Christian Gruber-Ruesz is a guitarist based in Vienna who has already proved his great ability playing the Bouzouki, Gypsy Guitar and Mandolin on his first record “Sunny-Live at Aera” with the Gruber Ruesz Quartet quartet. On his newest record he plays solely the Mandolin and lets his notes run free in the Jazz context. As on “Sunny” (1999) Christian Gruber-Ruesz plays again with the outstanding pianist Roland Guggenbichler and bassist Karl Sayer, who leave their mark on this outstanding album with a wonderful combination of the hammered and plucked strings. Also contributing is the versed and often funky drummer Christian Grobauer as well as Jamaican guitar-duo partner Loren Couch. Altogether they offer jazz with the pleasant joy of playing without the exaggerations of technical ability, in the compositions of: Andy Laverne, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Wayne Shorter, Paquito D'Rivera and Karl Sayer himself. Christian Gruber-Ruesz places the mandolin sound not as the main event, but rather the interaction between the musicians, to create a bright and pleasing band sound that can work on the listener for hours. The sound the musicians create is so natural one can hardly believe the mandolin is an unusual instrument for Jazz. Christian Gruber-Ruesz furthers the music of the mandolin with Latin American, Asian, jazzy, funky, and swing influences. He brings the mandolin into new territory. Christian Bakonyi www.gruber-ruesz.com