After a four year recording hiatus, the Martin Lutz Group has released It's Swing, Not Rocket Science!, the successor to the Danish Music Award winning album Where Are The Trumpets?.
With the new album Martin Lutz Group invites the listener along for a journey through a unique landscape of moods and styles all held together by the special sound of the band and the love and flair of its leader for simple, singable and touching melodies. The album presents five suites—or themes if you like—"Africa," “Seasons," “North," “Swing" and “Ballads" and the band is joined by five of the most gifted Danish instrumentalists, thus featuring guitar icon Jacob Fischer, trumpet player and star arranger Jesper Riis, folk musician and violin virtuoso Harald Haugaard, master of the chromatic harp Jacob Venndt and last but not least percussion star Marilyn Mazur as soloists. The recordings challenge the usual album format by deliberately going in differing stylistic and emotional directions—there's classic swing, ballads inspired by the Nordic tone, folk music, African rhythms, groovy jazz and almost everything in between—and the idea is to leave it up to the listener to decide whether one wants to hear the album in its full length or maybe rather jump through the small units, that are represented by each suite.
With the new album Martin Lutz Group invites the listener along for a journey through a unique landscape of moods and styles all held together by the special sound of the band and the love and flair of its leader for simple, singable and touching melodies. The album presents five suites—or themes if you like—"Africa," “Seasons," “North," “Swing" and “Ballads" and the band is joined by five of the most gifted Danish instrumentalists, thus featuring guitar icon Jacob Fischer, trumpet player and star arranger Jesper Riis, folk musician and violin virtuoso Harald Haugaard, master of the chromatic harp Jacob Venndt and last but not least percussion star Marilyn Mazur as soloists. The recordings challenge the usual album format by deliberately going in differing stylistic and emotional directions—there's classic swing, ballads inspired by the Nordic tone, folk music, African rhythms, groovy jazz and almost everything in between—and the idea is to leave it up to the listener to decide whether one wants to hear the album in its full length or maybe rather jump through the small units, that are represented by each suite.
Duke Ellington is quoted for having said the following: “There's only two kinds of music: good and bad. I like it both." It's Swing, Not Rocket Science! is an attempt to express Martin Lutz Group's uncomplicated approach to music centered on joy, energy and immediate accessibility. It's just music and not rocket science! The result is a warm, dynamic, moving and very accessible album.
Martin Lutz (p/wurli), Jacob Rose (as, bcl, cl), Jakob Skov (as, shawm), Mads Ole (ts, ss), Lars Johnsen (b), Ricco Victor (dr, perc), Jacob Fischer (guit), Jesper Riis (trp, flgh.), Harald Hauugaard (vl), Jacob Venndt (chr. hrp.), Marilyn Mazur (perc.)
