Finland’s Jazz Partout has given us a welcome addition to the Gypsy Jazz genre with the release of their latest CD Ravi. The quartet-guitarists Kimmo Iltanen and Petri Krzywacki, accordionist Mika Huusari, and bassist Matti Tegelman-explore material from the chanson, musette, and jazz traditions, and the band has a strong enough identity of its own to sound equally at home across that broad spectrum.
Particularly compelling is the interplay of timbre between the electric and acoustic instruments of Krzywacki and Iltanen. Played atop the lush bed of Huusari’s accordion, Krzywacki’s stabbing lines, reminiscent of the late electric period of Django Reinhardt, energize La Foule and sound perfectly at home on a proto-bop tune like Moppin’ The Bride. It’s a sound that inevitably stands out in a genre based on an all-acoustic sound, and seems to be taking hold more and more with modern artists. Of course, the use of archtop electrics isn’t without precedent-the hard hitting groups of Schnuckenack Reinhardt, Hans’che Weiss, and Titi Winterstein featured some incredible archtop playing-but it’s still something of a rarity in many of today’s groups.
Another high note is Iltanen’s impressive orginal Malagueta , reminiscent of the classic bossas of The Rosenberg Trio, with a syncopated intro giving way to a slinky melodic line and some great soloing from Huusari and Krzywacki. The disc’s liner notes make note of the musical interaction that’s “such a vital ingredient of jazz manouche”-Ravi was recorded live, with no overdubs-and that sense of musical intimacy, of truly listening to one another, is on display here. If there’s anything missing from Ravi, it may be the lack of more originals from this talented band; they would likely have made more of a contribution than the relatively commonplace Sheik of Araby or Bossa Dorado. These four have much more to offer than the usual sounds, as this disc makes plain.
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