Available Light
Daniel Janke Winter Trio
Chronograph Records CR-104 (danieljanke.com)
Daniel Janke has had a varied career over several decades as pianist, composer, filmmaker and more. He is based in the Yukon where you might see him composing for and conducting the Problematic Orchestra, recording in his studio, playing jazz in a local lounge or directing a film. But a month later he could be in Berlin as the Musical Director for a Bowie retrospective, performing at a new music festival in Kitchener, Ontario or taking part in a music residency in France, which is where he met Basile Rahola (bass) and Ariel Tessier (drums).
Available Light is his second album using the name Winter Trio and it contains original and traditional pieces emphasizing Janke’s gospel roots. For example, the final song Gospel for Betty is a gorgeously deliberate piece named for his mother who sang gospel songs. The traditional Blessed Assurance receives a beautiful treatment beginning with a sparsely improvised solo piano building into the full trio and then lightens into a modestly stated melody. Available Light is an elegant and subtle album that contains jazz and new music sophistication while never straying too far from its gospel fundamentals.
Listen to 'Available Light' Now in the Listening Room
