Label: Outside in Music, 2021

Personnel - Jorn Swart; piano; Benni von Gutzeit: viola; Lucas Pino: bass clarinet.

Questioning what means to be human and the value of art in a technological age, the trio Malnoia - led by the pianist/composer Jorn Swart and featuring Benni von Gutzeit on viola and Lucas Pino on bass clarinet - releases their sophomore album, Hello Future, and fills it with carefully crafted scores that escort commissioned short stories about science fiction and the future. The trio boasts a boundary-leaping style with abundant lyricism, pointillism and contrapuntal movements, showing a masterful control over the flow of their music and its artful transitions.

“First Ocean” blends tempered folk and contemporary chamber music in a seamless, enjoyable manner. There’s a practical urgency in the harmonic accompaniment that counterbalances the poignancy of the melody. The result does justice to a story, written by Swart himself, about a space traveler who has forgotten the smell, feel and sensation of the sea.

The nature of “Paultjuh” moves the band into a lulling, shimmering space capable to create a balmy, if nostalgic, effect on the listeners. The viola cries appear to be moaning howls, while the bass clarinet validates the emotionally-driven piano harmony through patterned constellations of notes. There’s more light than darkness in this poetically profound exertion inspired on Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”.

Whereas “The Ghost” is a slow waltz drowned in pathos, the classical-soaked “New Religion” embeds three layers of a time-shifted melody that evolve with grace, in a pure investment of uplifting Mozart-like dynamics.

Classical and Latin passages are coupled with elegance on “DemocrApp”, while “Choro Humano”, disclosing its real nature on the title, explores the Brazilian genre with the happy vibe and staggering virtuosity for what it’s known. It’s all here, with no need for bass or percussion.

“Tubifoot” brings back all that jazz, exhibiting a mainstream posture and swing language. Distant from this mood, “Prelude to Singularity” employs unwavering dreamy piano, euphonious viola scratches and ruminative woodwind sounds to sonically depict the story of a man who found out that the concert that most affected him emotionally had been created by an algorithm. The latter number precedes the suave closer, Vangelis' “Tears in Rain”, the sole non-original composition on the album, which served as an emotional intensifier of Roy Batty’s famous monologue in the sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

All contrasting stylistic elements of Hello Future are woven together with a methodically organized discipline and filtered into a unique blend of music that has its charms.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - First Ocean ► 02 - Paultjuh ► 07 - Choro Humano

Label/Year: Brooklyn Jazz Underground, 2017

Lineup - Jorn Swart: piano; Benjamin von Gutzeit: viola; Lucas Pino: bass clarinet

New York-based pianist Jorn Swart configures an uncommon piano-viola-clarinet trio format, to interpret the ten tracks he composed for his sophomore outing, Malnoia.

Revealing a strong passion for classical music, he assumes influences from Bartok, Ravel, and Hindemith, which he maturely mingles with jazz vocabulary and improvisation. Joining him in this adventure are violist Benjamin von Gutzeit and bass clarinetist Lucas Pino, whose habitual tenor saxophone was left aside for this particular project.

Beautiful and sad, dreamy and enchanting, touching and heartfelt… “Elefante Triste” is all that and much more. Blossoming with the lyrical power of the trio, the tune relies on Swart’s harmonic textures that will serve as a stamping ground for Von Gutzeit and Pino’s soaring melodiousness.

If the opening piece feels contemporary, “Walsje” is a traditional waltz molded with robust classical intonations, even if the soloists squeeze some jazz sentences on top of the cadenced one-two-three rhythm flow.
The gloomy “Feldmania” intensifies sadness and takes us to dark, wintry landscapes.

Christmas is remembered with disenchantment on “Odd Christmas Song” where mournful and eerie vibes can be found deeply rooted in its core. “Nocturne” follows a similar melancholy, alerting our senses for the collective interplay, which includes meditative piano cuddles, long clarinet vibratos, and nostalgic viola wails.

Pure chamber classicism is delivered on “Hindemith”, a contrapuntal tune impregnated of shifting rhythms and melodic accentuations. By turns, it embraces vivacious and reflective modes, becoming buoyantly throbbing as it moves forward.

Truly impressive is “Students of the Macabre”, an inviting dance elaborated with groovy ostinatos and clever improvisations by the bandleader, who exhibits resolute spontaneity, and Pino, who delivers the best solo of the record.

“Meditation in C” falls in the same category of the tune described above, assuming a free-flowing nature and suggesting movement, while “The Return of the Snow Bunnies”, emerging like a pop ballad, aims at the heart and stirs up feelings. Its heavenly composure will certainly touch the most sensitive listeners.

The jazz genre benefits with diversity and Jorn Swart presents us alternative sounds drawn from bold approaches. Malnoia consolidates his creative voice, at the same time that sets the bar high for his next move.
To better relish this album, just give it time, enjoying several listenings.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Elefante Triste ► 07 – Students of the Macabre ► 08 – The Return of the Snow Bunnies