The Art of the Quartet (CD)

American top pianist Kenny Werner and Scandinavian star saxophonist Benjamin Koppel have become musical brothers through 15 years of ongoing frequent musical collaboration. Their duo album WALDEN was highly acclaimed, as has their long line of other releases, including COALITION with Lionel Loueke and FREEBOP with David Liebman. Scott Colley, known from his work with Carmen McCrae, Herbie Hancock and Jim Hall, has been working with Kenny for ages. Kenny and Jack deJohnette (think Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett) go back together for decades. Scott and Benjamin are close friends and music comrades, with both duo work as well as their working trio the KOPPEL-COLLEY-BLADE COLLECTIVE together with top drummer Brian Blade.
Scott and Jack have played together on many occasions, including in the group HUDSON with John Scofield. All in all these four musicians know each other very well, they are all part of a jazz family, that keep explore the possibilities and boundaries for music expression in the field, known as jazz. And their mutual respect and almost telepathic sensibility of one anothers' artistic contributions mount to a rare and intriguing double album, that gives a deeply original and highly spiritual experience of an instrumental dialogue at its best. All four musicians have contributed with compositions that circles around the core of jazz philosophy. Main values of jazz, like improvisation, courage, research, attempts, all come together and create an amazing frame in which the four musicians individual mastery comes to life end flourish unlimited. The result – the Art of the Quartet – is a milestone in modern jazz; it very clearly stands on the shoulders of what has been; it is without a doubt one of the most present and spontaneous music dialogues in a long time; and it points so directly and unambiguously into the future with a statement that leads the way into the jazz to come.