If brilliantly composed, excellently performed mid-sized ensemble avant jazz is to your liking, Christian Lillinger's Grund and their Second Reason (Clean Feed 265) offer you a good deal of it.
The Grund is a seven-piece outfit of Achim Kaufmann on piano, Christopher Dell on vibes, Pierre Borel on alto, Tobias Delius on tenor, the double basses of Jonas Westergaard and Robert Landferman, and Christian at the drums.
It is a band that has a controlled but energetic outness in the improvisations and a new-music styled ensemble sound. Lillinger's compositional hand gives the music a sophisticated yet outside edge, from the highly figurative post-bop avant heads to ensemble lines sounded in tandem with the solo sequences.
The ensemble is well-rehearsed, exacting, cohesive and powerful. Christian's drums flow freely, the horns, keys and vibes have solo strength and the music is a superb outcome of the considerable thought and effort that went into it.
Bravo!
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