I think I wrote once before that everything in jazz has already been played, just not by everyone. I have to admit, that's not quite true. With his new album Morpho, Martin Dahanukar sets out to prove otherwise - and somehow he's right.

It's not that Morpho escapes the genre or tries to pin new feathers on the old dress in daring stunts with genre mixes. On the contrary, much of the structure, rhythm, melody and intonation is not all that different. Superficially.

But then it is. Different. Nuances, accents, playing styles and their combination with the other musicians don't necessarily care about conventions. And even less about acoustics.

Arundhati Dances combines a Fender Rhodes with a trumpet, soft basslines and poppy drums. For example.

Riff Raff mixes pleasantly flowing melodic passages with crisp, hard rhythm structures in response. And here too: Rhodes meets pop with ride grooves on crash and splash cymbals. Which sometimes seems a little exaggerated. But: it works.

Elsa has an almost classical flavour, but the brushes are surprisingly lively, which suits the piece well. And Cœurina is not lacking in cheerfulness either.

Lively, coupled with freshness, that is what distinguishes Morpho from other jazz albums and makes it worth listening to. The compact mix, which is somewhat reminiscent of underground music, increases the intensity but leaves enough space to present the musicians in a differentiated way.

Without question: Morpho by Martin Dahanukar is a very interesting and entertaining album. Just a little short, unfortunately. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Martin Dahanukar, trumpet
Mike Haudenschild, keyboards
Pierre Horisberger, drums