Noah Franche-Nolan - Rose-Anna [Cellar Music]

Released via the Vancouver-based label Cellar Music on November 7th, 2k25 is "Rose-Anna", the latest album release cooked up by piano player x composer Noah Franche-Nolan who, alongside Nicholas Bracewell and Jodi Proznick on drums and bass respectively, presents an eleven pieces and roughly 42 minutes spanning longplayer focusing on a distinct trio setting - and his piano. "Rose-Anna", titlewise a tribute to Franche-Nolan's great grandmother, sees the explorative Vancouverite not only deliver on his usual instrument of choice but also branching out towards classic organ sounds on two occasions, the first one being the droning nocturnal, yet all embracing opening piece "Sublimation I" which feels like an long forgotten echo of the Future Jazz movement blown over from afar whereas the subsequent "Nasz Dom" pays homage to playful etudes in Classical Music with its cascading piano sparkles later on backed by rather muscular Downtempo rhythms and "Hawks" weighs in a rather seductive mid-tempo Jazz groove for the first time this album, with its driving piano lines leaving plenty of room for a complex interplay between the backend drum and bass foundation. Furthermore "Prayer" opens on a surprisingly subdued, tentative and experimental note, offering an ever meandering take on stripped down KrautJazz for those who know and therefore considered a personal favorite for us, "Sublimation II" enters deeply caressing, thoughtful and even dreamy Piano Jazz territories followed by the rather dramatic "A Triangle Is A Bird" - which should be a t-shirt print, btw... - whilst the second to last piece that is "Devotion" is an inward-looking, solemn miniature affair just to name a few. Surely a Jazz album to share with loved one, preferrably in a candle-light setting.

Album artwork on Instagram!