Jeremy Rose, “Afensou” from Within and Without (2017): Something Else! exclusive stream

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feature photo: Javier Blanco Chiocchio

Jeremy Rose’s third album features his international quartet made a quintet with the addition of an international star. Within and Without, now out from Rose’s Earshift Music, is led by the Sydney, Australia native reeds ace/composer and features the unmatched guitar talents of American Kurt Rosenwinkel. The rest of the guys — Jackson Harrison (piano), Andreas Lang (double bass) and Tobias Backhaus (drums) — hail from Germany, where this record was made.

Rose, who recently notched a music PhD, had worked his way up to the upper echelon of jazz saxophonists through an unquenchable thirst to learn and discover. The list of luminaries he personally worked with are too long to list here, and his studies of music forms extend from the Balkans to Cuba. Accordingly, his music as portrayed on Within and Without isn’t limited by being improvisational or compositional, it leverages each side wherever it is most advantageous to make his songs most meaningful.

While he does play ‘jazz’ per se, Rose also infuses a contemporary and worldly flair into it…both features that make Rosenwinkel such a perfect addition to the group for this outing. In the exclusive stream above “Afensou” gets the program going not with a traditional swing or lilting waltz but a lively tribal rhythm meted out on Backhaus’ toms. Rose’s alto sax solo flight affirms a phenomenal sense of rhythm. At the end of his excursion, Rosenwinkel plays echo chamber to his quips and after a short revisit to the head, Backhaus opens up on his kit.

Intelligent, driven and mellifluous, Rose’s lifelong relentless pursuit of excellence within jazz comes out on Within and Without, starting with the attractively propulsive number “Afensou.”


S. Victor Aaron