Sometimes an album arrives on my shores that simply requires immediate comment because it is so deliciously good. This is one of those.
The Blue Hour, Rembrandt Frerichs, Rembrandt Trio. Just Listen Records 2025 (Pure DSD256) HERE Edit Master Sourced
I have been a fan of pianist Rembrandt Frerichs for several years now, ever since I first heard his 2017 release, Contemporary Fortepiano (Pure DSD256, Just Listen Records). You can read my review of that album HERE. Since that time, I've heard many more of his recordings, delighting in each, looking forward eagerly to the next.
Rembrandt is a musician's musician—an artist of immense and subtle sensibilities. He breathes jazz, but infuses his playing with influences from music of the Baroque to music of the Middle East.
In this album, the music is a collection of standards from the Great American Songbook—familiar, yet anything but predictable. The sound we hear is uniquely fresh and different. It comes from Rembrandt's mood and emotional connection to the song. And each piece reflects a performance style that is wholly that of the Rembrandt Trio—nothing derivative, nothing imitative, just pure music freshly flowing from a collective sense of what sounds right and true in the moment.
The music breathes subtlety. Quietly. No shouting. No crashing and banging. This is music of the quiet time, the blue hour. It is music that is contemplative and filled with complex layers of emotional content. Rembrandt explains, "With The Blue Hour sessions, we tried to create a poetic exploration of what it means to pause in time…music in the spirit of the blue hour: balanced, understated, and above all, human."
It all begins with Rembrandt at his piano, where, he explains: "Because of the recording technique and microphone placement, the sound seemed to rise off the keys as I played—spatial and tangible at once. It felt like the music on this album doesn’t just translate the blue hour musically, but almost lets you touch it."
It is a magical listening experience.
Joining Rembrandt is his long-time partner, drummer Vinsent Planjer, who brings his sensitive, silky percussion, in empathetic connection to the lead Rembrandt creates. Bassist Jos Machtel is new to the group since I last heard them, but his work is sensitive and combines well to the whole. These are seasoned musicians. Their playing is filled with nuance, the occasional wry ironic twist, and ever-present congeniality. Listening to this recording makes me wish to have been with them in the Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum, but I am content in joining them from my listening room where I have every sense of them being right with me.
Which brings me to the sound of this wonderful recording by the great Jared Sacks. Jared continues to demonstrate why he is the master from whom so many other recording engineers have learned their trade. And he continues to eclipse them all in the utter naturalness he achieves. True to the sensibilities he has demonstrated over many decades and hundreds of recordings, Jared says of this recording: "Hopefully an album for the connoisseur and the dreamer alike. For those who listen with the mind—but especially with the heart."
Recorded and released in Pure DSD256, with exquisite care in the choice and placement of microphones, the sound of this album is as "true to life" as a recording gets.
My recommendation to you: This is a very special album. Do not wait. Just get it now. If you have any affinity for exceptionally well-played and well-recorded small ensemble jazz, you will love this.
And a final note: As with so many of the Jared Sacks releases on Just Listen Records, much of the magic lies in the exceptional sound quality of these recordings. Listen to this in its Pure DSD256 (or DSD512 or DSD1024) iteration downloaded from NativeDSD. Otherwise, you will loose much of the magic.
