JazzFolk & World
Thinkbabymusic Collective · 29 May 2026
The quartet has no drummer, and “Rev” shows straight away that it does not need one. Seven minutes and forty-one seconds in which Alekos Vretos’ oud and Giannis Diskos’ clarinet carry the melody in equal shares while Dimitris Verdinoglou’s piano and Kimon Karoutzos’ bass mark the pulse through phrasing alone. The woody sound of the oud’s fretless neck sits at the centre of the mix throughout.
“Jovano – Jovanke”, the traditional Balkan song, arrives with clarinet and piano circling the melody, and it is the darkest moment on the programme. “H.” goes the other way: five minutes and nineteen seconds with a string quintet drawn from the Athens State Orchestra, who put an almost cinematic warmth under a tune that sways.
The three-part “Freedom Suite”, eight and a half minutes, is by the pianist, Verdinoglou. “Lullaby” and “The Quest” establish a reflective tone and “Dance Of Freedom” breaks it with a folk-dance foundation that keeps everyone busy; Diskos’ clarinet improvisation is the finest solo statement on the record.
The string quintet, the most striking colour in the whole set, appears on one five-minute track out of nine. The digital edition served by iTunes and Deezer does not carry the second version of “H.” either, the one without strings, so the comparison that made two versions worthwhile is left out.
Thinkbabymusic Collective, 29 May 2026. Nine tracks. The project began as something to play live and only later became an album.
Rating: 7.7/10
Text by Aina Torrents