Where Sparks Start To Fly

Harry Sokal has been making tracks in the international musical landscape for years already, with his own innovative projects, such as Depart, Full Circle, Roots Ahead, Voices of Time, Stories and freeTenors, and also as a first-class sideman for Art Farmer, Carla Bley and Joe Zawinul. But Harry is perhaps most noted for his virtuoso playing with the Vienna Art Orchestra, staying on with Mathias Rüegg for the whole life of the VAO. With his current trio Groove and their new CD bearing the promising title Where sparks start to fly, Harry Sokal, as always, lives up to the highest of expectations. This is mainly because he knows better than almost anyone else how to apply individual technical perfection to the art of making music. Harry Sokal is a musician's musician par excellence, whose primary concern is the musical content and for whom applause is secondary. In Harry Sokal's Groove, the master saxophonist makes maximum use of the rhythmic powerhouse comprised of top talents Raphael Wressnig on the Hammond B3 organ and Lukas Knöfler on drums, a dynamic pair who have worked together over the years in a variety of ensembles. In the course of his career, Wressnig has found his own unique voice that lies somewhere in the spectrum between Jimmy Smith and Billy Preston, but never denies it's roots in R&B. Lukas Knöfler comes from a jazz background and has accumulated valuable life experience in the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band and alongside Karl Ratzer. Together they are Groove-and that's what they do . . . groove until the sparks start to fly!