Cologne Jazz Quartet Feat. Dennis Mackrel - Con Alma

Debut album from the Cologne Allstar Formation featuring US luminary Dennis Mackrel - timelessly beautiful straight-ahead jazz. The band name is as simple as it is confident: Cologne, as a widely acclaimed jazz hotspot, served as inspiration. Malte Durrschnabel (saxophone), Billy Test (piano, WDR Big Band), Henning Gailing (double bass), and Dennis Mackrel (drums, Count Basie Orchestra) form a wonderfully well-rehearsed quartet, playing passionate straight-ahead jazz from the vast repertoire of bebop and hard bop, always soulfully swinging, sometimes moodily intimate. With a sure sense of style, delicate intricacies, and irresistibly impulsive performances, they celebrate the high art of grooving jazz, driven by solo highlights and rhythmic impulses, with double bass and drums as fully equal players in their stylish interplay. New Yorker Dennis Mackrel, also a composer, arranger, and music educator, famous for his time with the Count Basie Orchestra, blends seamlessly into the band with great spirit and positive energy. Con Alma radiates the freshness and spontaneous intensity of a live performance - no surprise: most of the pieces are actually first takes. The band confidently navigates through highlights of the Great American Songbook and occasionally delves into established jazz compositions. The symbiosis of bebop and modern jazz is wonderfully achieved by this Cologne quartet throughout the album