Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

by Ian Mann

December 17, 2016

/ ALBUM

“Blackwater” represents a distinctive slice of melodic contemporary jazz and should appeal to a broad range of jazz listeners.

Henrik Jensen’s Followed By Thirteen

“Blackwater”

(Jellymould Jazz JM-JJ023)

Released in September 2016 “Blackwater” is the second album by Followed By Thirteen, a quartet of London based musicians led by the Danish bassist and composer Henrik Jensen. It represents the follow up to 2014’s “Qualia”, also released on the Jellymould Jazz label.

Jensen has toured extensively with vocal trio the Puppini Sisters but he has also worked with saxophonists Pete Wareham and Martin Speake, pianists Arthur Lea, Bruno Heinen and Will Butterworth plus that great musical maverick, the guitarist and vocalist Billy Jenkins. He has enjoyed a particularly fruitful musical relationship with the German saxophonist Peter Ehwald, and their intimate duo album simply titled “Jensen Ehwald” is reviewed elsewhere on this site in conjunction with “Songs of Trees”, an earlier release by The North Trio featuring Jensen, Ehwald and drummer Wolfgang Hohn. 

Followed By Thirteen is a truly international group with Jensen joined by his fellow Dane pianist Esben Tjalve and the American born trumpeter Andre Canniere The current edition of the band is completed by the Italian drummer Antonio Fusco who takes over the stool from the young Brit Peter Ibbetson.

Canniere is a bandleader in his own right with three albums under his own name as well as being a prolific sideman on the London jazz scene. He has also recorded with guitarist Hannes Riepler’s band and with saxophonist Dee Byrne’s group Entropi.

Tjalve has featured on the Jazzmann web pages leading his stellar Red Kite sextet on a 2012 release of the same name on the F-ire Presents label. He also performs with various world music ensembles and has written music for film, stage, radio and television.

I’ll admit to not having heard of Fusco previously but the press release suggests that he is an in demand figure on the European jazz scene playing in a variety of different contexts. He also works with Jensen and Bruno Heinen in the trio NS3. In addition Fusco leads his own sextet with whom he released the album “Suite For Motian” in 2014.

Also in 2014 I enjoyed a performance by Followed By Thirteen at Dempsey’s in Cardiff. The band that night featured Jensen, Canniere, Tjalve and drummer Daniel Harding. A review of that performance appears elsewhere on the Jazzmann at;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/followed-by-thirteen-dempseys-cardiff-24-09-2014/

Comprised of eight original Jensen compositions “Blackwater” is very much a continuation of the musical journey that commenced with “Qualia”. The emphasis is on melodic contemporary jazz with Jensen citing the quartet led by New York bassist Drew Gress, a group that deploys the same instrumental format, as a particularly significant influence.  The album title comes from the River Blackwater on whose banks Jensen proposed to his wife to be, Helen Schura. It’s the one in Essex rather than the one in Ireland by the way, and the Danish Jensen also likes the fact that the Vikings defeated the Anglo-Saxons here in 991 at the Battle of Maldon.

Jensen’s writing always places a strong focus on melody which ensures that Followed By Thirteen’s music is always readily accessible. However there’s always plenty going on within the tunes to maintain the listener’s attention. As the only horn the spotlight regularly falls upon Canniere and he’s immediately up to the challenge with an agile but mellifluous solo on the opening track “The Dutch Danemann”. Tjalve also impresses with a flowing solo and he also excels as an accompanist throughout the album. Jensen and Fusco are a flexible and intelligent rhythm pairing with the leader’s grounding bass a good foil for Fusco’s neat, crisp, inventive drumming. The opener sees the Italian enjoying something of a drum feature towards the close of the tune.

Jensen’s compositions are often named after people or places. The next piece “London-Berlin” summons up something of the bustle and energy of both these cities but without ever losing Jensen’s trademark melodic focus. There’s maybe a hint of Gress and New York in there too. Canniere again takes the first solo, his trumpet muted but his playing bright and imaginative. Tjalve then stretches out on piano and is similarly inventive as Jensen and Fusco supply a briskly bustling groove that both supports and interacts with the soloist.

“Bonza” slows things down and is a kind of abstract ballad that allows for gentle but intelligent group interplay with both Canniere and Tjalve given the opportunity to demonstrate their fluency and lyricism at slower tempos, although the momentum does begin to build once more during the pianist’s expansive solo. 

“Riccardo’s Room” initially has something of the feel of the earlier “London-Berlin” but this time punctuated by gentler, more lyrical interludes. The first of these includes a delightfully melodic bass solo from Jensen before Tjalve’s solo skilfully increases the momentum once more. Canniere’s trumpet feature begins in loosely structured abstraction but subsequently takes flight and soars above the busy and inventive grooves bubbling beneath. The piece resolves itself with a brief, lyrical coda.

“Lullaby For The Little One” is a short but delightful feature for Jensen’s unaccompanied double bass which holds the listener’s attention thanks to a combination of rich melodicism and an equally rich invention. It’s clearly a highly personal as is the following “Schur-as”, into which it segues.
This piece is a dedication to Jensen’s fiancée but there’s still an edge and urgency to the music that prevents it from sliding into sentimentality, a quality emphasised by the brightness and inventiveness of the solos by Tjalve and Canniere. 

In fact it’s “The Unready” that is the true ballad with Canniere featuring on velvety flugelhorn and Jensen on melodic but deeply woody and sonorous bass. Tjalve adds a limpid pianism and Fusco turns in a delightfully understated performance at the drums, skilfully colouring the music with his intelligent brushwork. 

The album concludes on an optimistic note with the breezy, Latin tinged “Cravings” with Canniere’s trumpet dancing airily above the gently propulsive grooves laid down by Jensen and Fusco. Tjalve’s rippling piano solo maintains the joyous mood.

“Blackwater” expands upon the success of “Qualia”. The compositions are more varied, with Jensen frequently changing the mood in the course of a single tune, and the performances are more relaxed and fluid. In this respect it’s more reflective of the band’s live appearances.

The playing is excellent throughout, both individually and collectively, and the impressive Fusco seems to have brought a new dimension to the band. The musicians are also well served by a precise sound mix courtesy of engineers Nick Taylor and Peter Beckmann.

“Blackwater” represents a distinctive slice of melodic contemporary jazz and should appeal to a broad range of jazz listeners.
 

blog comments powered by Disqus