Musina Ebobissé Quintet

The ears pick up, and room noises go silent. No drums, no bass, no piano. Just the sonorous, mat-shimmering tenor saxophone floating through the room like a handkerchief. Musina Ebobiss takes his time. A commodity that has become rare in this overheated performance society. Time for reflection, leisure to develop the topic, to feed it with new ideas and perspectives. Eventually it flows. "The Eagle Song" by Russian classical composer Isaak Schwarz is the only song on "Timeprints" (Double Moon/inakustik) that was not composed by the French-Cameroonian tenor saxophonist. "I had been thinking about leaving that out until the last minute," the 29-year-old related in fluent German. And he made exactly the right decision!Especially here in the last-call-audience-rouser of a more than impressive debut album, which takes him as 79th protagonist into the hall of fame of the "Jazz thing Next Generation", Musina Ebobiss shows what distinguishes him from most saxophonists of his generation. It's not too bad to modelsimple melodies gently, give them texture and shine without relying on sensationalism. The exact counter-model to the reed player of conventional mold, who could hardly control his ego and always wanted to be the star in terms of instrument, so to speak. Nevertheless, an old soul slumbers in Musina with fresh, young features. His playing is a bit reminiscent of Mark Turner, sometimes Lee Konitz too. "It's funny," the tall, likable musician says smiling. "Actually, I rarely listen to these people. In that respect, I cannot be said to be copying them. But one thing is certain: being compared to themis definitely a compliment