Part of the newest wave of creative jazz improvisers coming out of Vienna, with a tradition that goes back to the early 1950s and avatars such as Austrians tenor saxophonist Hans Koller and pianist Joe Zawinul, are the members of the Anna Sophia Defant Quartett s:e. The group, whose debut disc, the uniquely and oddly named s:e, on Unit records, is led by Saalfelden native pianist Defant.

Based on mutual listening, Defant explains that “the aim is to create a collective sound and musical style that doesn’t need sensationalism or bold solo spots. It emphasizes the idiosyncrasy of improvised music and free jazz but still finds a place for very elegant, creative and at times surprisingly harmonic sounds.”

Tracks like “kastl” and “die bessere bergwiese” confirm this paradigm. The former is built around gentle reed flutters, measured piano clips and drum pitter patter with an unexpected rock-like guitar solo burrowing into the mix. The later quickly divides an exposition of breathy reed buzzes and metronomic key clanks into note bending squeaks and split tones from the saxophonist as the pianist maintains the melody. Without a double bass, combining piano and guitar processes in this fashion emphasizes both the melodic and rhythmic functions of what are essentially harmonic instruments, Defant notes. (Ken Waxman Jazzword.com)