Two ho-hum releases from the German jazz label Nemu Records (09/05/2023)…Yamabiko Quintet debuting on their self-titled album (NEMU 029). New quintet of European players two of whom – drummer Klaus Kugel and saxman Frank Paul Schubert – we heard on Black Holes Are Hard To Find (with the guitarist Kazuhisha Uchihashi). Joined here by Michel Pilz on bass clarinet and Reiner Winterschladen on trumpet. Competent playing, nice sounds, strong combination of instruments – the woodwind section is particularly strong. Yet for some reason the players all sound defeated, tired, and miserable, as if the very business of making music were an unpleasant chore for them. I personally like the melancholy clouds brewed up on this 2022 session made in Cologne, but it’s hard to get too enthused about this dreary, torpid album. On the other hand, 2022 wasn’t exactly a high spot for anyone in the world, so it’s understandable that Yamabiko Quintet would want to give voice to the general mood of “what’s the use” to which we’ve all succumbed.
Kugel features again on Transitions (NEMU 030) by the Transatlantic Five, another quintet where two American players Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Ken Vandermark (tenor) are admitted into the European fold. The band includes the mercurial Christopher Dell and his vibes, a player who’s evidently intent on moving away from the image of Milt Jackson and instead dreams of being a speed-metal guitarist. Liked the opening track ‘Around Town’, one of the few outings here that shows any kind of energy, almost like a rebuilt be-bop urban freeway starting out with Bird and Diz as the master templates of speed. There follow six interminable chapters in the ‘Transition’ suite, which are mostly exercises in abstract contemplation and doubt, posing philosophical “what-if” questions in sound for no apparent purpose. Like the Yamabikos above, the players seem to have given up the ghost in the face of one too many harsh realities, and tend to appear lethargic and uninspired.