Short Reviews [Johannes Luley - 2024 - "August"]

Johannes continues in his journey away from progressive rock and into the jazz field with his latest album fully immersed in that genre. He uses a multitude of different guitars and again has brought in the services of upright bassist David Hughes, who also played on 2021’s ‘Follow You Heart’, along with drummer Ben Levin and Chris Lawrence on flugelhorn. The first time I played this I was surprised at just how often Johannes allows himself to take on a supporting role while the rest of the guys all go for broke, but in many ways it also shows his confidence as he provided all the material and for the sake of the music knew it was better for the overall impact if he took a backseat at times. As one expects within a jazz ensemble, everyone is a master musician, and this has been scored in such a way that everyone really does get their time in the spotlight. Given the cover art I expected something a little more languid and sedate, but while we do get that from time to time, especially when Johannes is working on his own, this is actually a very dynamic album which at times becomes quite frenetic in its approach. Although I will probably always think of Johannes as first and foremost a prog musician given I first came across him when he was in the wonderful Moth Vellum, and then in Perfect Beings, this is in many ways him going back to his roots. When he was 13 he was the youngest student of Dutch- German Jazz guitar legend Eddy Marron while his father took him to many jazz concerts, including the likes of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, George Benson and Weather Report (me, jealous??). This is probably while this album feels so genuine, it is not someone coming to the genre for the first time later in their career, but rather it is someone who has lived and breathed this and it is only in recent years they have felt ready to take on the journey. There is a magical element to this, and I urge everyone to listen to “Arkaden” to see what I mean, and then discover an album which is a jazz lover’s delight.