Cool Down, Relax and Reflect with Spirit N' Jazz
Various talented European musicians stemming from Germany and Great Britain have combined their skills to provide us with a quite unusual project: “Spirit N’Jazz: Can You See?”

 

 

 
     
 

Knowing each other well and having worked together for more than twelve years, Gunter Hauser (producer and pianist from Germany), three British musicians (guitarist/bassist Derek Crehan, trombonist Paul Douglas and drummer Richard J.Evans), joined by German female singer Leyla Tugal (from Syrian-Turkish extraction), decided that they wanted to embark on a musical project, reflecting their concerns on spirituality and intercultural tolerance. So they took their instruments and started to improvise. At that time, Gunther Hauser visited a mosque with some school pupils in Germany. It was an incredible human experience of sharing thoughts with people from different cultures. These various episodes, added to their numerous discussions on social and spiritual themes, decided the musicians to release a CD, which would form a bridge between various cultures and religions and add a spiritual component to the CD’s 11 tracks blending smooth jazz, fusion and chillout.
 
  
   


Each track is accompanied with quotes from both the Bible (selected by Protestant Minister Eberhard Koch) and the Koran (selected by Muslim Imam Halim Garip), to display the similarities of both religious messages. Furthermore the sensual and hypnotic voice of Leyla Tugal adds a genuine spiritual touch to the various rich musical atmospheres and thematic tracks of “Spirit N’Jazz”.

As Gunther Hauser, who produced this CD, put it: “I think, music is a positive part of our culture and Christians and Muslims need something good to talk about these days. There are enough problems and tensions all over the world. We want to give something good as an input and want to emphasize the common things. The title „Can you see...? means: “Can you see the connection of love?“
 
  

And the CD, recorded in an unrehearsed session-like manner, will provide the listeners with rich instrumental tracks, that invite to cool down, relax and reflect on the chaotic world we are living in.

Review by Akbar Nour - Download the album here