2004 - Enja

Aki Takase: piano, toypiano, arrangement
EC: vocal, banjo, guitar
Rudi Mahall: bassclarinet
Thomas Heberer: trumpet
Nils Wogram: trombone
Paul Lovens: drums

Aki Takase knows how to extract the sap of the great (m) beeches to nourish her inspiration of avant-garde. Ellington, Monk, Dolphy, WC Handy (and more recently Ornette Coleman), before inhaling the alcoholic vapors of the enormous Thomas "Fats" Waller (Herr und Meister Alexander Von Schlippenbach! . This is a brilliant tribute where one finds the iconoclastic and debonair verve of Fats and its infernal combos, augmented by free euphoric thrusts, ruptures and subtle rhythmic changes that seem to flow from source, evoking strongly the "Changes" of Mingus. The balance is perfect between the replays sung by Eugene, courtesy jousts and solos full of " eloquence (wonderful Thomas Heberer!), the improvised passages naturally succeeding the composite parts drawn with a line. This disc - logically award-winning - is made to reconcile the amateurs of (all) jazz!
Those who did not have the chance to see them on stage will catch up with the excellent documentary shot by Stéphane Jourdain and available on DVD.