idlero Pianist Bugge Wesseltoft is well known as one of the pioneers of the nu-jazz especially in the 90's with his "New Conception Of Jazz" series releases in which he mixes jazz with dance club. But his album IM dedicated to tragic events in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (and to one particular victim, Zawadi Mongane who Bugge heard interviewed on BBC Radio) is different. In this album BW focuses on solo acustic piano( although it includes the Sami singing and percussion of Mari Boine on ‘YOYK’, and the voice of Rwandan survivor Zawadi Mongane telling her story in ‘WY’ ). The music is slow, gentle, reflective, reminding of Keith Jarrett or Satie, probably the most meditative music he wrote. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, and for sure not every BW fan's cup of tea but as "still water runs deep' , this music can touch you deeply if you give it enough time.

js Nu jazz meets ambient techno and the sum is greater than the parts in the hands of these two excellent craftsmen. Good ambient techno is hard to come by these days. With the rise of cheap music making software any Joe with a computer can create endless amounts of new age sounding drivel, but ambient techno was never supposed to be that saccharine sweet, nor that easy to produce. Henrik Schwarz gets it right on here with that perfect blend of barely audible ambience and dry airy textures that are never sentimental. Add to that Bugge Wesseltoft’s very tasty and never overbearing treated piano and electric piano you have one very nice modern jazz CD.

Bugge’s playing on here is what you would expect from a modern electronica/jazz keyboardist, sort of a minimal Herbie Hancock-lite approach that mirrors Herbie’s own work mixing jazz and electronics back in the 70s. The fact that Bugge chooses to stick with real piano and Fender Rhodes is a great choice as it keeps the CD from sounding like the ambient techno generica herd. There is a very warm sense of play on here that verges on outright humorous satire on ‘Leave my Head Alone Brain’. On this one Wesseltoft plays piano clichés from the very early days of Chicago acid house while Schwarz brings the thump thump house beat as well as cliché slow moving high pass filter sweeps that were all the rage in 90s electro-dance music. Fortunately the two don’t get so carried away with their humor that this cut becomes a sore thumb, instead it blends with all the others as the whole CD becomes one big ambient electro-jazz soundscape where individual songs don’t matter much.

If you like a modern mixture of jazz and electronics along the lines of Spacetime Contiuum’s ‘Double Fine Zone’, then I doubt you will be disappointed in the careful thought and sensitive musicianship that went into constructing this very subtle gem.

The Truth A graceful little album of skillfully manipulated piano (which was well played to begin with).

This is my first delve into either of these two artists but it looked like a good way to quell my recent thirst for nu jazz. I definitely wasn't dissappointed, the album is a great one indeed, Wesseltoft definitely is an excellent jazz pianist and his playing is the main highlight but Schwarz really takes the piano to a new (or nu) level of beauty with his tech skills. Each track starts excellent but it only gains excellence when it is mutated with computerized elegance.

In short, this sounds like robotic lounge piano music. Isn't that enough said?

snobb Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft is often mentioned as one of the godfathers of nu jazz. At least, his early releases are nu jazz classics for sure. I never was a big fan of him, his music often sounded too "lightweight" or too dance-able /clubbing oriented for me.

This Bugges album is his duo with a musician not related to jazz at all. German Henrik Schwarz made his name on the Detroit/Berlin techno scene and is a respected figure in club electronic music. Possibly, it was a big risk that this album would be even more "clubbing" music or radical electronics, but fortunately this didn't happen.

Even more - this album represents a very rare great balance between jazz roots and modern electronic music possibilities. Being almost minimalist, it contains live and studio recorded compositions - both of which are stylish and tasteful. I was really surprised at how well balanced this music is - it looks like both musicians didn't demonstrate their abilities separately, but just moved one towards the other in their music.

Most interesting is how Henrik uses his electronic devices - it's a great example of how samples and electronics can be used as a source for improvs! In all, the music on here is not too extravagant, more normal than one would expect. Also, it's a great side of this release - the listener won't be shocked or attracted by some tricks, this album contains real music, and you will like it or hate it because of that.

js This is Bugge Wesseltoft's first album and also one of the first albums in a new genre to become known as nu jazz. Nu jazz is a sometimes somber and ascetic offshoot of the more club friendly acid jazz genre. While nu jazz retains some of the acid jazz DJs relationship with trip-hop, it also features influences from 60s-70s Miles Davis and the 'fourth world' sounds of Jon Hassell. Like a lot of beginner albums this one is brilliant in places and inconsistent overall, but the good songs are some of the best jazz fusion to come out during the last part of the previous century. Bugge's vision of nu jazz is fairly upbeat with big horn sections and driving rhythm sections colored with electronics. Some of these cuts sound like the blaxploitation soundtrack of the future when rogue detectives with jet packs will chase gangsters in hover-limos. Along with the crime jazz influences Bugge also draws heavily on some of the more experimental and electronic output of Miles and Herbie Hancock. Its as if acid jazz meets On the Corner, Get Up With It, Crossings and Thrust on the set of Shaft 2021, and that is one of the finest compliments I think I could ever give a piece of music.

The weaker cuts aren't that bad, but their disparate styles draw away from the continuity of the other tracks. There are three vocal numbers that range oddly from neo-soul to Middle-Eastern trip-hop to beatnik spoken word, as well as a couple of avant-garde jams that sound like one take studio 'accidents'. Despite the inconsistencies, this album is highly recommended for fans of psychedelic jazz.