Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - Live In Italy (Live) (2026) [Hi-Res]

American saxophonist and composer Jonah Parzen-Johnson and Finnish musician Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) released their debut duo album A Few We Remember in 2025. We Jazz Records is now issuing it in an expanded form: a double CD in which the studio recording appears on CD for the first time, and the second disc is a live document, a performance at the Carambolage club in Bolzano, Italy, on 13 April 2026, which opened their first tour together.

The musicians travelled to Bolzano separately by train, and on meeting were surprised to find they had matching luggage: two small Samsonite suitcases, a modular synth and a baritone saxophone. They were nervous, like on the first day of school. The tour then continued through Austria and Germany, and recordings of the first concert reached the label while it was still under way.

The album itself is a series of improvisations for baritone saxophone, modular synth and small instruments, built on narrative scores by Parzen-Johnson. Each score is a written story, but its purpose is not the plot; it is meant to trigger a particular sensation that then finds its way into the playing. For that reason listeners are discouraged from seeking out the scores: the music is not about the stories, but about how it feels to tell them. The live versions remain recognizable from the studio material, yet sound both more patient and more reckless, with the freedom that exists only in live playing. The central idea of the release is the turning of a memory into a story that, when told back, becomes alive and amplified: first memory, now story.

Tracklist:
01-01 Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - Apologetic Inquirer (Live) [10:17]
01-02 Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - Calming Influencer (Live) [7:33]
01-03 Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - Bus Driver (Live) [9:46]
01-04 Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - First Time Viewer (Live) [7:47]
01-05 Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Lau Nau - Suspicious Commuter (Live) [8:01]