Critics Choice: New CDs
The New York Times
by Nate Chinen 01.14.08

Hans Glawischnig/Panorama: Latin jazz is the expected subtext on this sophomore release by Hans Glawischnig, a bassist who has devoted much of the last decade to nailing down the style. But just as Mr. Glawischnig is an unusual specialist in this field — born in Austria, he came to Latin music through extensive work with the master percussionist Ray Barretto — his album evades fixed coordinates. With just as many flashes of post-bop, groove and even Gypsy folk music, “Panorama” reflects a perspective nearly as broad as its title suggests.

Yet it isn’t a mishmash, to the credit of Mr. Glawischnig and his stable of leaders turned sidemen, appearing in several different groupings. It helps that there’s history between them: Mr. Glawischnig regularly plays with the alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and the pianist Luis Perdomo, who make up part of a slippery quartet, and he has toured with the pianist Chick Corea and the drummer Marcus Gilmore, who join him here in a boppish trio. (The alto saxophonist David Binney and the guitarist Ben Monder, also featured, likewise travel in a progressive orbit that includes Mr. Glawischnig.)

The album’s nine original compositions vary widely in tone but project the presence of a steady hand. So the two strikingly different waltzes — “Line Drive,” a polyrhythmic churner featuring Mr. Zenón, and “Set to Sea,” a hymnlike showcase for the tenor saxophonist Rich Perry — share a foundation of harmonic logic and rhythmic calm. In his writing as well as his playing Mr. Glawischnig appears to favor balance and reason.

“Barretto’s Way,” the penultimate track (and the only full-fledged Latin-jazz tune), begins as a solo invocation: Mr. Glawischnig bows his instrument in a classical mode and then plucks an ostinato in sinuous quintuple meter. Eventually there’s a heated climax, and it’s all the more effective for the thoughtful buildup that preceded it.