Sigi Busch rates as one of Germany’s premier bassists, having worked with a wide range of players, from Ben Webster to Woody Shaw and John Zorn. Age of Miracles was Busch’s first album, and what an album! Two jazz greats, American alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, and German keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner, as well as the fantastic German trombonist Ed Kröger and eclectic Danish drummer Kasper Winding take part in this inaugural flight. The album profiles Busch’s hardcore jazz side with sophisticated compositions and outstanding interactive play. Silver Sickle flashes by in ¾ as Kröger and Mariano rip through their solos. Then there’s Sigi’s striking bass intro and the group’s preternatural communal play on Frisia Non Contat, the beautifully phrased up-tempo Kolophonium-Time, the dark-toned buzz and hum of Dragon Fly, the mystic canonic call of Age of Miracles, the fusion-laced Did You See My Glass Eye? with Dauner’s insightful e-piano, the passionate solos on Dwarf’s Vision, and to end it all Busch’s existential tuba play on Tuba Or Not Tuba. There may be some tongue-in-cheek in the titles, but the music is everything but. A celebration of the magic that makes for great music, and a fitting addition to any serious jazz collection.
