One of the most joyous feelings for some music writers like us, at Bluebird Reviews, is that of discovering, as the years go by, more and more artists willingly deciding not to contain their passion for their art-form, i.e. by pidgeonholing themselves in a sole sonic niche, but to push instead their improvisational skills and musical visions into highly interesting mash-up of genres.
That is pretty much the story of what happened with the brand new album of a hugely eclectic and talented collective coming from Denmark and called A Plane To Catch.
A sextet formed originally in 2020, A Plane To Catch released their first album only in 2023 called Moko Jumbie, a record that was well received by Contemporary Jazz and World Music lovers, in view of the tone of the album that was able to marry very successfully tribal West African sounds with layers of Modern Jazz.
The Danish collective, though, has always loved to push music boundaries into different directions, as the success of their acclaimed live performances around Europe has confirmed and for this very reason, the new vibrant groove exuding from the A Plane To Catch's brand new record and called Soul Piece, it didn't come as much of a surprise to our website.
Frankly, the collective's new album is a little gem and reveals a new and exciting side of the Danish ssexte's musicianship. Packed with layers of Funk, Soul, Fusion, Desertic Jazz and Blues, Soul Piece s a record that displays a group of enormously talented musicians willing to take sonic gambles throughout the 9 instrumental pieces included in the album, in our opinion, very successfully.
From the stratospheric cocktail of Soul, Fusion, Jazz and Funk present in the swaggering composition called Mr. Well Dressed to the album opener Bamako Convention Center, the latter being a piece which creates an ideal sonic bridge between the 2023 collective's debut album and Soul Piece, or going from a splendidly penned ballad tinged with brushes of Blues and Jazz like At Least The Sky Is Blue to the album's closing piece called Kahn Abyss, containing a masterful display in Fusion and Contemporary Jazz, A Plane To Catch are able to carry musical freshness and impressive musicianship with such charisma, brilliancy and focus for the whole of Soul Piece without losing a beat at any point.
A truly inspired record coming from some of the most skilled and talented collective in Europe right now.
Soul Piece is out now and it is available via April Records.
A Plane To Catch are:
Mads Nørgaard - Guitar
Anton Langebæk - Bass
Simon Eskildsen - Keyboards
Andreas Toftemark - Saxophone
David Basiakov - Drums and Percussion
Rolf Thofte - Trumpet
