NEW RELEASE – LINUS EPPINGER / SAM BRAYSHER QUARTET

This year’s crop of kisses is for me.   

Most welcome quartet and record. Accessible jazz on a high level, positively feelgood, the black element hard-wired in its DNA.

It’s a good match, guitarist Linus Eppinger with his old-school style and alto saxophonist Sam Braysher, who is also still quite young but must have an old soul. And there’s no place to hide with the swinging and stimulating rhythm section of bassist Daryll Hall and drummer Eric Ineke. The German Amsterdammer and Londoner can let their hair down and have a natural ball. You don’t have to ask twice.

Lovely, seldom-played tunes. What about Goodman/Christian’s A Smooth One? Note Eppinger’s mix of Wes Montgomery and honky tonk feeling. Note Braysher’s saucy inflection and laid-back groove, as if he transcribed a conversation between Billie Holiday and Lester Young. What about George Cables’s I Told You So and Weiss/Sherman’s That Sunday That Summer? Relaxed Latin-tinged gems, drops of lemon in sparkling water.

There’s nothing wrong with (hard) bop though it’s overwhelmed by outstanding balladry. (Art of the brushes!) Both Vernon Duke’s Roundabout and obscure Sinatra-vehicle A Sinner Kissed An Angel find Braysher singing on his horn with a beautiful soft and furry sound, while the latter benefits from Eppinger’s soulful minimalism.

Maximum results.

Find A Sinner Kissed An Angel on Fresh Sound Records: https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/linus-eppinger-sam-braysher-albums/57697-a-sinner-kissed-an-angel-digipack.html