Dienda is a beautiful name of an African female. Kenny Kirkland, Wynton Marsalis' highly gifted pianist, who sadly passed away much too early, entitled one of his most stunning compositions Dienda. The famous pop musician Sting acknowledged the qualitiy of this song, added lyrics and put it in his repertoire. Stewy von Wattenwyl rearranges the song and places it in the heart of his new CD. That's the essence of real World Music: The exchange of influences not only over continental but also over stylistic borders.
Swiss pianist Stewy von Wattenwyl is not a purist. He searches for innovation in exactly this interchange. Though his six CD's under his name up to now can be found in most shops in the "Jazz" - corner (Duke Ellington, the master, was hesitant to call his music jazz and considered it always as a melting pot of different influences), Dienda could be situated under World Music : Though the major part of the material is taken from the "Great American Songbook" it gets it's quality from the influences of different styles and continents and takes the listener along on a fascinating journey through dark blues, cooking swing, floating bossa and latin grooves, uneven time signatures, elements from pop and classical music, polyrhythmics etc.
With the drummer Tobias Friedli (Swiss Jazz Orchestra a.o.) and the bassists Reggie Johnson (Sun Ra, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Burrell, Monty Alexander a.m.o.) and Daniel Schläppi (Sandro Schneebeli's World Music Group a.o.) two wonderful trios can be heard. Who on the one hand amaze with never heard interpretations and arrangements, on the other open wide spaces for contemporary improvisation and interplay concepts. |