Mainpost, 08-05-2017

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. - English:Susanne Alt adds some pages to funkFunk: It's in the nature of things that one has heard quite everything before.Susanne Alt, born in Würzburg (1978), living in Amsterdam since 2004 (1998; red).On her album Saxify, she doesn't invent funk, but she adds more than some unheard pages to it, with the collaboration of famous collagues like Gary Winters and Fred Wesley.It starts opulently with Susie Saxophone and reminds a bit of Prince. From there it continues dry and very funky with hip hop or latin flavours. Precisely (immaculate horn sections!), inventive and energetic. Just when one thinks you understand a piece, an unexpected turn follows. More conventional is th ballad Angeldelic, a welcome stage for Susanne Alt's dense, dark tone. Saxify is fun to listen to, especially when hearing it for the second, third and fourth time. If one wants to hear Susanne Alt live: 29-10-2017 she will perform as special guest together with a formation around Johannes Liepold and Dirk Rumig at the Jazzfestival of the Würzburg JazzIni. (MAW)