Wallmann, Johannes: The Town Musicians

Born in Germany, Johannes Wallmann moved to Vancouver Island at a young age and from there eventually settled in Wisconsin. He released his first album Quartet as a band leader in 1997. In 2010 he released The Coasts followed by his most recent offering The Town Musicians, his fifth overall. Wallmann is currently the Director of Jazz Studies at UW Madison School of Music.

His mainstays in the band are Sean Conly (bass) and Jeff Hirshfield (drums) along with Russ Johnson (trumpet), Gilad Hekselman (guitar) and Dayna Stephens (saxophone).

This album has an easy going laid back charm that never seems to be in a rush and is just great to sit back and enjoy the music. The opening track "Water Music (For People Without Aquariums)" is a prime example of what this disc is all about. Superb musicianship, awesome sax and piano solos and a tremendous flow of musical ideas without becoming jarring and bogged down with needless complexity. These musicians are dialed in from the first note to the last. The same can be said of the swinging jazzy blues of "Wookie's Groove" with its fantastic trumpet excursions, fine fretwork and crisply played drums. Other highlights include the beautiful jazz ballad "November Song" featuring a wonderful sax solo and the spry "Paper Balls" where the bass, trumpet and piano urgently lead the music through some incredibly well played jazz. The more traditional and romantic ballad "Lakeshore" slows down the pace with some incredible tones from Johnson and Hekselman's fluid guitar fills. Every song has a highlight as there are no weak tunes and excellent solos abound on every track.

The Town Musicians is a work of utmost quality from a fine group of musicians displaying their love of jazz for all of us who are fortunate enough to hear.

Track Listing:
1. Water Music (For People Without Aquariums) (7:51)
2. Wookie's Groove (5:57)
3. Interlude (1:08)
4. November Song (11:22)
5. Paper Balls (5:43)
6. Lakeshore (8:55)
7. I Could Have Danced All Night (6:40)
8. Interlude (1:15)
9. A House for Men and Birds (7:12)
10. The Town Musicians of Brooklyn (8:57)
11. Interlude (2:53)
12. Concurrencies (7:29)

Added: October 4th 2015
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 1566
Language: english

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