, they each in their own way know how to push the boundaries.
4.5/5
- WHO: Marius Gjersø [trumpet & live electronics]
- WHAT: Yūgen
- LABEL: NXN Recordings NXN4006
- ORDER: JPC
4/5
- WHO: Stephan Micus
- WHAT: Thunder
- LABEL: ECM ECM2757
- ORDER: JPC