Draai om je oren Jazz en meer

Nederlands Jazz ArchiefEnglish:Saxophonist Susanne Alt hails from Germany but has long been a part of our jazz scene. Royalty For Real has the aura of a prestigious product. It is also a tribute to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Hargrove was fond of participating in the after-hours sessions at North Sea Jazz; Alt occasionally played alongside him there – hence Bel Air Bop, one of the seven tracks. The saxophonist/flutist wrote five of the tracks herself, in addition to The Nearness of You and Roy Allan by Hargrove. The album was recorded in February 2022 in New York with pianist James Hurt, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Willie Jones III. - november 4th, 2004 (by ErnoMijland)Susanne Alt Quartet – “Nocturne”(Eigen beheer, 2004) ****What a pleasant encounter with a young and fresh quartet, this debut cd of the alto and soprano sax player Susanne Alt, born 1978 in Germany, and her band members… A fine record for listening with catchy and easy accessible themes and arrangements but also space for experiment. The recordings are direct and honest.The first tunes sound a bit well-behaved (“…”) but the change comes with the nearly 10- minute- long, beautiful “Saba”: driven, exciting, more experimental but still relaxed. Especially piano player Thijs Cuppen puts down a nice tone which reminds me of Esbjörn Svensson. Everything gets loose, she (Susanne) lets the saxophone sound hoarse in a pleasant way. Brilliant.In “Simone” the band creates an interesting, meditative sound landscape where bass player Sven Schuster and drummer (“…”) Klaas van Donkersgoed perfectly get the space to shine.They also shine in other tracks by cool swinging. Influences of funk are never too far gone, like in “Chove Shiva” which Cuppen plays with a lot of atmosphere, partly on Fender Rhodes, partly on piano. In the last track which is also the title track (of the cd), a duet of Alt and Cuppen, a serene and classical final chord is put down. Beautiful work…-> For the original Dutch review please go to “Draai om je oren”. See the link on Susanne’s link page.