While it was his formative time in New York on his debut album “145th & St. Nick’s” from 2017, which served as a source of inspiration for SIMON PLÖTZENEDER and gave the music its sound, the trumpeter, composer and band leader is now dedicating himself to his quartet on the new album “Vienna Vibes” (ATS Records) – as the title already suggests – his new hometown Vienna. And in a very fine musical way.
In his new pieces, Plötzeneder builds a bridge from the past to the modern, from the musical tradition of Vienna, which has been shaped by numerous influences over time, to a diverse, cross-genre contemporary sound that characterizes Viennese jazz today.
The sound that the native of Upper Austria presents together with his colleagues Danny Grissett (piano), Danny Ziemann (double bass) and Jonatan Sarikoski (drums) is characterized by an airy, light, almost elegant dance-like quality. The subtle and harmonious melodies, the successful improvisations as well as the versatile and demandingly playful, but still driving rhythms invite you to dive deeper into the musical events and let yourself be carried away.
You can feel that the musicians understand their craft and, above all, have the group sound in mind. They give each other space to bring in ideas, but nobody overshoots the mark – and that’s the beauty of the whole thing. There is no endless soloing and improvising, instead the band relies on a rousing groove that works perfectly.
With “Vienna Vibes” Simon Plötzeneder and his fellow musicians present an album that offers first-class and sophisticated musical entertainment and is a lot of fun at the same time. It’s an extremely exciting interpretation of how jazz can sound today.
Michael Ternai
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Links:
Simon Plötzeneder
ATS Records