Copenhagen Jazzexperience – Lazy Afternoon
(Waidtlow Music. Album review by Len Weinreich)

Blushing confession: until now, I’d never knowingly heard of Claus Waidtløw. And we’re talking about a tenor saxophonist who’s a member of Copenhagen’s jazz elite and has far exceeded Spotify’s expectations for jazz albums. Frankly, it’s an oversight because, not only has he shared studios and platforms with eminences like John Scofield, Toots Thielemans, Steve Swallow, Eddie Gomez, Carla Bley, Christian McBride, Mulgrew Miller and Bob Brookmeyer, but he’s also notched up ten successful albums. That’s right, ten.

So, if your information is as sparse as mine, here’s your opportunity to make amends. Because, on ‘Lazy Afternoon’, recorded in the company of fellow Danes, pianist Jacob Christoffersen, bass player Daniel Franck and drummer Jeppe Gram, Waidtløw addresses seven notable jazz standards with a full, warm tone and masses of respect and affection.

Furthermore, with each of the songs taken at a similar moody and stately pace, ‘Lazy Afternoon’ is pretty close to what used to be called ‘a concept album’, all tracks suitable for cool contemplation or perhaps slightly more energetic activities.

The album opens with two of Billy Strayhorn’s most famous compositions. The first is the impressionistic Chelsea Bridge, inspired by a James McNeill Whistler painting (more accurately for pedants, of London’s Battersea Bridge. Incidental info: it was Chelsea Bridge that supplied the inspiration for Gil Evans’ musical journey). Waidtløw, whose sound occupies a middle ground somewhere between Ben Webster and Stan Getz (two tenor colossi, the former being the first to play Chelsea Bridge and both one-time Copenhagen residents) hugs the exquisite melody closely, while adding small but appropriate ornamental flourishes over Christoffersen’s thoughtful comping (Daniel Franck’s bass and Jeppe Gram’s drums offer immaculate support throughout). The second Strayhorn song, arguably the pinnacle of jazz art songs, is Lush Life. Waidtløw immerses himself in the complex melody and fiendish changes to explore its sense of abandoned yearning and Christoffersen elegantly extends the melancholy atmosphere.

In 1954, Jerome Moross and John La Touche wrote the album’s title song Lazy Afternoon for a musical, The Golden Apple. A sprinkling of Broadway devotees might remember the show, but the song survives. Astride a lethargic, though insistent, seesaw rhythm, Waidtløw and Christoffersen express its sensual indolence.

On John Coltrane’s Central Park West, spaces are cleared for Franck and Christoffersen’s eloquent statements, both more subdued than the title’s frenzied Manhattan thoroughfare. And the group’s performance on Dexter Gordon’s ballad Ernie’s Tune recalls master spy novelist Len Deighton’s comment about a lounge jazz pianist “playing so slowly, he could wash his hands between chords”. Playing slowly requires discipline and advanced time skills. It isn’t easy.

The two final tracks,Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden’s attractive Two For The Road and the Sinatra classic, We’ll Be Together Again, by Carl T. Fischer and Frankie Laine, are a couple of ballads that maintain the album’s unique blend of stimulating and relaxing.

The musicians are uniformly skilled. The studio recording is clear and crisp. If the album’s on your system, the Sauvignon Blanc’s on ice, the sofa well-cushioned and the lamps low, that’s about everything you need to hit peak hygge. Med venlig hilsen.

LINK: Copenhagen Jazzexperience on Spotify