Detlef A. Ott, Jazz Podium
The recordings were made on November 3, 2010, the last evening of a two-week tour through Germany and Austria at the London Pizza Express Jazz Club, which was sparsely populated due to a public transport strike. It was the fourth European tour of drummer and composer Jeff Siegel, who has been part of New York’s jazz scene since the 1980s and an extensive collaboration with jazz musicians as diverse as Dave Douglas, Roland Hanna, Sheila Jordan, Benny Golson, or Wadada Leo Smith may have. Since 1990 he leads his own groups, with which he mainly implements his compositions. The Jeff “Siege” Siegel Quartet heard on “London Live” and the CDs “Magical Spaces” from 2004 as well. “Live in Europe” 2005 is supplemented by the congenial bassist Ulli Langthaler, who replaces Danton Boller on bass here. In addition, the tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay, whose intense and energetic tone carries the spirit of John Coltrane, the pianist Francesca Tanksley, who not only filled the space of Lindsay’s solos with accentuated harmonic structures, but also has a lot to say. Siegel spans along with drumming solos as in the three-minute introduction to “Crescent City” a wide arc in the style of Elvin Jones’ or Art Blakey. Alongside Coltrane’s “Peace on Earth” and the gospel “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” three compositions by Siegel, two by Lindsay, and one by Tanksley show the rough intimacy and symbiosis of the quartet that emerged during the turmoil of the tour. Floating, powerful and extensive, the participants create the musical finale of their tour in the highest quality.