ELINA DUNI QUARTET - Matanë Malit (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

“Matanë Malit” (Beyond the mountain), Elina Duni’s ECM debut, is a homage to Albania. A singer looking at her roots from a present-day vantage point as a musician engaged in improvisational processes. Jazz experience informs her exploration of Balkan folk songs – with attention to atmosphere, the shape of the sound, the tactility of the structures, the implications of the words, … “It’s about serving the song”, she explains, “and about reclaiming and reinventing it.” Duni found her route to Albanian songs after forays into classical music, blues and jazz standards. Digging deeper into the Balkan region’s troubled history, she has uncovered many songs of real beauty and power, older songs from her homeland and from its vast diaspora. “Matanë Malit” includes songs of lovers, heroes, workers, shepherds, exiles, songs of resistance. Traditional songs arranged by Elina Duni, and new music expressively moulded in the tradition. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Ka një mot 5'11
(Muharrem Gurra)
2    Kjani trima 4'06
(Traditional)
3    Kur të kujtosh 4'06
(Elina Duni)
4    Vajzë e valëve 5'29
(Neço Muko)
5    Unë ty moj 3'55
(Traditional)
6    Erë pranverore 3'34
(Tish Daija)
7    Çelo Mezani 5'41
(Traditional)
8    Ra kambana 4'15
(Traditional)
9    Çobankat 5'14
(Traditional)
10    Kristal 4'52
(Elina Duni)
11    U rrit vasha 3'24
(Traditional)
12    Mine Peza 3'56
(Traditional)
Credits :
Elina Duni - Voice
Colin Vallon - Piano
Patrice Moret - Double Bass
Norbert Pfammatter - Drums

ELINA DUNI QUARTET - Dallёndyshe (2015) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On Dallёndyshe (“The Swallow”), her second ECM album, Elina Duni sings songs of love and exile. The troubled history of the Balkan regions has inspired many such songs and the pieces here, primarily from Albanian traditional sources, are interpreted with intensity and insight by Elina and her band. The Tirana-born and Swiss-raised singer has become an exceptional musical storyteller embodying the songs’ narratives, in a way that transcends genre definitions and language limitations. “This time there is a sense of lightness to the feeling and energy of the album,” says Duni. “Even though we are dealing with tragic themes of exile it is not as dark as [the ECM debut] Matanё Malit.” In its sense of drive, Dallёndyshe opens up “a different groove, a different momentum. It’s become more rhythmic. Sometimes it’s almost a trance-like propulsion.” The programme of Dallёndyshe also looks to the Albanian diaspora. The last two songs on the album, “Ti ri ti ti klarinatё” and the title track are, respectively, from the Arvanitas and Arbёresh communities of Greece and Italy. In the wider world Elina still finds herself asked frequently to define her music. It has clearly become more than a hybrid of ‘jazz’ and ‘folk’. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Fëllënza 6'03
(Muharrem Gurra)
2    Sytë 5'09
(Isak Muçolli)
3    Ylberin 5'05
(Traditional)
4    Unë në kodër, ti në kodër 6'12
(Traditional)
5    Kur të pashë 4'48
(Traditional)
6    Delja rude 5'19
(Traditional)
7    Unë do të vete 4'59
(Traditional)
8    Taksirat 3'27
(Traditional)
9    Nënë moj 4'14
(Traditional)
10    Bukuroshe 4'16
(Traditional)
11    Ti ri ti ti klarinatë 2'49
(Traditional)
12    Dallëndyshe 2'46
(Traditional)
Credits :
Elina Duni - Voice
Colin Vallon - Piano
Patrice Moret - Double Bass
Norbert Pfammatter - Drums

COLIN VALLON | PATRICE MORET | JULIAN SARTORIUS - Le Vent (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Le Vent is the Colin Vallon Trio's second date for ECM and reflects a change in personnel, with drummer Julian Sartorius replacing Samuel Rohrer, who had been with the pianist since the mid-2000s. As a whole, Le Vent is more considerably more structured and present than 2011's Rruga; less a pianist's album than a trio recording. Opening track "Juuichi" comes into being contemplatively with speculative chords, brushed snares, toms, and a simple bass pulse, but begins to unfold with an economic melodic statement as both bass and drums interact and counter one another. Vallon explores his minor-shaded voicings and creates a third pulse in syncopated tandem. There is movement everywhere, but a discernible quiet center that focuses the energy from within and directs it out. "Immobile" begins with a hushed cymbal ushering in a two-chord piano vamp, played with halting restraint. By the time bassist Patrice Moret's arco enters, a hovering frame exists and Vallon looks to his bandmates to unwind his melodic ideas further with spacious affirmations and more insistent questions. The bassist drops his bow and the dance of flow and force commences in earnest. There is plenty of quiet investigative work here as well: the title track with its rippling cowbell, spare one-note-to-one-chord assertions, and woody time-keeping by Moret gradually flesh out a simple idea so completely it becomes polyphonous, as Sartorius employs a gentle sense of near swing as the tune builds along a horizontal pattern. The ballad "Goodbye" is skeletal, an impressionistic outline of a melody, with Vallon holding the center as Moret and Sartorius move through, above, and around his queries. "Fade," "Styx," and closer "Coriolis" are atmospheric exercises in group improvisation where textures and sonorities hold sway over statement. Stillness is a central component in this trio's approach. That said, it can be fluid and express itself in movement such as on "Rouge," or near static as evidenced by "Pixels." Le Vent is as focused as it is mysterious; its overall sense of contemplation points at shadowy motion under surfaces and in the margins. When taken together they create an emboldened if unhurried series of utterances in this trio's evolving musical language.
>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<
Tracklist :
1    Juuichi 6'10    
(Patrice Moret)
2    Immobile 6'26
(Colin Vallon)
3    Le Vent 5'53
(Colin Vallon)
4    Cendre 6'07
(Colin Vallon)
5    Fade 5'13
(Colin Vallon)
6    Goodbye 5'30
(Colin Vallon)
7    Le Quai 5'10
(Colin Vallon)
8    Pixels 4'51
(Colin Vallon)
9    Altalena 3'53
(Colin Vallon)
10    Rouge 6'07
(Colin Vallon)
11    Styx 2'24
(Colin Vallon, Julian Sartorius, Patrice Moret)
12    Coriolis 2'06
(Julian Sartorius, Patrice Moret, Colin Vallon)
Credits :
Colin Vallon - Piano
Patrice Moret - Double-Bass
Julian Sartorius - Drums

