A sound like balm for the soul

The composer and guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel (*1965), who runs the Focusyear at the Jazzcampus in Basel, likes things creative, diverse and stupendous. For which he likes to use a wide variety of formats. Accordingly, the sought-after jazz musician is sometimes on the road as the leader of a big band, sometimes solo and especially in a three-piece line-up. The Austrian's latest musical venture is also a release by the Wolfgang Muthspiel Chamber Trio, the first, although the live premiere of the formation took place eight years ago. In addition to the namesake on guitar, the formation also includes his compatriot Mario Rom on trumpet and Colin Vallon from western Switzerland on piano. The declared aim of the three is to spin an interactive, polyphonic musical web together, which adopts the intimacy and transparency of chamber music formations without ever losing its rhythmic power and playfulness.

Already the first track, Guacho Schubert, makes it clear that the aim is to create chamber music free from formality and conventional pomp. Instead, the trio prefers to focus on improvisation, sound and, above all, the here and now. They do without bass and drums, which only becomes apparent on closer listening. Not least because Muthspiel occasionally misappropriates his guitar body for heartbeat-like percussion and Vallon mutes his piano strings. While in the title track Atlas the three instruments flow perfectly into each other and thus make the music pulsate between classical, jazz and world music, the following Might This Be The End quiet and completely inward-looking. The result is a sound like balm for the soul. Other pieces such as Lionel, that seems like an African travel memento, the elegantly swinging Duke's Blues or the tricky and playful Dogs make for an imaginative and sensual musical experience. And the more you get involved, the more you are rewarded.

Wolfgang Muthspiel Chamber Trio: Atlas. Clap Your Hands Records