Three Miles Off

I did a lot the other day! Or maybe, I am just lazy that way ... be that as it may, I really did receive Three Miles Off, the new jazz CD with Oliver Friedli on the piano, Alex Hendriksen (sax), Fernando Fontanilles (bass), Andreas Hoerni (drums) and Daniel Woodtli (wind) in the mail the other day. I've already written about it here - well, ok, not about the CD proper, but about that formation's summertime performance, and perhaps about jazz musicians' reluctance to have a useful online presence ... like Alex's, Oliver's is not very helpful at the time of writing, even though a bit of marketing wouldn't hurt sales, I am sure. What is it with those guys?!

But on to the CD! The Pessoa inspired well composed ten track piece has pretty much lost all of the progressiveness (except for Sugartree, maybe) present in the live performance I attended. But I love it! Alongside some unknown pieces, they present a few standards in a rather cool, laid back mainstream fashion which is bound to bring this CD pretty high up in my iTunes most played selection. Woodtli is definitely a valuable addition to the formation, especially in the colourful duets with Hendriksen. I love his throaty fraying in Morgan Station!

Unfortunately the booklet has its strengths more on the atmospheric rather than in the informative. The question is permitted: What's the purpose of a booklet, particularly when combined with a non-existent, yet referenced website? Come on, Oliver, you can do it!