For the eleventh Handsemmel Records production, an international and highly acclaimed ensemble has gathered for a musical rendezvous in Vienna. Robert Landfermann, winner of the 2022 German Jazz Award in the “Bass National” category, and the Croatian-born cellist Asja Valcic, who is versatile in many genres, form the string section. The Dutch musician with Californian roots, Michael Moore, and the Vienna-based saxophonist and clarinettist Leonhard Skorupa take care of the winds and are responsible for the compositions. The quintet is complemented by the congenial drummer and percussionist Michael Vatcher, who commutes between New York and Amsterdam. The music was programmatically inspired by protagonists and motifs from the monumental cycle of novels by Dutch writer A. F. Th. van der Heijden, “The Toothless Time”, resulting in a musical panorama that ranges from cool jazz influences à la Stan Getz to lively contemporary chamber jazz. (Press release)

It’s always a thrill when a group of your favourite musicians get together and form a new band. Especially when they produce an album like this, one that demands your attention. Not only the playing but the complex compositions, which move in and out of time, often with a blue hue.The quintet comprises Leonhard Skorupa and Michael Moore on saxophones and clarinets, Asja Valcic cello, Robert Landfermann bass and Michael Vatcher drums. Two Americans, one Austrian, one German and one Croatian. With composing duties shared between the two reedsmen.Dipsomania was recorded in Vienna. And even though it’s an international band, there’s a touch of New Dutch Swing about some of their pieces. Maybe not surprising since the two Michaels reside in The Netherlands. They’re a band I would relish seeing live. Drunk or not. (Pete Butchers, jazz today - Top 10 albums of the year)