The trombone is not the most popular instrument in jazz—apart from big bands, that is. There's Nils Landgren with his red long horn. And then? There's Belgian Nabou Claerhout, born in Antwerp in 1993, who has now released her third album under her first name: it's called Indigo. And it's interesting.

Nabou has spread a total of twelve original compositions over 48 minutes and 18 seconds of playing time. She was accompanied by Gijs Idema on guitar, Trui Amerlinck on double bass, and Daniel Jonkers on drums, all between 20 and 23 years young. With that in mind (or ear), the result is all the more impressive.

On the one hand, there is the high technical virtuosity with which the newly formed quartet plays. Whether soulful, expressive, dynamic, or complex—they master the demands as confidently individually as they do in combination. There are tight, fast beats from Parallellepipedum alongside Flux Bloom, which, doped with echo on trombone and guitar, reverberates as if from offstage in the listening room.

On the other hand, the music fortunately drowns out the trendy drivel of concerned lyrics on the marketers' blurb. Whatever emotion inspired a composition, its own life begins the moment it is released into the freedom of the listening room.

And here, for example, Unpersuadable Extern shows how freedom makes music together in a detached way, in four voices and sometimes also moods, which nevertheless combine to form a common statement. Echo I leads a two-part trombone conversation in 1:32 minutes. Or the quartet drives Johanna forward as if from a single mold.

And all this is not just intellectual enjoyment. Musically, too, it is a high level of pleasure, which is made easier to discover thanks to the excellent mixing with a beautifully arranged club stage.

A really great album by these young musicians! (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Nabou Claerhout, trombone
Gijs Idema, guitar
Trui Amerlinck, double bass
Daniel Jonkers, drums