Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Timo Lassy and Teppo Mäkynen: Timo Lassy and Teppo Mäkynen
Timo Lassy and Teppo Mäkynen: Timo Lassy and Teppo Mäkynen
ByKnowing how context can contort as well as conjoin, listening to the sparsity of their two instrumentsboth taken to the extremes of their sonic capabilitiesthe 13 short pieces manage to hold a tight focus. The simplicity of the themes leaves much space for sonic exploration which never loses sight of a common musical understanding.
Starting with the most sparse, "Fallow," later tracks like "Kobi" and "Nyanza" stand out, as the repetitive rhythmic hooks lead the simple untreated saxophone melody into places where it might not go normally. Mäkynen especially seems to have found a wealth of varieties in his palette, using tuned heads, peripheral rims and edges which build a rhythmic soundscape that Lassy reflects or rejects, sometimes with his own meandering rhythmic lines and, at others, with minimalistic, spartan leads, as on "Telemagenta."
This is an album where there is no pretension. Both players hold back from ornateness and rely on laconic, tight riffs which they share or hang out for their partner to embellish. Each piece is self-contained and shows modest development, but in their totality they add up to a highly articulate acoustic journey down some intriguing modern, often rock-based, ways. Like its multicolored but straightforward cover, this music is very simple but seductive.
Track Listing
Fallow, Goldenrod, Liberty (part 1), Catawba, Resolution Blue, Liberty (part 2), Aero, Kobi,Telemagenta, Nyanza, Firebrick, Dark Cyan, Heliotrope.
Personnel
Timo Lassy - saxophone; Teppo Mäkynen - drums.
Album information
Title: Timo Lassy and Teppo Mäkynen | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: We Jazz Records
< Previous
Alice's Wonderland
Next >
J.S. Bach Works & Reworks