Joo Kraus – Basic Jazz Lounge

Joo Kraus Basic Jazz Lounge – „The Ride“

A CD review by Frank Becker, Musenblätter 18.07.2016

Jazz heaven!

A jewel for the record cabinet

Joo Kraus – Basic Jazz Lounge „The Ride“

 

You could easily put this record on repeat in an intimate bar, a chic club or a cool lounge and play it all night long.

The wonderful spectrum of beautiful compositions and covers that Joo Kraus and Ralf Schmid let sparkle with their newly formed „Basic Lounge“ on „The Ride“ is so peppered with brilliant musical ideas, cool arrangements and instrumental highlights that, on the one hand, there is no room for boredom during the approximately 70 minutes of playing time and, on the other hand, there is no time to get bored even during the second half of the album.

The jazz arrangements of Glenn Miller’s „Moonlight Serenade“, Maurice Ravel’s „Bolero“ and the „Morning Song“ are at the forefront of these addictive products.

The brilliant playing of Joo Kraus, probably one of the best international jazz trumpeters at the moment, is at the center of these atmospherically dense recordings, the creation of which he respectfully shares with the congenial keyboardist and pianist Ralf Schmid. In addition to velvety pieces such as the aforementioned „Morning Song“ and „Comecar De Novo“, there are fat funk tracks in the best 70s style, in which Patrick Scales on bass and Martin Scales on guitar shine in front of a groovy horn section – „San Fran Safari Club“, a witty reference to the adventures of Mike Stone and Steve Heller, as well as „Diskojazz“ and „Sticky Wicket“ are among them. „The Ride“, including its short, intimate „Lounge“ marginalia, is a fine little flowery gem.

Musicians:

Joo Kraus – trumpet, rap
Ralf Schmid – key`s, arrangement
Astrid North – vocals
Peter Fessler – vocals
Martin Scales – guitar
Patrick Scales – bass
Christian Lettner – drums
Lutz Häfner – flute, alto flute, tenor sax, bariton sax, clarinet
Axel Kühn – flute, piccolo flute, alto flute, tenor sax, calrinet
Johannes Enders – flute, alto sax, tenor sax, bass clarinet
Claus Reichstaller – trumpet, flugelhorn
Rüdiger Baldauf – trumpet, flugelhorn