Michael Eckroth Group – Human Geography (ENG review) Paris Move
PARIS MOVE
The month of June flew by as quickly as the summer wind, so we still have a few albums that arrived a bit late, which we will talk about this lovely month of July. Michael Eckroth, a pianist and composer passionate about Afro-Cuban music, offers us his new album that bridges his passions and jazz. Eckroth’s impressive career includes collaborations with jazz icons such as John Scofield, Ron McClure, Eliot Zigmund, and the critically acclaimed Orquesta Akokán. Following his 2021 album Plena on Human Geography, Eckroth combines the skills and passion acquired over years of recording, writing, and performing into this seamless blend of Latin American music and modern jazz for which he is known, creating something unique and personalized.
The compositions of the Michael Eckroth Group on this album are particularly complex, keeping the listener alert with especially inventive arrangements and navigating through all these cultures with a form of nonchalant elegance that attempts to hide the depth of the compositions, but true jazz lovers won’t be fooled. Paying intrinsic homage to the cultures of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the vast amalgam that constitutes jazz, Human Geography is an individualized perspective on the overlap of these traditions that highlights an intimate knowledge and love for the genres—but without fully adhering to normative frameworks. Featuring a rotating cast of piano trios with a selection of brass appearances, Human Geography is a masterpiece of collaborative enthusiasm with an emphatic adoration for the cultures and traditions from which it is derived.
