MP3: Oskar Schönning - Faustine
Can't let this one slip through the cracks! Oskar Schönning plays the kind of pop-oriented jazz befitting of an era when tracks such as "Take five" would actually chart. His compositions are concise, the melodies memorable. Nowadays a great majority of the jazz conversation seems oriented towards freeform freakouts. That's fine- there's room for both, but this is way more my style. One of the best things about a lot of Schönning's work is also how joyous it sounds, both for the listener and the performers. I can't hear those handclaps on the intro without breaking into a smile and I suspect that neither can they. Or at least I hope so. Jazz will always remain a live art form and there's few things finer than witnessing class act musicians who appear to be genuiney stoked on what they're doing. I don't have the DVD that accompanies the album "Puerto", but I see them in my head and that's how I want it to be.
Oskar Schönning - Faustine