Zhenya Strigalev & Federico Dannemann - The Change (2019)

Alto saxophone genius Zhenya Strigalev and guitarist Federico Dannemann are not working together on "The Change" for the first time. Anyone who still remembers "Blues for Maggie" knows about the fascinating interaction that the two top musicians have on each other, and for this reason, one could expect a lot as a jazz-affine listener in the run-up to the release.

The leading duo has teamed up for their eight new original compositions - each of which has composed four of the pieces - with an equally outstanding rhythm section, bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Obed Calvaire, as well as a studio in St. Petersburg, Russia (Dobrolet). to record "The Change", where the material was also mixed. The mastering, on the other hand, was in the British hands, and somehow all of these factors actually give a musical picture of East-West relations of the other, very artful kind.

In short, "The Change" is a showcase album for contemporary combo jazz. As classic as the occupation of saxophone and guitar may be, Strigalev and Dannemann show themselves so innovative in their witty pieces. until the final highlight of "The Change", the rhythmically distorted, with cheeky saxophone melodies shiny 'Pank', the two have played around virtuously time after time - sometimes anharmonisch, which provides interesting points of friction - with the justification of his title ' Speed ​​Up 'Funk-Gefilde striped and sometimes even rocked properly.

The duo succeeds not least thanks to drummer Calvaire, who has a very modern, powerful punch to which also the temporarily distorted and shrill string sounds fit, to which Dannemann can be carried away. So casual, one often wishes for this kind of music, which is often still considered elitist, more often.