Stroman/Jönsson Project
American singer Scott Stroman and Swedish saxophonist Cennet Jönsson have collaborated for more than 15 years in many different constellations. In 1997 they released their CD ”Project 1” during a Scandinavian tour. Scott and Cennet have also toured all over Europe with drummer legend Billy Cobham in the group NorthbyNorthwest and performed with bigbands, choirs, symphony orchestras etc This time Stroman and Jönsson have assembled an international top group consisting of musicians from five different countries. New melodic and rhythmically complex compositions inspired by music from all over the world, was presented on October 2 at Victoriateatern in Malmö during KOPAfestival 2008. A recording and a British tour followed. The CD "Project 2" is out now!
Stroman/Jönsson Project is:
Scott Stroman (US) – vocal, composer
Cennet Jönsson (SE) – saxophone, composer
Zoltan Lantos (HU) – violin
Justin Quinn (UK) – guitar
Ronan Guilfoyle (IRE) – bass
Paul Clarvis (UK) / Peter Danemo (SE) – drums
Check out the tune "Ghosts in The Barn" on YouTube - live from The Vortex in London!
Quotes from a review by Mike Hobart in Finacial Times reporting from a very succesful concert at the Vortex, London on January 13 2010:
"Trombonist and vocalist Scott Stroman and Swedish saxophonist Cennet Jönsson bring 20 years of mutual orchestral, world-music and jazz-combo experience to their latest collaboration, the self-explanatory Project 2. The CD’s eight originals are ambitious mini-overtures of world-tinged fusion jazz and were slightly ragged at the edges on the night. Spirited soloing and an unusual front line more than compensated. Stroman concentrates on vocals which, orchestrally voiced, are blended smoothly with violin and sax.
The opening modal workout “Luce” set the tone. A pounding “gathering-of-the-clans” bass riff – Irishman Ronan Guilfoyle solid on acoustic bass guitar – was the foundation for a whirligig folk-dance melody. Tension was released by a change of key and texture, and a twiddly riff finally launched a succession of solos, with Hungarian violinist Zoltán Lantos and Jönsson on soprano sax expertly crafting slow-burning crescendos.
Other first-set compositions were similarly episodic in structure. Unaccompanied soprano sax introduced hymnal elegy, rattly percussion set up lilting funk and Justin Quinn’s slide guitar established the atmosphere for the bleak ballad “Homeless”. The ensemble coped with the complex chords, precision harmonies and disjointed rhythms.
In the second set, “Everlasting Song” was light-toned and optimistic, “Ten Bar Blues” a jigsaw of overlapping lines and altered chords and “Man in the Moon” an affectionate ballad. The band zipped through angular fusion, modal swing and lounge-jazz brushwork. And there were sparky improvisations from the charismatic Lantos – gypsy jazz, off-the-cuff cadenzas – and a grand-finale solo from drummer Paul Clarvis. Stroman’s improvisations, mixing scat and Indian references, were spot on."
From the same concert TV/film artsproducer Mathew Tucker writes:
"Scott Stroman is a musician with fingers in many pies. Tonight he was the vocalist in a band he co-leads with his long-term musical partner, saxophonist Cennet Jonsson. Joined by instrumentalists from Hungary, the US, Ireland and, er Highbury (Stroman), he treated the select audience at the Vortex to a collection of works (well I can't really call them songs) from his new album Project 2. This rather clinical title doesn't do justice to the warmth exuded by the assembled musicians, spearheaded by Jonsson's soprano sax and Zoltan Lantos' fiddle. Their breathtaking unity of sound was underpinned by Stroman's gentle scat singing which, whether intended or not, was a useful brake on anything too outlandish and impenetrable. The highlight of the evening was Stroman's composition, Homeless whose desolate quality perfectly captured the cold and slushy view of Gillett Square as seen from the comfort of the Vortex."
