With every listen of the vital The Sound of Listening you are more gripped

On his first album with his Jazz Quartet since Jersey (2017) we hear the American drummer Mark Guiliana touch the synths a few times and pianist Shai Maestro move to his Fender Rhodes. But the sound on Guiliana’s new album The Sound of Listening is mainly acoustic.

The album, recorded in New York at the beginning of this year, has become a vital sounding whole. Tenor saxophonist Jason Rigby plays exuberantly, and bassist Chris Morrissey lets his double bass thump pleasantly.

But the greatest inventiveness lies in the interplay of Maestro and Guiliana. It’s hard to put your finger on it: what makes numbers like Our Essential Nature and Everything Changed After You Left now so special? The melodies are not really catchy, but you always have the idea that you hear something that you don’t know yet, and that you want to know more about. Guiliana plays so adventurously, and Maestro knows so well how to play around the not-so-obvious rhythms that you are more captivated with every listen. Next week Guiliana will play with his quartet in Rotterdam and Utrecht.