Katché, Manu - Playground
Drummer, CD of the month
Jazzmagazine, Disque d'émoi
Stereoplay, Die Audiophile"This is late-night music with the smoky atmospheres of Kind of Blue. ... What wins you ... is the quality of the soloists, whether the lyrical piano of Marcin Wasilewski, the darting saxophone of Trygve Seim, or the mellow Miles Davis trumpet of Mathias Eick. Katché allows himself more space than on Neighbourhood but is never overbearing. This is music that quietly beguiles."
(The Times)
Eagerly awaited second ECM album by French-African drummer Manu Katché. Recorded in New York's Avatar Studio in January 2007, "Playground" picks up where the best-selling "Neighbourhood" left off: in the interim the project has coalesced into a rip-roaring and fully-integrated band. Manu's group, featuring a Polish/Norwegian confederacy of young players, is energized by his hard driving drums and by his compositions which invite spirited solos... Together, the quintet - whose strong new frontline features Mathias Eick and Trygve Seim - makes exciting, zestful music.
Mathias Eick, trumpet
Trygve Seim, tenor and soprano saxophones
Marcin Wasilewski, piano
Slawomir Kurkiewicz, double-bass
Manu Katché, drums
David Torn, guitar
Recorded January 2007