With Untucked in Hannover, Tom Rainey's top-notch quintet Obbligato presents a third album of a collection of jazz standards - with Jacob Sacks on piano replacing regular pianist Kris Davis for this live recording. Wonderful jazz tunes like Stella by Starlight or I Fall in Love Too Easily are interpreted in an open dialogue with stunning joy of playing and improvisation. And though standards are the modus operandi of Obbligato, their approach is intended to be less conventional, less reverential and certainly less solo-centric than many other bands that tackles with Standards. Obbligato sometimes plays with the essences of famous jazz standards in an implied way, sometimes in a teasing and mysterious way, but always in a tantalizing way. "Close your eyes, imagine sitting in the front row of your favorite jazz club, sit back and enjoy Obbligato playing pieces from the Great American Songbook in a way you've never heard them before: and by one of the most inventive and inspiring live bands of the last decade," writes Laurence Donohue-Greene in the liner notes.

Ohad Talmor came to New York in 1995 to study music and remained in the USA. Since then he has been one of the "movers and shakers" of the creative Brooklyn jazz scene. On the ground floor of his apartment block on Vanderbilt Avenue he runs the performance space "Seeds". Talmor, the cosmopolitan who today commutes between Geneva and New York, is an expressive improviser and outstanding stylist. He plays with Lee Konitz, Steve Swallow or Adam Nussbeim or Jason Moran. In recent years, he has attracted attention with his individually formed compositions and sophisticated arrangements, whether in his trio, sextet or orchestra. The core members of Newsreel Sextet are Talmor's long-term fellow travelers Jacob Sacks, Miles Okazaki (guitars) and Dan Weiss, whom he first met at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied Composition in 1995 - fresh off the boat. "The members of my band are friends, with whom I share the greatest artistic trust. That's the personal side, which is very important to me. Just as important is the musical side, however. Each member of my ensemble is a strong artistic personality. They have to be in a position to play my music convincingly - it's by no means easy and moves between various genres: jazz, North Indian traditional and contemporary or New music." Talmor compositions immediately develop a rousing verve, powerful passages merge into lyrical and poetic ones. Individual expressiveness and introspection are seamlessly integrated into different musical forms. A great adventure for listeners.