This album serves as a talented musical Smiley. Julian Wasserfuhr (trumpet) and Roman Wasserfuhr (piano and keys) lead a large band of a dozen talented guys while they waltz their way through a broad variety of musical genre.
Mosaic was pieced together from places a long way apart: from the Wasserfuhrs’ studio in Hückeswagen, a small town to the North-East of Cologne where the two brothers grew up and still have their base, to Nashville where they worked (virtually) alongside a dozen other musicians. There is a kaleidoscope of different moods here, including a rap song and an homage to Kurt Cobain
There’s no harshness or demonic displays of hardcore speed playing, from the first second to the last of the 40 plus minutes, it’s oozes talent and joy. Stylewise it’s a bit hard to classify, there is a bit of southern rock, a lot of jazz, some prog, a smidgen or two of New Orleans shuffle, funk, hip hop, schmaltz, a touch of classical piano and some melodious pop to boot. To further surprise and entertain the guys threw in a version of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
In its 44.1/16 the recording, the music sounds accurate, offering very wide and precise soundstage, clear but never bright, weighty but never over boosted with unnatural bass. Never antagonising or challenging, the music shuffles, dances and stomps its proverbial feet in a most engrossing fashion. It will bring a musical (at least) smile back into your life despite the doom and gloom that is spewed constantly all around us.
Reuben Klein