July 9, 2019

Mount Meander

Live in Berlin
Gotta Let It Out GLIO 29 CD

As the United Kingdom tears itself apart trying to work out the least painful way to separate from the European Union, the spirit of cooperation that has brought many other states from continental Europe to join the EU continues to flourish. Musically you can note it in a disc like Live in Berlin, from Mount Meander, a fiery post-Trane quartet with members from three different countries.

On the group compositions that make up the band’s second CD there are discussions and detours in the narratives, but overall the tunes are as free of sonic roadblocks and dead ends as travel within the EU should be. With experience playing with the likes of Mat Maneri, Lotte Anker, Kresten Osgood and others, the quartet members now travel firmly on their own route with no meandering. More a suite than eight separate tracks, each statement flows into the next with ample space allocated to Latvian-in-Copenhagen soprano/tenor saxophonist Kārlis Auziņš and German pianist Lucas Leidinger as well as intermezzos for Pole-in-Copenhagen bassist Tomo Jacobson and German drummer Thomas Sauerborn. MORE