The new album of the Undercurrent Trio is the celebration of a long friendship between Iman “Eyeman” Spaargaren (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Guillermo “Rusty” Celano (el. guitar) and Marcos “The Marx” Baggiani (drums), for this occasion they invited the phenomenal trumpet player Suzan Veneman to this party in which we hear many musical styles. Spaargaren considers Celano and Baggiani as “two of my favorite musicians of all time”. The presence of Suzan Veneman with her flawless playing, innovative musical ideas and amazing improvisations literally brings new life to their music. Besides the Undercurrent Trio, Iman Spaargaren is also active in the Eyeman All Stars, the StarkLinnemann Quartet, the Pelican Three, Thelonious 4 and a few more.
There are ten original compositions on Cloud Song, each with its own history and sound. The album opens with the title track “Cloud Song”, a composition that actually encompasses their entire oeuvre, a contribution from all the soloists with this time a cracking solo by guitarist Celano and driven drumming by Baggiani. “Bueno Aires Revisited” is a composition that actually originated during their performance at the festival in the city of the same name, an extremely exciting number that fully indicates where the capacities of this excellent company lie. Numbers such as “Wat nu weer” and “3 to 4” refer to the disappointments in life with the emphasis on the irritations that we encounter every day and the backlash that we experience from them. The album also contains another category of compositions such as “En Toen”, “El Compadre” and “Lonesome Gaucho” that delve deeply into the world of imagination and comic strips yet to be released, compositions that set the imagination to work.
The music of Spaargaren and his fellow musicians is a blank slate for me (actually a shame, but…) and at the same time a great surprise with their varied musical approach, a musical unity in which Suzan (also new) represents a fine icing on the cake that will hopefully be permanent. Wonderful music that is difficult to put a label on and with that a typical Dutch approach to jazz. Just listen to the encore “Kattenbel” a poem dedicated to the 'nice and beautiful philosopher and master mediator who is so kind to let me share the house with him'. You should let this CD wash over you like a warm musical shower, wonderful how it goes in all directions, from melodious and relaxed to turbulent and penetrating. An absolute must!
(Jan van Leersum, Rootstime).
