For those unaware, Standard Questions open up a space that can be interpreted, is how saxophonist Johannes Enders describes the starting point of his new CD, something that has probably fascinated me subconsciously for a long time.

So he searched the American Songbook for pieces whose titles formulate questions, selected seven of them, and added two of his own compositions in a fitting manner. He then recorded the collection with his equally new and magnificent acoustic quartet: the Austrian pianist Oliver Kent, the Berlin-based American bassist Josh Ginsburg, and the American Gene Calderazzo on drums.

For Johannes Enders, these pieces are a tribute to life, a flame that must be kept alive. Perhaps people back then had bigger dreams, were less disillusioned, and simply closer to themselves. The songs of the great American Songbook tell of this. Perhaps this hymn to life and its continuation, gleaned from them, is a remedy against the marginalization of culture these days. Certainly, the masterful playing of this quartet and the way it joyfully and productively reinterprets these legacies is the best antidote, for what will endure is created by art.

Four musicians, rooted in tradition and carrying it forward with vitality, form an ideal band. Each can set aside their ego in service of the music and yet always deliver precisely what the music demands. Each can also shine with sophisticated solos. That’s part of it, but above all, it’s about a great shared endeavor: inspiring a passion for the rich history of jazz by unleashing the positive power of this music with verve, energy, and finesse. The longer, the better.

1. Why
2. Isn’t It Romantic
3. How Long Has This Been Going On
4. What Kind of Blue
5. How High The Moon
6. Where Are You
7. How Deep Is the Ocean
8. What Am I Here For
9. What’s New

Shaping these selected standards into a statement of balanced beauty, Enders opens his new recording with the inviting Why and the luxuriant Isn’t It Romantic and then we get the evocative How Long Has This Been Going On and both the sparkling What Kind of Blue and the affecting beauty of How High The Moon.

Along next is the free-flowing Where Are You and the supple How Deep Is the Ocean and then we are gifted the emotively sculpted What Am I Here For, the set rounding out all-too-soon on the all-embracing magnificence of What’s New.

Official Purchase Link

www.johannes-enders.com