Thoughtfulness set to music
Although Lisette Spinnler has been on the road with her current formation for four years, she has never released an album. Now this shortcoming has finally been remedied.
The title of Lisette Spinnler's latest CD, Sounds Between Falling Leavesseems to be a clear reminiscence of autumn. The melancholy mood of the seven songs would also fit in with this. In an interview with the Badische Zeitung however, the jazz singer has let it slip that the album title refers to something else - to a period of searching and going into silence: "The album title is actually a metaphor for the time in which I wrote this," she explained.
Anyone listening to the CD will encounter the Basel native's most introverted work to date. The songs sound like contemplation set to music, but some of them also turn out to be contemplations of nature. This applies not least to The Sun Has Setbased on a poem by Emily Brontë (1818-1848), which talks about grass swaying dreamily in the evening breeze. The 41-year-old uses this template to use her voice sparingly, but very effectively. She stretches her vocal parts, tends to whisper and knows how to lend the words additional weight with her nuances.
Pieces like The Night Is Darkening Around Me or Silent Dream seem calm, almost entirely gentle and quiet. Only the piece penned by Mongo Santamaria Afro Blue, the only cover on the record, scores the prevailing contemplation with finely spun rhythms from Latin jazz. The playful melodies, one of Spinnler's trademarks, are no longer quite as dominant as they used to be. Instead, the musician and her three accompanists on piano, bass and drums now indulge in a sound that aims to be virtuosic and balanced. This succeeds and makes that Sounds Between Falling Leaves not just improvisationally, but presented in an almost artistic manner.
Lisette Spinnler: Sounds Between Falling Leaves. Stefan Aeby, piano; Patrice Moret, bass; Michi Stulz, drums. Neuklang NCD4171
