Birgitta Flick Quartet - Yingying (2013)

Birgitta Flick has succeeded with her quartet in recording a wonderful, brilliant CD of extreme sensitivity and warmth with her debut "Yingying". It was recorded enveloped in perfect, beautiful sound by Walter Quintus in the Osnabrück Studio "fattoria musica". The album deals with landscapes – above all Swedish ones – that inspire here and are reflected in individual tracks. Her affinity to Sweden, which is expressed in many of the compositions, is due to her studies at Stockholm Music College and runs through the recording like a leitmotif. She knows how to enchant listeners with her surprisingly mature, rich tenor saxophone sound, which goes gently and with full power from the deeper tones all the way to the highest trebles. Brimming with self-confidence, she builds up her lyrical improvisations, which are not exhausted in repetitions at any time. She has assembled precisely the right musicians in her band with Andreas Schmidt on piano, Andreas Edelmann on bass and Max Andrzejewski on drums. On one hand, the quartet is clearly characterized by the compositional sound of the saxophonist, but sufficient leeway is left for each individual musician to reveal his creative skills. For example, Andreas Schmidt sets accents repeatedly thanks to his highly intelligent solos, but also during his marvelous, sensitive accompaniment. Andreas Edelmann provides the required "bass-is", but time and again breaks out of the role of an accompanist and plays solos with a rich, slightly raspy sound. Andrzejewski plays very musically on his drum set and entices with his refined playing, which provides the music with enough room to breathe.