★★★★★ – The Guardian (UK): Jazz Album of the Month “Played by world-class personnel including Bill Frisell and the late, great alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, this 2014 set is full of subtle, spontaneous ideas. For its superb lineup, understated themes, and spontaneously ensemble-engendered ideas, Taking Turns is a little masterpiece.“
★★★★★★ – GAFFA (DK): To witness Lee Konitz create music against Jakob Bro’s spacious compositions is nothing short of moving. Taking Turns is a masterpiece containing highlight after highlight”.
★★★★☆ – Financial Times (UK): “Danish guitarist’s slowly unfolding harmonies give space to an excellent ensemble”
★★★★☆ – Jazzwise (UK): “It’s amazing to think that Lee Konitz, with his distinctively questioning, interior sound, played with Miles and Mulligan at the Birth of the Cool-sessions in 1949 and was still going in 2014, when these sessions were recorded. Aside from his longevity, Konitz forms a direct link with the style of Euro-jazz embodied by Jakob Bro and the ECM label on this gorgeous and life affirming album from a decade ago. We’re fortunate that it’s finally seen the light of day. So diffuse and drifting is Taking Turns that it’s difficult to think of the music as the compositional work of Bro alone, rather than a spontaneous collaboration sparked by the guitarist’s ideas. And what great ideas they are too.”
UK Jazz News (UK): “A full decade has elapsed between the recording of this remarkable album (at Avatar Studios in New York) and its debut release, but it still succeeds in sounding both contemporary and strangely timeless. In contrast to most superstar sessions, where the principal players vie to see who can outdo each other by playing louder, faster or more often than anyone else, the dream-team band do exactly the opposite. Seemingly content to play as little, and as sensitively, as possible, and favouring the ensemble rather than the solo, their overall vibe is entirely collegiate and supportive. The result is outstandingly beautiful music that can seem to slip by almost invisibly, such is the air of frictionless reverie. This may well be one of the albums of the year, ten years late.”
Jazznyt (DK): “On the time of recording Taking Turns, the 86-year-old saxophonist Lee Konitz envelops us in a saxophone-wrapped love story. His playing is endlessly, wonderfully beautiful and fragile. Jakob Bro’s simple melodies are given new life in the company of these five American musicians. He creates a painting with familiar colors and nuances. It is unmistakably a Jakob Bro painting. But there are also new colors added. Jason Moran’s piano is a fresh addition to Bro’s work, as he has rarely used the instrument on his albums. Similarly, Andrew Cyrille’s discreetly angular drumming is another entirely new and fitting hue on the canvas. This is nothing less than a stroke of genius that has been sitting on the shelves of ECM Records for ten years, waiting for its release. If you are even the slightest fan of Jakob Bro, you must own this album.”
Jakob Bro · Taking Turns
Release Date: November 29, 2024
Listen/stream: https://ECM.lnk.to/TakingTurns
Webshop: https://shop.jakobbro.com
About: A hidden gem to mark a passage from one era to the next, “Taking Turns” was recorded after the celebrated Balladeering Trilogy as a grand finale with full instrumentation featuring a star-studded core group of Konitz, Bro, Frisell and Morgan, joined by Jason Moran on the grand piano and Andrew Cyrille on the drums – replacing inspirator-mentor Paul Motian. Taking Turns is the fourth and final album of Jakob Bro and Lee Konitz from Avatar Studios in New York and dedicated to the musical kinship, the torch that passes on from generation to generation.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Jakob Bro · Guitar
Lee Konitz · Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
Bill Frisell · Guitar
Jason Moran · Piano
Thomas Morgan · Double Bass
Andrew Cyrille · Drums
Recorded in March 2014 at Avatar Studios, New York