I’m out of my comfort zone even attempting to review a jazz album or even a single track but I decided to have a go at this one when I read that the Danish guitarist Søren Lee was set to release an album and that while he is celebrated as a leading figure in the jazz world in Denmark and beyond he can and does offer modern perspectives on song forms.
In particular this album, ‘Hope’, which is released as a tribute to his wife (and her legacy) who inspired him to get back into recording his own music after a break of 13 years, is notable for his personal take on the work of George Gershwin, who wrote such classics as ‘Summertime’, which I’ve always classed in the same laid back, chilled out bracket as Mungo Jerry’s ‘In the Summertime.’
Gershwin was noted for rhythm changes, sudden and dramatic up-tempo swing, and funky grooves in 5/4 metre.
I immediately homed in on the opening track, ‘Funky Motion’. Just how funky can jazz get without detracting from the freedom within which it is nestled, if that isn’t an oxymoron? How laid back without inducing catatonia?
What hits you is the clarity and crispness of the piece, there’s little of the syncopation taken to extreme measures that is the hallmark of some jazz pieces. It has a sense of direction and purpose, which is not deflected by a series of tasty solo sections on guitar, brass and horns while Victor Jones’ snare drum makes a sound like a whip.
With the feel of a live recording it’s the sort of piece that you yearn to see and hear played live in a smoky club down a back street, as jazz should be.
And is it funky? Man, you kidding me?
‘Hope’ is a collection of nine of his favorite songs and compositions, and gathers some of the finest musicians from Denmark, the USA and Cuba in a celebration of his partner’s life.
Find him on:
Website: https://www.sorenlee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=574015501
