Jazz review: Bobo Stenson, Cantando

5 out of 5 5
  1. Bobo Stenson
  2. Cantando
  3. ECM
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Few contemporary jazz groups sustain an atmosphere as evocatively as Swedish pianist Stenson's trio, or conjure so many moods across a variety of material from Ornette Coleman to Alban Berg. Nothing, from a streaming postbop line to a stroked cymbal-edge or a sitar-like bass phrase, suggests a hint of an accidental sound - yet somehow the music never dims the glow of spontaneity. Stenson, double-bassist Anders Jormin and percussionist Jon Falt (who tour the UK and Ireland later this month) deliver sublime miniatures from Cuban folksinger Silvio Rodriguez's Olivia, through the late Czech composer Petr Eben's yearningly ambiguous Song of Ruth, to Astor Piazzolla's Chiquilin de Bachin, with Falt's stunningly spooky drum tapestry of clicks and tabla-like booms. The 14-minute Pages is a fast-changing, all-improvised suite, Ornette Coleman's A Fixed Goal an exhilarating cat-and-mouse game, and Alban Berg's Liebesode, a feature for Jormin, finds the master's bass in a bewitching space between cello and sitar. It's an album many listeners will revisit for years.

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