(Vocal Jazz) Fjoralba Turku - Serene - 2012, WEB, FLAC (tracks), lossless

The critics rave: “A remarkable debut!”, and “A discovery among female jazz singers in 2010”, about the singer Fjoralba Turku, who released her first CD, “Joshua”, one and a half years ago. Certainly, this was early praise for the promise she had made to transfer the songs and the language of her native country, Albania, into the cosmos of jazz, using her unexpectedly powerful and astonishingly mature voice. Astonishment is now turning into enthusiasm: Fjoralba Turku’s second album, “Serene”, confirms the praise and great expectations. She impressively demonstrates her greatest talent: Telling stories in song.
“I’ve taken a further step”, she says of herself, “because now I can work with my voice as confidently as with an instrument.” Indeed, the spectrum of stylistic devices and expression has grown once again and can be heard: Whether she is inspired by gospel harmonies, unusual intervals and uneven time-signatures of Albanian music as in the catchy, cheerful track “Joyfully”, or in “Lulzoj fusha”, a deeply sad lament which unfortunately is still topical about a son who has fallen in the war, which in turn moves us to tears with its classical intonation and a shot of pathos, or whether she touches upon the human, all-too-human South American bossa as in the snappy track “Purple Song”, or scats in unison with her accompaniment in finest bebop manner, or onomatopoetically almost floats, evoking the legendary vocalists, The Swingle Sisters – at all times it is her unmistakable, distinctive individual style that merges everything organically together.
“I was so confident and sure of myself that I dared to use my own literary inclinations”, Fjoralba Turku explains. She penned five of the tracks and five of the lyrics entirely or in part. In the end, she even dared to interpret both of Lord Byron’s poems, so wonderful and yet so difficult to set to music, “There Be None of Beauty’s Daughters” and “She Walks in Beauty”.
“Working with such magnificent musicians and having them as role models has got me so far”, Turku explains about the development that is behind the album. Musician’s musicians such as Geoff Goodman, Randy Weston or Eric Dolphy played a role, but naturally also her wonderful new band. The young, splendid drummer, Jonas Burgwinkel, the Berlin-based Israeli pianist, Tal Balshai, who swings back and forth between classic and jazz, Florian Trübsbach, for years one of the best German saxophone and clarinet players, and finally and foremost, Paulo Cardoso, one of the very great jazz bass players and Fjoralba’s mentor, accompaniment and partner. He wrote almost all of the arrangements and the CD begins with his wonderful composition “Living, Just Living”.
In all of them Fjoralba Turku places as much trust as they do in her, a final reason why the story of Fjoralba Turku is continually getting better and better.

More than just a smile: Fjoralba Turku. – For a start, she's a great singer. But what's really special is the personal timbre in her vocal interpretations. Listen to "Serene" and you'll see what I mean: Her velvety tone and compelling narrative immediately have you convinced she's singing for you and you alone. And so she weaves her tales with a smile you can hear in her music – expertly supported by bassist Paulo Cardoso and saxophonist Florian Trübsbach ~ Ralf Dombrowski

Serenity is the Key.
In 2010, Albanian-born Fjoralba Turku made us stop and listen with her first album "Joshua" – it's not often that a young newcomer can convince her audience with so much mature sophistication.
Her second album proves that the enthusiastic acclaim for her debut 1 1/2 years ago really wasn't over the top. Because she's done it again: the vocals on her ten new tracks are impressively mature, playing up and down the entire range of hues and tones from gentle and vulnerable to playful and dreamy right up to serious and forceful.
The magic's in the mixture of folk elements from her Albanian roots and jazzy arrangements or sometimes even with a degree of vocal precision that's almost classical. "Kno Mi Qyqe Se Po Vjen Behari", for example, is a 7 1/2 minute epic, a haunting, many-hued musical poem. Sometimes there are also glimpses of Brazilian influence – probably thanks to Fjoralba Turku's bassist, arranger and partner Paolo Cardoso; "Marrakech" is a nice example. Drummer Jonas Burgwinkel and pianist Tal Balshai are the two other pillars of Turku's band, while Florian Trübsbach embroiders her music with his saxophone, clarinet and flute solos.
"Serene" - the album title says it all. What more can I say? ~ Manfred Gillig-Degrave

It's two years ago now that we first had the pleasure of sampling this young newcomer's charming mixture of Albanian folk and jazz. And already, Fjoralba Turku's debut album "Joshua" has become one of the crown jewels in the collection of "Traumton", her Berlin label. So this, then, is her follow-up, with the pure and simple title "Serene". And despite a complete change of musicians (...), she has not left the path she so successfully walked upon with her first CD. And a good thing too, since it's a theme that still has enormous potential for new variations, as she has quite confidently proved in her ten new songs. Listening to Fjoralba Turku with her new saxophone/clarinet player Florian Trübsbach is somewhat like the musical equivalent of watching a couple of acrobats perform their most breathtaking leaps. This is where it becomes really clear what a big step forward this young singer has taken. And yet again, it's the exciting and well-calculated mix of English and Albanian, of international jazz and exotic folklore that has enabled this young Munich artist to step with complete ease and assurance into the Champions League of sophisticated jazz musicians, a feat that seems at first glance well beyond her years. Moreover, she has proved an accomplished composer and lyric writer with the ability to put even the most sophisticated poetry to music. Turku's favorite poet Lord Byron is probably even now smiling happily in his eternal sleep.