Will Galison, Karim Maurice, La Camerata: Odysseus Fantasy

Odradek Records

Featuring chromatic harmonica virtuoso Will Galison, jazz trio and the strings of La Camerata, this orchestral jazz take on the Homeric epic is by the award- winning French pianist and composer Karim Maurice, who plays in trio with Brice Berrerd on double bass and drummer Thibaud Pontet. From the opening piece, Circe, this is richly textured, often sumptuous music, Galison’s harmonica evoking the fateful weaver over a suspenseful growl on bass strings before orchestra, harmonica and trio embark on their voyage. Galison’s playing shines throughout – as does Maurice’s, in

Calypso Symphony, for instance, with its call- and- response between soloists, pulsating strings and harp, while an angry Poseidon prompts a sombre string prelude to the trio’s strut in Blues for Nobody. Weave and Undo sees a languorous duet between harmonica and harp, while a dramatic finale whips up an inexorable beat and shrilling strings for the hero’s return to Ithaca.