Tamara Turner, CD Baby
by Hans Hirsch
Following a single musical thread in "Tidbits" takes you into some surprising and unsupected territories. The Kristjan Randalu Quartet has mastered the art of development and personality within their music. It is clearly not just about assembling the elements and going with what simply sounds good; there is a real, noticeable attention to each line taking its own journey, transforming and meaningfully interacting with the other elements. Bringing fresh and unusual color to their tracks with cello, hand percussion, electronic effects and numerous other influences from rock, blues and electronica, they have absolutely no trouble keeping engaged interest for the duration of the disc. Here is where we see the dramatic, dynamic and even programmatic potential of modern jazz, breaking out of expectations and particularly, identities, embracing the intense lyricism and breathtaking emotional range of classical music, the hip and popular accessibility of rock and pop, the cry and ache of blues, the jive of acid jazz and on and on and on. "Tidbits" is absolutely mesmerizing and plays to the ear like a theatrical journey of characters, a life-span, an emotional transformation through seven incredible tracks.
