Sketch of Tomas Janzon on the cover of his latest album
According to my archives, I have not written about Swedish guitarist Tomas Janzon since I wrote about the release of his Nomadic album at the end of 2022. His latest album, Jazz Diary, was released this past April; but I only learned about it at the beginning of this month. The title refers to his habit of writing down musical ideas as soon as they come to mind. According to the advance material I received, these events tend to take place between three and four in the morning!
The result is an engaging collection of eleven tracks of trio performances with Nedra Wheeler on bass. Tony Austin provides drums for the first six tracks, and Chuck McPherson accounts for the remaining four. Janzon is consistently generous in sharing solo work with his rhythm performers, allowing each track to take a tune and explore it through a diversity of improvisations. It would be fair to say that no one of those tracks stands out above the others; but, having listened to the entire album several times, I have come to relish the journey taken through each track.
The background of my student days cultivated my interest in the interplay between signal and noise. It would be fair to say that, even in those early-morning hours, Janzon documented a solid command of signal! This allows the attentive listener to relish in both his capacity for thematic invention and his explorations in improvisation. This is an album that easily stands up to multiple-listening experiences disclosing new discoveries.
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