The decade between 1984 and 1995 was not a great one for jazz. After free jazz and fusion, stagnation had set in; it was even more of a reason for Depart to cause a sensation. This virtuoso trio of Viennese saxophonist Harry Sokal, and Swiss musicians bassist Heiri Känzig, and drummer Fredy Studer took the club and festival scene by storm. With its outrageous energy, open-ended style, and dynamism, this virtuoso trio anticipated much that has shaped the music’s development up to the present.

In 1994 the three went their own ways. In retrospect, the next 12 years can be regarded as a time when each collected new material and enriched his vocabulary for new cooperative undertakings. When Reloaded (ACT 9453-2) came out in 2006, it was hailed as “comeback album of the year”. In reality, the trio has more or less gone in a new direction. Part of the reason has been Jojo Mayer, the onetime substitute for Studer who has permanently taken over from his landsman. There had been a recent flowering of the piano trio that either revisits the romanticism of a Bill Evans or runs in the direction of pop. This triumvirate cleared away all the dead brush with their cascading powerhouse style. Almost one and a half year after Reloaded, Depart encapsulates this style with Mountain Messenger. The powerful group dynamic is even more impressive, as indicated by the fact that many of the pieces are cooperatively composed and arranged. Three instruments, three musical destinies, three extremely different sets of experiences meld into a single indissoluble impression. There are no interminable solos over the usual patterns here – the three are continually interacting, feeding each other new lines.

With no chordal instrument defining the chord structure, everyone has more musical space to fill, especially for saxophonist Harry Sokal. And if that wasn’t enough, he often uses various electronic effects to double and triple the density so that on such pieces as “Hip Pop Tamus” he sounds like a complete saxophone section; Sokal’s melodic and harmonic ingenuity is inexhaustible. He is the Vienna Art Orchestra’s longest current member, and he brings to Depart that legendary group’s refined mix of tradition and the most modern. He also transfers to Depart the multiplicity of ideas that he has developed while working on his other projects (among others with Matthew Garrison). There are greetings from the past by a John Coltrane (“I´m A Road Runner”), or an Art Blakey (“Mountain Messenger”), but these are more or less ironic comments within Sokal’s own uncompromising sound universe.

It is crystal-clear that Sokal best blends with bassist Heiri Känzig; Känzig’s continually developing style grabs every idea coming his way. Sokal and the New York born cosmopolitan Känzig have taken major steps of their careers together, first in Art Farmer’s quintet, then in the early period of the at that time extremely experimental Vienna Art Orchestra. Later, working as the first non-French player with the Orchestre National de Jazz, and by the side of such diverse greats as Didier Lockwood, Thiery Lang, Kenny Wheeler, Paolo Fresu, and Hans Kennel, Känzig searched for the interface between jazz, modern music, and folk and world music. It’s all included in this new phase in Depart’s evolution, whether Känzig is weaving richly varied melodic directions as in “Slam the Door Stewart”, or holding the workings of a radically minimalistic time-keeper in his grip in “Wenn min Schatz go fuetere goht”.

And then there is Zurich’s Jojo Mayer: incorporating advanced computer percussion with his modern rock-inspired power-drumming, he has long since conquered the New York scene having worked with the likes of David Fiuczynski or with his own band “Nerve” his in-line-project “Prohibited Beatz”. He is the explosive fuel of the “Depart” rocket, but he hasn’t forgotten the necessary additives of filigree-fine, sophisticated rhythmic work.

Depart serves up an extremely multifarious musical language – from blues to standard-like swing (“Slice of Bread”), post-fusion (“Prospection”), through to motets (“Wenn min Schatz go fuetere goht”), Ravelesque styles (“Better Report” featuring Sokal’s unbelievable soprano saxophone), and the impressive adaptations of Alpine folk music that have already appeared on Depart’s first ACT album. And finally, the fun that the three are having is very tangible: that special Viennese form of sarcastic humour and the Swiss’s delightful crankiness transforms the “Damenwahl” and “Wenn’s e mol ober isch” folk dancer and yodeller into power-jazz with “hit” potential. “Made by Depart” – unmistakeable – and quite possibly today’s hottest trio powerhouse.

“Made by Depart” – unmistakeable – and quite possibly today’s hottest trio powerhouse.