COLIN VALLON | PATRICE MORET | SAMUEL ROHRER - Rruga (2011) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

“Rruga”, meaning ‘path’, ‘road’ or ‘journey’ in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer. After shared musical experiences on the Swiss jazz scene, they began their trio journey five years ago, and have grown into one of Europe’s most promising bands, shaping a rugged and individual music, inspired by songs and singers, and by the music of the Caucasus region as well as by the jazz tradition. Challenging conventions of the modern jazz piano trio, the instrumentalists meet on equal terms as the music is created, arranged and developed collectively. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Telepathy 5'05
(Patrice Moret)
2    Rruga 4'33
(Colin Vallon)
3    Home 4'08
(Colin Vallon)
4    Polygonia 6'51
(Samuel Rohrer)
5    Eyjafjallajökull 4'53
(Colin Vallon)
6    Meral 5'07
(Colin Vallon)
7    Iskar 2'50
(Colin Vallon, Samuel Rohrer, Patrice Moret, Stefan Mutafchiev)
8    Noreia 5'07
(Samuel Rohrer)
9    Rruga, var. 6'31
(Colin Vallon)
10    Fjord 4'00
(Patrice Moret)
11    Epilog 4'47
(Samuel Rohrer)
Credits :
Colin Vallon   Piano
Patrice Moret   Double-Bass
Samuel Rohrer   Drums

COLIN VALLON TRIO - Danse (2017) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

It's simple: any music fan seeking something quite "different" from contemporary instrumental music -- and specifically from conventional notions of the "jazz piano trio" -- should investigate Switzerland's Colin Vallon Trio. Danse, Vallon's third date for ECM, might be the recording that establishes the band's (and his) reputation outside Europe and hopefully with an audience outside the confines of jazz. Danse hasn't much to do with pop, but Vallon, who wrote nine of these 11 tunes, obviously admires its more adventurous expressions. Those familiar with the trio's two previous albums know this music is as expansive as it is articulate and focused. The improvisation is plentiful, and based on the trio's interaction in (mostly) songlike pieces that are usually inseparably dependent on circular rhythm. Vallon, double bassist Patrice Moret, and drummer Julian Sartorius do solo, but almost always within structural harmonic themes and defined rhythmic pulses. They communicate a piece's inner dynamic that is welcoming, even when dissonant, to listeners.

In opener "Sisyphe," Sartorius sets a 4/4 rhythm with his brushes. When Vallon enters, he establishes a hymn-like melody, almost a processional. Moret initially reflects only the changes, but within a couple of choruses he delivers an elegant solo that illuminates both harmony and time signature. In "Tsunami," Vallon introduces a mysterious, classically tinged waltz. In his own solo he uncovers layer after layer of hidden melody. Sartorius uses his bass drum to keep time, all the while gently accenting and altering the actual motif with his snare and cymbals, until the tune reflects an unveiled muscularity and has been transformed into a rather dramatic exercise in tension and release. In the group improvisation "Oort," he sets a seemingly fixed rhythm as Vallon explores Moret's haunting but effusive arco patterns. Its angular timbres and tonalities are tempered by the reflection of the time signature. "Kid," the set's longest cut, uses a tender, almost spiritual piano motif that weds songlike lyricism to modern classical harmony. This is buoyed by Moret's deep woody tone and economical use of notes. Sartorius "dances" on his own beat and the melody, adding a fluid, jazzman's musicality as the pianist's fills and chord voices lift it off the ground. Vallon's piano chops shine on "Tinguely." Rolling and muted snares, toms, and percussion set a quick pace for his fleet prepared piano solo that extends all over the keyboard. Moret and Sartorius keep increasing the tempo so that when the trio does comes back together, it's in a sprint of whirling color and timbre. Danse goes a full step further than 2014's Vent. Almost certainly most jazz fans will enjoy it for its fine display of dynamic, rhythmic, and improvisational group interplay. That said, other open-minded music listeners -- especially those who enjoy Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Björk, Ólafur Arnalds, and Nils Frahm -- should find it appealing as well. This trio's music is as attractive and engaging as it is idiosyncratic and inventive.
>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<
Tracklist :
1    Sisyphe 4'26
(Colin Vallon)
2    Tsunami 7'00
(Colin Vallon)
3    Smile 5'20
(Colin Vallon)
4    Danse 2'07
(Colin Vallon)
5    L'Onde 5'41
(Colin Vallon)
6    Oort 2'13
(Colin Vallon, Julian Sartorius, Patrice Moret)
7    Kid 6'13
(Colin Vallon)
8    Reste 1'36
(Colin Vallon)
9    Tinguely 4'42
(Colin Vallon)
10    Morn 4'14
(Colin Vallon)
11    Reste (var.) 2'23
(Colin Vallon)
Credits :
Colin Vallon - Piano
Patrice Moret - Double Bass
Julian Sartorius - Drums