Alvin Schwaar/Bänz Oester/Noé Franklé: Travellin’ Light

The world of improvised music is full of surprises. Travellin’ Light, a sumptuous release by the trio of Alvin Schwaar, Bänz Oester, & Noé Franklé, is a welcome and unusual excursion by European improvisers into the realm of jazz compositions and well-known standards. The senior member of the band is bassist Oester, active since the Eighties, who has worked extensively with pianist Michael Wintsch and drummer Gerry Hemingway in the WHO Trio. Pianist Schwaar and drummer Franklé are making their recording debuts. There is a charming aspect to the trio’s interactions, as their mutual delight in the music becomes the dominant feeling. The most obscure of these selections is Duke Ellington’s Heaven, from the first Sacred Concert. The band caresses the melody, and their restraint at a very slow pace is impressive. Then they turn right around for a raucous dissection of All the Things You Are, sneaking up on the famous melody just when I was thinking that they’d never get to it. The trio gets a little lost when playing My Ideal, a song from 1930 by Leo Robin, Richard Whiting and Newell Chase. Their sparse arrangement doesn’t give them much to work with, and it is a bit mystifying that the track clocks in at just over ten minutes. They’re back on track with a dynamically vigorous version of Bill Evans’ Very Early, a mainstay of the pianist’s repertoire from 1962 to his final appearance in New York in June 1980. John Coltrane’s Big Nick, a jazz tune also premiered in 1962, receives an appropriately gritty and interactive performance. Another Ellington composition ends the set, the timelessly beautiful Prelude to a Kiss. No experimentation here, and none needed: it’s a gently melodic and faithful rendition that’s utterly pleasing. Hemingway graciously pens a brief liner essay, where he discusses some of the strategies the trio offers. He concludes by noting that “musicality is a sense that grows and matures over time. It is present in these three musician’s intentions and continually evolving in our ears as we together enjoy the space that music can create for us simply to be.” Travellin’ Light is happily recommended.
Leo CD LR 875; Alvin Schwaar (p) Bänz Oester (b) Noé Franklé (d); Basel, Switzerland, August 19, 2019; Someone to Watch Over Me/ I Have a Dream/ Heaven/ All the Things You Are/ My Ideal/ Very Early/ Big Nick/ Prelude to a Kiss; 64:31. www.leorecordsmusic.com