Stroman/Jönsson Project
Amerikanske sångaren Scott Stroman och saxofonisten Cennet Jönsson har samarbetat i mer än 15 år i många olika sammanhang. 1997 kom deras gemensamma CD ”Project 1” ut i samband med en skandinavisk turné. Scott och Cennet har också turnerat runt om i Europa med Billy Cobham i bandet NorthbyNorthwest och arbetat med storband, kör, symfoniorkester och kammarensembler.
Stroman och Jönsson har satt samman en internationell toppgrupp bestående av musiker från fem olika länder. Nykomponerade melodiska och rytmiskt komplexa kompositioner inspirerade av musik från värdens alla hörn presenterades 2 oktober på Victoriateatern i Malmö under KOPAfestival 2008 och följdes upp med skivinspelning och turné i England. I januari 2010 framträdde gruppen i London och spelade bl.a. på the Vortex Jazz Café. (Se recension nedan.) I augusti samma år gjordes en turné i England. CDn "Project 2" finns ute nu!
Stroman/Jönsson Project är:
Scott Stroman (US) – sång, kompositör
Cennet Jönsson (SE) – sax, kompositör
Zoltán Lantos (HU) – violin
Justin Quinn (UK) – gitarr
Ronan Guilfoyle (IRE) – bas
Paul Clarvis (UK) / Peter Danemo (SE) – trummor
Kolla in låten "Ghosts in the Barn " på Youtube med gruppen- live från The Vortex i London!
Pressklipp från Mike Hobarts recension i Financial Times av den mycket lyckade konserten på the Vortex i London 13 januari 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."
Om samma konsert skriver TV/film -producenten Mathew Tucker:
"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."
