Ferenc Nemeth - Unstandard (2022) Hi Res

The world-renowned, versatile and Grammy-award-winning FERENC NEMETH is releasing his latest project UnStandard. A classic sax-bass-drums trio that stems from the roots of Jazz while reaching for not-so-classic sounds and ideas giving rise to music firmly in the now of contemporary improvisation.

Nemeth is joined by the two incredible saxophonists Dayna Stephens and Marcus Strickland, taking turns on various tracks and alternating between tenor sax, soprano sax and bass clarinet. Both Dayna and Marcus have played extensively and in many different musical contexts with Nemeth resulting in a shared language and musical understanding. On bass we have Massimo Biolcati who has been a close collaborator of Nemeth for 20+ years in Lionel Loueke’s trio among many other projects, which gives the two of them a special co-understating of rhythm and groove.

Nemeth takes some classic standards and reimagines them in “un-standard” ways either by giving them unusual rhythmic treatments, like in the case of Footprints and Dear Old Stockholm, or by meshing two separate compositions like in Cyclic Episode/Eighty-One, resulting in a completely new piece.

In the three-part Drum Suite, Nemeth finds ways to make the drums sound at times like a beautiful melodic instrument, at others like an African village in celebration and still at others like a hypnotic trance-like mantra.

In his own compositions, Nemeth always displays his joyful personality and life-view, and on this recording, we get several brilliant examples of this, thanks to soaring and singable melodies and danceable rhythms. In addition to Jazz, Nemeth taps into his eastern European folk music roots and his love for RnB, Funk, and African traditional music, but he doesn’t stop there as we also get to hear him explore electronics and singing. In his own words:
"One interesting aspect of this music is that I am using a vocal harmonizer. This tool enables me to use my voice as a synthesizer to create new textures. With today’s technologies, I like being able to listen to music from every corner of the world and then incorporate ideas as part of my language when I perform and compose. With that in mind, I always aim for authenticity and honesty, and I hope this comes across in this record."