Western & Jazz

Berlin-resident guitarist Kalle Kalima goes west. Along with his associates Greg Cohen (double bass) and Max Andrzejewski (drums) he plays both kinds of music on High Noon. But it’s not Country & Western; it’s more like Western & Jazz.

Kalima is famed for his industrially rocking power trios and murky music with notes in between scales, sometimes inspired by films. Once again movies are a starting point, but now they play familiar themes from flicks like The High and the Mighty or The Alamo. Amid the ever-so-green melodies he explores Sibelius and Leonard Cohen. Strangely enough, they fit. The record is quite guitar-centric, with solos starting in classic fingerpickin’ styles, but moving along towards experimental issues.

However, this record is nearer the mainstream than most of Kalima’s albums. It has to be mentioned that bass man Cohen is something of a veteran, having worked with names such as John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Woody Allen, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello.