Straight Off

Martin Jacobsen, Danish born tenor saxophonist came back to normalcy after a few years of combat against a rare and grave autoimmune disease. That explains the delay of release of this live recording from France.

The group here, including the fabulous Hiroshi Murayama on piano, is almost identical to his previous album 'Live in Tokyo' (SCCD31802) - except for Gilles Naturel coming in on bass - dazzles the audience at Eaubonne Jazz (near Paris). Jacobsen's renowned book "Let's Speak Jazz: for Saxophone" (by Schott) is soon to be published in Japan.

"Jacobsen's tenor sax rips and rolls as he pumps out the phrases, making conversation with the grammatical precision of a writer. The quotations, commas, and semi-colons of the composition are all there to be heard. His love of the instrument is visible in an ability to make complicated compositions simple, remarkable for a musician who began playing sax at the relatively late age of 18, and who is, for the most part, self-taught." - The Daily Star

Personnel: Martin Jacobsen (tenor saxophone), Hiroshi Murayama (piano), Gilles Naturel (bass), Mark Taylor (drums)