“…Busstra’s group rewards the attention paid them with music that has been well thought out and deeply experienced by it’s performers.”
The Dutchman Marnix Busstra uses long, electrically colored tones but distinguishes himself from the masses of jazz-rock guitarists by never bowing to the temptation to exaggerate.
His quartet, beautifully recorded in a direct manner, (and with an excellent tenor saxophonist in the person of Yuri Honing), has a light and open character. Rhythms and melodies are reduced to their essence and float freely in the air as if weightless: independant, and without the need for thickly layered chords.
The accompanying patterns and the solos are sharply sketched against a silence one can almost touch, so that every nuance captures your attention. Those able to offer this kind performance are in complete control of their craft, and Busstra’s group rewards the attention paid them with music that has been well thought out and deeply experienced by it’s performers. The timing and phrasing of the guitar and sax are spot on in ever audible moment.
Each of the seven compositions offered by the leader offers something all it’s own. There is a whirlwind number characteristic of Irish folk music, a drawing, slow blues, a dreamy ballad and heavier work that remains clear thanks to the melodic and carefully tuned drums of Peter Bast and the warm wooden foundation from Eric van der Westen’s bass.