Tom Berkmann - Journey (2023)

The music hooks the listener immediately, anchored by Berkmann’s resonating bass sound, beautifully captured in all of its gut-string glory. His compositions are complex yet accessible, mixing the sophistication of his immersion in the jazz scene with his love of popular song. “Genre-wise I’d call it modern jazz but I don’t really fit into that box of contemporary jazz – sometimes too melodic, too groovy! I wasn’t thinking about whether it was experimental enough – it’s just the music that felt natural to me as I wrote it.”

‘Cedar’ sets the scene, written to evoke a favourite beach in New York, with a joyous dancing melody setting up beautifully lyrical solos over an uplifting pulse, the simplicity of the melody belying the harmonic sophistication beneath. ‘Two Lemons’ is driven by Fabian Rösch’s irresistibly relaxed backbeat – “I love to play with Fabian – super swinging but he also knows how to groove” while the brooding, dark-toned ‘Torn’ gives the drummer a chance to show his chops and versatility in a stunning solo. ‘Good Question’ has a dreamy, winding melodic contour inspired by the unique compositions of Tom Jobim, which Ben Kraef and Carl Morgan use as the starting point for an inspired dialogue. ‘Turnover’ and ‘Smalls Special’ both bring us back to the spiky energy of New York – the former a swaggering, charismatic funk, ‘like a blues tune, with a twist ’ and the latter a tribute to the legendary jazz bar, evoked with some ferociously hip swing. There’s a personal dimension as well: the stately ‘Letters’ describes an elegiac bittersweet farewell, and ‘Leighton’ takes us out to Western Australia, evoking the region’s unforgettable space and light. By contrast, ‘To Each Their Own’ has the directness of a pop tune: something to put on the cassette deck of a car on a long drive, with an uplifting, singing solo from pianist Simon Seidl; “I always wanted to record with Simon – he’s my oldest musical friend and he’s just so fantastic”. Finally, the punning ‘Strings Attached’ – to a relationship or a double bass? – uses its Beatles-inspired song form as the springboard for some heartfelt statements from the whole band.

Journey’s musical travelogue takes us deep into the world of the bassist composer , with all of his influences combining to create a varied but coherent whole, where singable melodies are underpinned by deep harmony, and carefully conceived ideas are allowed to develop freely into inspired soloing by a beautifully balanced band of fellow travellers. “For me, music is something for the listener – I’m not trying to deliver a message: just put the record on, dream away and make your own thing out of it!”