EyeShotJazz | Jazz Photography

Tomasz Stanko performed Monday night at the Triple Door as Earshot Jazz Spring Series rolls on.
Tomasz Stanko and his quartet, featuring pianist Alexi Tuomarila,  drummer Olavi Louhivuori, Anders Christensen on bass, and Jakob Bro, on guitar, put on a cool, mesmerizing and memorable performance. Playing smouldering Slavic soul music with a grainy-toned trumpet, the tunes were from his newest album Dark Eyes including the title track, The Dark Eyes Of Martha Hirsch. It was inspired by a painting by expressionist Oskar Kokoschka, Stanko saw in a New York art gallery. Stanko and Bro start the song by playing a muted jutting harmony, building up an intense tension which Tuomarila then exploits in a softly subversive solo. Echos of Miles Davis and Chet Baker his inspirational models were evident here and in a number of the other songs they played tonight, but there was a distinct Nordic influence surrounding their style of playing as well.

More photos will be posted later this week.