Nextbop

The Next Generation of Jazz

  • Home
  • Blog
    • Newest Posts
    • Streams & Videos
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
  • New Releases
  • Best Of Lists
    • Best of 2019
    • Best of 2018
    • Best of 2017
    • Best of 2016
    • Best of 2015
    • Best of 2014
    • Best of 2013
    • Best of 2012
    • Best of 2011
    • Best of 2010
  • Advertising Rates
  • About
  • Contact Us
Home / Blog / Reviews / Arthur Hnatek – ‘Lualuna Tai – With DKSJ’

Arthur Hnatek – ‘Lualuna Tai – With DKSJ’

May 4, 2017 By Anthony Dean-Harris

ShareTweetSubscribe

Subscribe to our mailing list and receive our most read content directly to your inbox every month!*

* indicates required
*By subscribing, you agree to receive our monthly newsletter as well as sporadic promotional emails. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time!

An album like Lualuna Tai, the four song EP composed by drummer Arthur Hnatek (who has backed the likes of Tigran Hamasyan, Erik Truffaz, and Dhafer Youssef) and performed with the DKSJ All Stars, could easily be described as ethereal. It has a sound that emerges from some fuzziness, finding form and structure and maybe a few tumbles of chaos for even measure. It’s an album that reminds one of the amazingness of music, that these objects — skins on tins, warped metal tubes, wooden cases with strings stretched taut across — when used as tools can bend the air, and that gifted people with like mind can change time. Each of these songs have a simple energy that lavishes in its growth.

It’s a large ensemble album that crosses into a New Age territory. The word ethereal has already come up, so “spacey” should “airy” come up as well. Very apt words to describe this sound that finds grooves in the longest measures or stumbles onto beats like discovered paths in the woods. Two-part centerpiece “Hendécagone” has the spirit of a Wayne Shorter composition, in its playfulness and its patience while keeping the reins of so many elements. Saxophonists Tapiwa Svosve and Benjamin Knecht are superb, expressive but not too flashy. Yumi Ito is just as ear-catching on the glockenspiel as she is as a vocalist on the first and last songs of the EP, “*City* Without You – Palindrome” and “Song for the Unsung Language – Poem by Luisa Famos”. As a singer, her voice floats above it all, but her glockenspiel sweetly seems to call everything together. They’re a fascinating pair of talents to contribute to the ensemble.

However, it’s Hnatek who undoubtedly impresses here with this collection of songs composed for this group. They’re a group with range and vitality with a grasp of jazz that doesn’t quite go down the usual corners, though neither does Hnatek. Hearing him drum alongside this group, playing as if he’s telling a story the rest of the group is acting out, just feels right. They’re certainly a group that should be worth a half hour of your time, if not repeated listens, particularly at the price of a free download.

Lualuna Tai – With DKSJ, the four-song EP from drummer/composer Arthur Hnatek, is out now and available for free download from Hnatek’s Bandcamp.

Yumi Ito, voice/glockenspiel
Tapiwa Svosve, alto sax and electronics
Benjamin Knecht, tenor sax and clarinet
Nicola Habegger, trumpet
Lukas Reinert, trombone
Victor Darmon, violin
Jonathan Salvi, vibraphone
Sebastian Bättig, guitar
James Krütli, bass
Andrew Audiger, piano
Arthur Hnatek, drums

Filed Under: Blog, Reviews Tagged With: Andrew Audiger, Arthur Hnatek, Benjamin Knecht, James Krütli, Jonathan Salvi, Lualuna Tai - With DKSJ, Lukas Reinert, Nicola Habegger, Sebastian Bättig, Tapiwa Svosve, Victor Darmon, Yumi Ito

Follow Us


6,871
followers

9,720
followers

1,182
followers

Monthly Newsletter

Get our 5 most-read posts and a list of brand new jazz albums sent directly to your inbox every month!


Top Posts

  • Rob Shepherd Favorite Jazz Albums Decade Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Jazz Albums of the Decade
  • Best Jazz Albums 2019 Nextbop’s Best Jazz Albums of 2019
  • Nardis: A Critical Analysis of Covers
  • The Pitchfork of Jazz
  • Binker and Moses – ‘Alive in the East?’ (Album Review)

Tags

Aaron Parks A Critical Analysis of Covers BADBADNOTGOOD Ben Wendel Ben Williams Biophilia Blue Note Brad Mehldau Brainfeeder Braxton Cook Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Colin Stranahan Concord Corey Fonville Derrick Hodge ECM Edition Gerald Clayton Gilad Hekselman Greenleaf International Anthem Ivo Neame Jason Lindner Kassa Overall Kendrick Scott Lawrence Fields Linda May Han Oh Makaya McCraven Mark Guiliana Matthew Stevens Motéma Nate Wood Nonesuch Phronesis Pi Robert Glasper Ropeadope Sarah Elizabeth Charles Stephan Crump Stones Throw Sunnyside Taylor Eigsti Thundercat Vijay Iyer Whirlwind
© 2021 Nextbop. All rights reserved.
Use of any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our Privacy Policy.