Kaja Draksler Octet, Gledalec

Composer-pianist Kaja Draksler and her Octet give us a decidedly different musical experience on the two-CD set Gledalec (Clean Feed 417). The group features two vocalists, two reeds (including Ab Baars), violin-viola, double bass, drums and Kaja on piano.

To describe the music is not easy. There are early music influences, folk strains, a contemporary new music element and an avant jazz aura about it. There are very gentle moments that you do not often find in this sort of music, and a thoughtful sort of expression. And there is fire!

There is no one who quite sounds like this. If you have patience and take care to give it a close listen, Glendalec will open up some very eventful and unique musical worlds within which you can dwell at length. I looked to her discography on her site and there is much more. Here is a good place to start. Then if you are like me you may want to explore what else she has been doing. Oh, look her up on my search box above for another one I reviewed and liked.