For those unaware, veteran jazz composer Carl Clements commands your attention with his latest project, “Retrospective,” a jazz quartet that showcases the wealth of experience he’s amassed over the years.

With Retrospective, recorded with the Real Jazz Trio, Clements turns his experienced ear toward both reflection and reinvention, offering an album that bridges tradition and exploration in subtly compelling ways.

Like his previous works, Retrospective stays rooted in modern jazz but leans into the acoustic interplay of a classic trio setting; saxophones and flute up front, supported by piano, bass, and drums. This ensemble format is a natural evolution of Clements’s prior quartet work, but the trio framework brings a more integrated group voice, where each player anchors and propels collective improvisation.

1. One for Joe
2. Mobius
3. Almodovar
4. Procession
5. Remanents
6. Selene in Repose
7. A Change of Rhythm
8. Retrospect
9. Kadam

From the man who has traveled frequently to India to advance his studies and to perform jazz, Hindustani classical music, and a fusion of these and other genres for years now, he opens his new recording on the fervently charming One for Joe and the melodically measured Mobius and then we are gifted the alluring Almodovar and the buoyantly fulfilled Procession.

Along next is ballroom swirl and twirl of Remanents and that is followed seamlessly by the more stoically sculpted Selene in Repose, the upbeat and joyful A Change of Rhythm, the set rounding out on the upright bass-imbibed Retrospect, coming to a close on the atmospherically breathy, harmoniously woven Kadam.

Retrospective may not be a nostalgia piece in the conventional sense, but its title feels apt: the album distills Carl Clements’s artistic identity into a dynamic trio setting that honors his past while embracing fresh sonic possibilities. Fans of modern jazz with world-inflected melodies, and masterful saxophone storytelling will find much to savor here.

Musicians:
Carl Clements - saxophones, flutes
Jean-Yves Jung - piano
Johannes Schaedlich - bass
Jens Biehl - drums