Europe Jazz Network: Media Chart 2024
Europe Jazz Network (EJN) is a nonprofit Europe-wide association of producers, presenters and supporting organisations who specialise in creative music, contemporary jazz and improvised music created from a distinctly European perspective.
Euro Jazz Media Chart — a selection of the hot new music surfacing across the continent this month by the top European jazz magazines and websites.
Every month at the Europe Jazz Network Media Chart 2024, we publish a newly released album, which interested us most of all.
Europe Jazz Network: Media Chart 2022
Europe Jazz Network Media Chart 2021
January, 2024
Viktor Pavelko Quartet
Internal Anxiety (Live at 32 Jazz Club)
Jazz Club Records, 2023
Review by Kateryna Ziabliuk
Internal Anxiety marks the debut album of Ukrainian saxophonist Viktor Pavelko, disclosing his skills as a frontman. A luminary within the Ukrainian jazz arena, Viktor was a steady member of the imposing Deep Tone Project — a notable collective of the international league in Ukraine. Markedly, this album features Kostiantyn Ionenko, the double bassist from Deep Tone, alongside Oleksandr Malyshev on piano and Artur Frolov on drums.
The meticulous and thoughtful arrangements are immediately captivating, as well as the unisons and counterpoints between piano and saxophone, as displayed in tracks like "Blues for Borys" and "Internal Anxiety”. The album also embraces lengthy modal chord progressions, that give ample space for improvisation in tracks such as "24th" and "The Dreamer from Hertza”.
Each composition is an original creation, yet the music seamlessly embodies a distinctive style. Drawing inspiration from the New York jazz scene of the '90s and 2000s, the album skillfully weaves together bluesy resolutions reminiscent of bands of Branford Marsalis, while also embracing a contemplative and spacious approach akin to the work of Ben Wendel or Joshua Redman. Undoubtedly, Viktor Pavelko emerges as a truly exceptional leader, guiding each musician to showcase their unique mastery and sensitivity. The recording took place at the 32 Jazz Club in the heart of Kyiv.
The full Europe Jazz Media Chart (January) is here.
February, 2024
ЩукаРиба (ShchukaRyba)
Що й святоє… (Shcho i Svyatoye…)
No Time for Swing, 2024
Review by Kateryna Ziabliuk
Що й святоє… (Shcho i Svyatoye…) literally refers to something sacred, and that's how the title of ShchukaRyba's new album sounds like. The group, made up of young folk enthusiasts, is all about keeping Ukrainian folk music alive. They not only sing but also organise events to bring people together. This album is a celebration of family gatherings, the coziness of home, and the joy of sharing music with loved ones. It features folk songs that Ukrainians traditionally sing during Christmas and other winter celebrations. But this isn't just about old tunes — ShchukaRyba teamed up with the electronic music project Bunht and guitarist Yevhen Pugachov, known as one of Ukraine's promising musicians of a young generation, who blends jazz with other genres to create his unique sound. The mixture of "white voice," electronics, improvisation, and modern jazz harmony in this album is something special. ShchukaRyba successfully brings traditional folk music into the modern world, showing how these old tunes can still vibe with today's sounds. Personally recommend checking out the video clip to the second song from the EP.
The full Europe Jazz Media Chart (February) is here.
March, 2024
Konstantin Kolesnichenko
Good Things. A tribute to George Smith
Self-released, 2024
Review by Kateryna Ziabliuk
Good Things: A Tribute to George Smith is the latest album of Ukrainian harmonica virtuoso Konstantin Kolesnichenko, a familiar face in the international blues scene. Paying homage to the legendary George "Harmonica" Smith, Konstantin collaborated with a stellar lineup including Paul Seedorenko on guitar, Mykhaylo Lyshenko on piano, and the Dmytro Lytvynenko on drums. Tragically, the bassist Serhii Artemov, a valued member of the ensemble, fell victim to russian aggression in 2023 during the shooting in Bakhmut. The album features guest harmonica players Dennis Gruenling, Matyas Pribojszki, and Big Harp George, along with vocalists Alabama Mike and Konstantin Tikhonov, and Daniel De Vita on guitar, sharing space with Paul Seedorenko. This offering is deeply authentic, full of the characteristic, quivery approach of Konstantin’s performance, which definitely stands out of others.
The full Europe Jazz Media Chart (March) is here.
May, 2024
ZIEMIA feat. IREK WOJTCZAK
Warming / Melting
Audio Cave, 2024
Review by Mery Zimny
This music was recorded live during the concert at Teatr Boto in Sopot. That's why is spontaneous, you can feel emotions and liberty in it, a certain intensity that accompanies stage performances. At the same time, it sounds like a coherent, well-thought-out concept and certainly a common vision and moving in one direction. ZIEMIA (eng. Earth) is a band composed of (still) young but well known Polish musicians (Oskar Tomala – guitar, Mateusz Żydek – trumpet, Alan Kapołka - drums, Jakub Wosik – double bass) with special guest Irek Wojtczak – soprano saxophone, bass clarinet. The younger musicians invited a master and mentor to explore the space of improvised and open music, free from limitations and expectations. They wrote a few themes, but mostly they took the risk of creating with an amazing artist – Wojtczak - and showed that going with the flow, but full of listening to each other and reacting to their colleagues' playing, is their natural environment. This music is a real adventure. Vibrant, strong, but at times muted, engaging, full of details. And what is important, this music doesn't sound like it would be played by jazz musicians. Of course, each of them graduated from university with a jazz degree but some of them are definitely more related to the freely improvised scene and contemporary music hence their thinking about music is slightly different. “Warming / Melting” is their second album, after “Ziemia dniem”, both worth recommending.
The full Europe Jazz Media Chart (May) is here.
June, 2024
UIVO ZEBRA AND HORNS
Sombras
Self-released, 2024
July, 2024
JÉRÉMIE TERNOY / PETER ORINS / IVANN CRUZ
The Theory of Constraints
Circum-Disc, 2024
Review by Mateusz Sroczyński
What we have here is a lenghthy (over 69 minutes) record made by acoustic incarnation of long-lasting French improvising trio Toc. This is the third such venture of pianist Jérémie Ternoy, drummer Peter Orins and guitarist Ivann Cruz after Qeqertarsuatsiaat (2015) and Ouvre-Glace (2021, issued under the name Adoct, recorded with Sakina Abdou and Barbara Dang). It seems that now the band’s name stands for the management paradigm called Theory of Constraints and not for the members’ surnames. But we’re here for the music, so go google the definition in another tab, if you want. Well, if you like jazz, you have to be warned that this music is rather based on non-electrical post-rock logic with much subtle trance, ascetic meditation and sonoristic explorations of acoustic instruments with a little addition of free-jazz attitude (especially on the most agressive moments of the second part of the title track). If you’ve listened to Toc before, you should be prepared for them playing with chords, shiny chamber melodies and beautiful, cryptic harmonies. Behind all this is the distinctive, incredibly focused rhythm created by the mastermind Orins, who plays kinda foggy (The Thinking Processes) and often balances on the edge of audibility (Throughput Accounting). The band seems very steady while deep diving into slow repetitions in The Theory of Constraints – Part I and reaching a chaotic turmoil in the last piece. The persistent and psychotic bass-line in this one feels almost bluesy, but it’s also degenerated by using preparations that made it difficult at certain moments to differentiate the guitar from the piano. Everything here is dense, yet it floats gently and seems telling about some sort of charming mistery. Highly recommended, like almost everything that these guys did.
The full Europe Jazz Media Chart (July) is here.