Chris Foden

Yelena Eckemoff Quartet – Everblue (vinyl)

Yelena is a lovely and supremely talented pianist and composer, who writes a kind of hybrid jazz and classical music that’s impossible to pigeonhole and impossible to ignore.
This album has a dream lineup, and while it’s definitely Yelena’s album, everybody shines.
Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen are top of my list anyway, but I must be honest and say I’d forgotten quite how good Tore Brunberg is. I haven’t heard him in ages – I will endeavour to change that.
The vinyl sound quality is really good! Instruments well separated, timbres correct, emotion portrayed beautifully. I believe it’s the only one available on record, it’s blue of course, and sounds fantastic.
And she’s a pretty good poet as well, there’s an insert that’s well worth reading.
Seek her out if multi-layered harmonically and melodically rich yet spacious and recognisably northern European piano music is your thing.
And if it isn’t – get it anyway, it soon will be 😍