Michael Wollny / Eva Kruse / Eric Schaefer [em] - Live ★★★★

Rec. 2010

The publicity notes refer to [em] as “the biggest success story in German jazz in recent years.” For once this is not hyperbole since on the evidence of this, their fourth album, they are probably the leading piano trio in European jazz – not only because of the originality of their concept, but also because of their execution, group cohesion and sheer bravura. No surprise, then, that this album immediately shot to number one in my albums of the year to date.

Since their debut Call It [em] five years ago, through the explosive [em] II from 2006 to the more thoughtful [em] 3 the following year, this band have been forging a powerful, distinctive and exciting personality that is perfectly captured by this live NDR remote recording. Live performance frequently offers something that is hard to capture in the recording studio – a creative frisson and sharpened sensibility that here was heightened by performing on the main stage at JazzBaltica at Salzau in July this year. ‘Phlegma Fighter’, and ‘Gorilla Biscuits’ come from [em] II while ‘Arséne Somnambule’ and ‘Kiyoshi’ come from the subsequent album, and all vibrate with new energy.

Despite the complexity of a piece like ‘Gorilla Biscuits’ familiarity of performance allows each musician to invest each piece with greater freedom within form not apparent on the studio originals. The remaining six pieces on the album have not been previously recorded, and include an album highlight in ‘Sov Lilla Alma’. Lots of jazz albums are being made today. Many are very good but few are great and still fewer seem able to stand the passing of time in the way of the great classics of the past. But here is a great album that stands a good chance of standing the test of time simply because it represents some of the finest jazz of its time.

Stuart Nicholson