Ujig is not a band. Ujig is a project, as the reader will learn from the package insert for the latest album Delta. The quartet formed in a clinic at the “Berklee College of Music at Umbria Jazz” in Perugia in 2014 and has been playing together on and off since then. Fortunately.

Ujig - the Umbria Jazz inspired group? Consists of the Austrian Konstantin Kräutler on drums and the three Italians Marco Leo, guitar, Edoardo Maggioni, keyboards, and Cesare Pizzetti, who replaces founding member David Ambrosch on double bass. The quartet not only mixes jazz with other genres, but also likes to bring in guests for their recordings. This is also the case on their fourth album Delta, which has now been released. On board this time are trumpeters Fabrizio Bosso and Lorenzo Cimino as well as singer Paola Folli.

According to the marketing, the external trio supports “the research and refinement work that Ujig have carried out over the last ten years since the creation and production of their first album 8 out of 8”. We'll leave aside the extent to which seasoned scientists are prepared to agree with this statement - as is the case with researching artists, who also tend to embark on sensitive journeys of discovery rather than fact-based analytical adventures - and confirm that Ujig have worked on their sound and expression.

The result is a very beautiful, seemingly light, yet substantial album that audibly illustrates the diverse sides of jazz in its interplay with elements from pop and fusion, especially those that are responsible for emotion and a pleasant mood. No, not the stuff from the “easy and banal” box, but the kind of music that the listener will remember as authentic, sustaining and lasting. This ability to be both sophisticated and catchy is an exciting balancing act that the quartet and its musicians from Milan and Vienna master brilliantly.

The recording is also excellently mixed. The instruments and their voices are completely authentic and perfectly differentiated, which is also thanks to the good sorting on the stage, which keeps the positions clearly structured across the surface, especially where similar placements could be found - for example with the leading voice and snare and bass drum in the middle of the stage. All in all, this makes for an all-round successful album:

Great music, fine acoustics, authentic sound, great recording. There is nothing left to wish for. That's good! (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Konstantin Kräutler, drums
Edoardo Maggioni, keyboards
Marco Leo, guitar
Cesare Pizzetti, bass
Guests:
Fabrizio Bosso, trumpet (tracks 3, 6)
Lorenzo Cimino, trumpet (track 1)
Paola Folli, vocals (track 8)