The US critics have already celebrated the album Iris by jazz drummer Vladimir Kostadinovic in advance. He dedicated it to his daughter, who was eight years old at the time of the recording and even says a few words at the end of the title track. Kostadinovic has put together an all-star band to accompany him, with whom he lets lively big-city jazz bubble out of the loudspeakers.

On board and also named on the cover are saxophonists Ben Wendel and Chris Potter, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, bassist Matt Brewer, pianist Geoffrey Keezer and vibraphonist Joe Locke. They accompany the drummer, who was born in Sebien and now lives in Vienna, Austria. Not in New York. Why is that important?

Because vibraphonist Locke says he sometimes finds it difficult to understand how European musicians can sound as if they were born and raised in an urban American center. What he means by this is New York, for example, the global capital of jazz.

The opening of the album seems a little strange: The rhythm seems somehow stumbled, a child narrates something, but after a short time Iris begins to unfold. Delicate vibraphone passages, powerful saxophone conversations and a solid drum solo give a foretaste of what the album has in store.

And what it has in store is New York jazz fresh from the club. This sounds conventionally American in parts, but does not detract from the immensely high quality of the performance. The musicians interact with each other with such intimacy that you could be forgiven for thinking they had been playing together intensively for years. A good example of this is The World Keeps Ending and The World Keeps Going On, in which unison passages alternate with energetic solos in which the soloists sometimes play the notes in time with each other. This is high school, especially when it sounds so natural and natural.

Is There A Heary In This House? is dressed as a song that nestles into the ear canal with a delicate melodiousness and creates a welcome break with its focus on harmony and calm flow, which is extended a little by the ballad Echoes in Eternity before the final spurt begins.

In addition to the very natural sound and an arrangement that resembles a living room stage, the unagitated frequency response, which protects the ears from overly biting trebles from the excited brass, is also a nice feature of the recording.

Vladimir Kostadinovic's album Iris is a multi-layered piece of jazz that is always a pleasure to listen to with its rich fund of facets. A great album. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Vladimir Kostadinovic, drums
Ben Wendel, tenor saxophone
Alex Sipiagin, trumpet
Joe Locke, vibraphone
Geoffrey Keezer, piano
Matt Brewer, bass
Chris Potter, tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 2)

Photo: Lefty-Beatzz