The name of the Netherlands' most famous jazz musician Benjamin Herman is at the top of this CD, but Trouble is mainly dedicated to his protégé Daniel von Piekartz. Herman discovered this young pianist and singer - who is irreverently but not unjustly also called the Dutch Jamie Cullum - in the Amsterdam jam session circuit. Herman is an eclectic who feels just as at home in swinging hard bop and
… cool jazz as in stiff avant-garde. On Trouble he makes his saxophone sniff and gurgle like Ben Webster in bluesy vocal repertoire. He knows what these standards are supposed to sound like: smoky and a bit too slow, as if the members of the band unbutton their ties after closing time and quietly play something for themselves. Piekartz is a gifted singer who is lazy about this, but he misses the blues or age to make the listener feel it. He really comes into its own in more soulful songs like Wishful Thinkin 'and Trouble. In this he can make full use of his full and flexible voice. Anyway, it is to Herman's credit that he puts his name and game at the service of rough diamond Von Piekartz. (MR)more