Hans Glawischnig's Panoramic Jazz

New York based bassist Hans Glawischnig has certainly come along way from his Graz, Austria beginnings. He has attended Berklee, the Manhattan School of Music and in 1995 took the bass seat in Bobby Watson’s Urban Renewal followed by a stint with Maynard Ferguson, before he was invited to join Ray Barretto’s New World Spirit Ensemble Jazz followed by engagements with Pacquito D’Riviera, David Samuels and Bobby Sanabria along with performances with Billy Harper, Richie Beirach, Billy Hart, Joe Locke, Steffon Harris, Claudio Roditi, Brian Lynch, Phil Woods and Claudia Acuna to name a few. and his first album as a leader was Common Ground for Fresh Sounds/New Talent in 2003.

Now Sunnyside has just issued his latest release as a leader, Panorama. On his nine compositions he is joined by such well known artists as pianists Chick Corea, and Luis Perdomo; drummers Johnathan Blake, Antonio Sanchez, and Marcus Gilmore; saxophonists David Binney, Miguel Zenon and Rich Perry; and guitarist Ben Monder. Zenon (in whose band Glawischnig) is present on four of the performances which have a pretty wide cast. Zenon’s sax dominates the opening Line Drive, with his clean tone and marvelous invention followed by the impressive Perdomo’s piano while the leader’s bass anchors the proceedings and drummer Blake imaginatively keeps pushing the tune along while adding his own accents.

The title track features Corea in a very thoughtful, lyrical vein, while Glawischnig also gets to solo, while Zenon returns on The Orchids, a performance that evokes some of the flavor of Keith Jarrett’s European Quartet recordings. Gypsy Tales, is a quintet track with guitarist Monder, saxophonist Binney and drummer Antonio Sanchez with a spacey feel, with Binney taking a probing tenor solo while Monder’s guitar is in the post McLaughlin and Abercombie approach. Set to Sea is a lovely ballad featuring the tenor of Rich Perry, while Corea returns for Oceanography, derived From How Deep Is The Ocean. Barretto’s Way, opens with nice bowed bass playing before a bit of flamenco is evoked by his bass (suggestive of David Holland here).

The rest of the album features fresh material, thoughtful and inventive playing and marvelous group interplay making Panorama a superior jazz release. Here is a youtube of Hans playing with Miguel Zenon's group with Luis Perdomo on piano.

This review originally appeared in the October 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 309). I believe I received my review copy from the publication.