Olaf Ton is a quintet of younger German musicians; it seems to be a genuinely collective endeavour, though most of the writing is by Benjamin Weidekamp, a protégé of Gebhard Ullmann. It’s a brisk, jovial album, with a welcome sense of mischief: its tracks are often named after imaginary characters like Little Olaf, Alonso Morales and Advocat van de Hanen. (Their portraits are supplied by the cover-art, which looks suspiciously like the work of a doodling Joan Miró.) There’s a merry but nervy energy to the music which resembles the work of other young European bands like Nils Wogram’s Root 70, though there are also other influences in the mix, notably the early Dave Douglas (audible both in the occasional detail of the arrangements, and also in the work of trumpeter Richard Koch). The compositions’ wonky invocations of marches, circus music and tangos have a welcome light touch and elegance, compared to the pie-in-the-face approach of other bands, and the group negotiates the ferociously tricky heads with the arrogant ease of trapeze artists. The horn players stick to light timbres and limber, uncluttered solo-work, and often the ear is drawn as much to the work of bassist Michael Haves and especially drummer Christian Marien. It’s a likeable, very enjoyable hour of music, although it could use more variety of pace and greater expressive depth: the disc offers lively acrobatics rather than anything more profoundly involving. But what’s here is very fine, and this is a band that will undoubtedly continue to grow.

Nate Dorward

Cadence, March 2004