Manu Katche: Neighbourhood (LP)

"Manu Katché, who leads this relaxed supersession featuring trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, is the kind of drummer who can't not groove. On Neighbourhood he adds propulsion to the kind of chamber jazz that too often floats in a musical soup of formless percussion. He makes a beautiful sound on his kit, too, and meshes nicely with pianist Marcin Wasilewski and double bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz on the opening track. … Neighbourhood is a thoughtful, feelgood jazz album that harks back to the traditions of modern jazz while remaining contemporary – thanks to Katché's inventive drumming." - John L Walters, The Guardian "Katché's writing is a beguiling blend of understatement and emphasis, his harmonic sensibilities simultaneously European, African and African-American. In other words it's easy to imagine anybody from Karin Krog to Bobby McFerrin or Omar Pene singing these very lyrical pieces. … They have a glow that doesn't quite heat up as some American jazz does. In other words Katché, whose performance on the kit has all of the rhythmic and textural finesse one expects of him, has fashioned a sound that epitomizes the global, intercontinental, access-all-areas reality of contemporary jazz." - Kevin Le Gendre, Echoes