CD Review

Nik Bartsch

Stoa (ECM) *****

By Kerstan Mackness

Swiss pianist Bartsch's may have just made the first post-Ecstasy jazz record. His self-styled 'zen funk' mixes Steve Reich's repetitive minimalism with gently chugging James Brown grooves, and recalls the classic 'coming down' sounds of Matt Cooper's D*Note. But where D*Note moved in the direction of Café del Mar, Bartsch draws on Eastern philosophy and John Cage to create simmering, propulisive music that - like Jaga Jazzist or EST - should appeal to clubbers and avant gardists in equal measure.