Eurojazzist Randomizer #13: Freysteinn | Jeff Parker | Tamara Obrovac | HAEZZ | Into the Strings

Busy days, but my listening certainly didn’t suffer.

This week has been very intense for me. I haven’t written here before about my day job—the one I actually make a living from—at a small but very successful PR agency where I work with my life and business partner Monika. Just yesterday, I had on-site duties related to the Science Picnic (an event aimed at young audiences and children), an art performance/project, and the Belgrade International Architecture Week, alongside ongoing campaigns for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina and a couple of film festivals and programs.

Since I live in the town of Pančevo (20 km from Belgrade) and drive to all these events, I sometimes spend couple of hours a day in the car—or even longer. During that time, I actively listen to music on Tidal, usually full albums from start to finish (unless they bore me, in which case I stop after a few tracks). Maybe this week I didn’t have the time to think deeply about complex jazz topics and dilemmas, but my listening certainly didn’t suffer.

New Listens

I mentioned that I met Icelandic double bassist Freysteinn at the jazzahead! trade fair, where we connected via email and messages. He sent me his material, I hit play, and the music immediately sounded good. There was a guitar in the foreground, acting as the lead solo instrument, which I really liked. I had no idea who was playing, but I simply let myself go with it. It felt like it wasn’t a “typical jazz guitar,” but rather something with a nice balance between melody and something a bit edgy in a New York Downtown way; the same could be said for the album Thoughts as a whole, which sits comfortably within a “modern creative” vocabulary while allowing for occasional departures off the rails.

Only after listening did I check the list of musicians and see that the guitar was played by Hilmar Jensson. Suddenly everything clicked—more than a couple of decades ago I really enjoyed listening to him in Jim Black’s band AlasNoAxis, as well as in his own group Tyft. I did a bit of Googling and found that I had written a review of the 2009 album Smell the Difference for a pop culture magazine. In the meantime, I had somewhat forgotten about him, so it’s great to reconnect in a new context. And I’m glad I’ve discovered Freysteinn’s body of work.

I mostly listened to Freysteinn on CD, while my favorite driving album was the new release by the Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Happy Today, which consists of two long live pieces. This album has a really strong sense of drive, which—unsurprisingly—works very well for listening while on the road. I especially enjoyed Anna Butterss on double bass, as well as the way the music evolves through subtle variations and nuances that gradually lead into extended climaxes.

In this context, the album Misečina bila / White Moonlight by Croatian singer and composer Tamara Obrovac and her Transhistria Ensemble stands apart stylistically, though certainly not in terms of quality. This is jazz infused with elements of Istrian and Mediterranean folk music, with vocals at the forefront, supported by top-tier, fluid, melodic playing from the band: Uroš Rakovec (guitar, mandola), Fausto Beccalossi (accordion), Žiga Golob (double bass), and Krunoslav Levačić (drums). While all are outstanding individual musicians, what impresses most is how they breathe as one and move within a shared musical idea, placing the songs themselves on a pedestal.

I’ve been aware of Tamara’s excellent work in this musical space for a couple of decades now, but perhaps the right moment—or maybe just a certain listening maturity—was needed for me to fully appreciate her music. In my recent piece on AI versus human curation, I touched on how algorithms tend to push us toward the same or very similar music, whereas it’s a genuinely human and exciting experience to search for something different and step outside our own self-imposed, well-trodden paths.

I’ll also add an album that isn’t from 2026, but which I’ve only now properly taken the time to listen to. The Austrian trio HAEZZ will be performing at Studio 6 of Radio Belgrade on June 10, and I’m very happy we managed to organize their concert with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade. I first saw them at the 3 Tages Jazz festival in Saalfelden, and when the opportunity arose, I was glad to take it. The band consists of Martin Eberle (trumpet), Štěpán Flagar (tenor saxophone), and Tobias Vedovelli (bass), and their music fits into the broad category of “contemporary jazz”—rooted in tradition, yet playful through the deep mutual understanding among the band members. So far, they have one self-titled album from 2024. which captures their live energy very well.

Social Media Highlight of the Week

Like most people, I scroll endlessly through social media. The algorithm feeds me a lot of garbage, but also quite a few things that genuinely interest me. That’s how I came across the beautiful concert series Into the Strings Home Session, in which brothers Theo and Valentin Ceccaldi—fantastic musicians I’m very fond of—invite other musicians to their home and record session videos in an intimate setting. In the latest episode, their guest was Thomas de Pourquery, another musician I absolutely love, so it had to be great. His style is very entertaining—a combination of 1980s-style pop vocals and serious jazz chops. At first glance, it might seem like he’s fooling around, but the music he performs is real: deeply emotional and expressive, and his voice is pure love.

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