Regener Pappik Busch - Things To Come (2022) LP

Last year, Sven Regener, Richard Pappik and Ekki Busch, all three known as musicians in the group Element Of Crime, surprised us with their jazz record "Ask Me Now". Things To Come", the trio's second jazz album, will be released in May.

Actually, one could have assumed that the first album "Ask Me Now" by Regener Pappik Busch was just a musical excursion. But now the trio around Sven Regener, Richard Pappik and Ekki Busch, better known as Element Of Crime, has announced another album with "Things To Come". The second album of the thoroughbred musicians is also based on the concept: to interpret classics of modern jazz in a new, idiosyncratic and above all eccentric way. Listening to "Things To Come", it quickly becomes clear that the trio are not only driven by an incredible amount of friends and zeal, but also by a deep love for improvised music, jazz and its multi-layered possibilities of instrumental playing.

Their sound is at times hard and direct, but at times also palpably tender and almost contemplative. The three of them meander - between minimalism, musical brutalism and jazz classicism - through a repertoire of extremely famous pieces by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, among others, and put their own unmistakable stamp on them. The blues as a bridge, as an important element, paired with the love of the modern, the somewhat weird, the avant-garde, which distinguishes both Element Of Crime in rock and Regener Pappik Busch in jazz.

"The good thing about the concept is that we play pieces that others have written, that have perhaps been recorded thousands of times, but we play them with our sound, in our way, with our means. We improvise on them in our own way, we add our own way. It's a very interesting approach. Basically something like "James Last", but very different. We are a very rustic trio. Trios have the characteristic of being very direct. You hear all three instruments very loudly. Nobody can hide behind anything else. That's also what makes the recordings so interesting, because you can't hide anything, and we're also into keeping corners and edges in the music. For us, it's about making a very direct, almost rough form of jazz music that aims directly at the heart and the ears," says Sven Regener. "That's our way. Actually a very punky approach".

On "Things To Come", paradigms become recognisable that make the music of Regener Pappik Busch indispensable. On the one hand there is the eccentric drumming of Richard Pappik, on the other hand it is the subtle as well as unique piano playing of Ekki Busch, which finds the ideal complement in the bluesy trumpet of Sven Regener. If it had only been one album, one could think it was a lucky coincidence. With two albums in total, however, an artistic concept is recognisable that not only requires fundamental knowledge and long preparation, but also the precise knowledge of the uniqueness of the sound created.