Search - The Five Corners Quintet :: Hot Corner

Swing tempos, Fifties-meets-Sixties, retro style. Brilliant

southgate | New York, N.Y. | 02/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After their wonderful first album (2005s "Chasin The Jazz Gone By"), these finnish jazzcats return to the scene with an even better one.

You can hear that over the last three years they have been playing an awful lot! The fantastic horns, the tight rhythms, the deep grooves...everything is still in place.

Not every Scandinavian band does brooding electronica or grunge-metal jazz-rock. Like Italy's Nicola Conte, Finnish arranger-composer-DJ Tuomas Kallio has handpicked a core quintet for the task (with trumpeter Jukka Eskola particularly suitable) and selects his guests (vibist Arttu Takalo, female singer Okou) with similar care.

On "Hot Corner',it's just that everything sounds so much tighter! Musicians at the top of their craft, doing what they love best. Can it get any better?

By happy coincidence, the legendary hipster Mark Murphy was also in the Helsinki studios, and his vocals enhance several tracks.

Vocal support comes also from Okou (also on the first album, as well as the Teddy Rok album).

"Most attempts to nudge jazz onto the modern dancefloor have co-opted samples, remixes and digital trickery to do so. This Finnish outfit have taken the opposite, organic route. Drawing on the palette of jazz's golden age, they blend hard bop and swing into something funky but refined. This outing features swaying string arrangements, insidious tunes and Mark Murphy spouting hepcat poetry about his "Kerouac Days". It's an easy, enticing listen that looks back to find the future".- Neil Spencer

Album Track Listing:

1. Hot Rod

2. Kerouac Days in Montana - (featuring Mark Murphy)

3. Skinny Dipping

4. Rich in Time - (featuring Okou)

5. Midnight in Trieste

6. Come and Get Me - (featuring Mark Murphy)

7. Interlope II

8. Waltz Up

9. Easy Diggin

10. Shake It

11. Habib's Habit

Love Is What Stays

Chasin' the Jazz Gone By

Of All the Things

Viagem

Rituals"

Best Jazz You'll Find

Jay Gress | Washington, DC United States | 02/19/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Consistent with their previous LP album, "Hot Corner" is a rare gem of genuine jazz that only gets better with age and repeated listening -- to say nothing of how palatable and enjoyable it is upon hearing it for the first time. Jazz pecussion enthusiasts will be especially impressed with drummer/band leader Teppo Mäkynen's playful and solid lines, as well as his subtleties. The musicianship of all band members will engender jealousy among even the most learned of technicians and the composing is nothing short of inspired. Can't recommend it enough if you appreciate classic bop/hard bop era jazz but want to hear something new and creative. Note: should "Skinny Dipping" not inspire you to dance, you should consult your physician."