Continuum (Nik Bärtsch album)
Continuum is an album by Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch's Mobile recorded in Switzerland in 2015 and released 2016 on the ECM label.[1] Reception
The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states "Continuum is European jazz rife with funkiness; it's just more specific sound. It may require a closer listen, at least initially, but once experienced, its depth and constancy are unmistakable".[2] They also selected it as one of their Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016.[5] PopMatters' John Garratt said "While their playing can be every bit as spritely as Ronin, Continuum captures Mobile in a low, pensive light. This isn’t to say that the music isn’t as successful overall, it’s just that establishing a warm sense of intimacy with it is going to take a little work on your part".[3] All About Jazz reviewers said, "With its variety of styles, Continuum is the best of Mobile's albums to date, despite the very high bar set from the beginning"[4] and "there's little doubt that those who've become fans of Ronin's more eminently groove-laden music will be (if they weren't already) ready for this group's richer compositional rigor...for whom the term Continuum is, indeed, wholly appropriate for its broader-spectrum'd musical treasures".[6] London Jazz News' John L. Walters noted "Bärtsch's music is always urgent but never in a hurry, and his sidemen follow the leader’s calm self-discipline. What improvisation there is takes place within the broad structures of the compositions – Mobile may not be a ‘blowing’ band in the jazz sense of the word, but it interprets the music as if it were".[7] In JazzTimes, Steve Greenlee wrote "There is a clean, icy quality to this music — a hallmark of Scandinavian jazz — that invites comparisons to electronica and to the work of Philip Glass and film composer Thomas Newman... Continuum, beginning to end, is mesmerizing".[8] Track listingAll compositions by Nik Bärtsch.
Personnel
References
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