Chris Kase (b. 1964, New Brunswick, NJ) is a jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer and educator who has resided in Madrid, Spain since 1997. He has performed and/or recorded with many well known jazz artists such as: The Mingus Big Band, Adam Nussbaum, Kenny Wheeler, Bob Mintzer, The Bird of Paradise Orchestra, Steve Coleman, Chick Corea, Steve Wilson, Don Braden, Grant Stewart, Bruce Barth, David Berkman, Al Foster and Perico Sambeat, among others. If life is a set of dreams, Chris Kase can count himself lucky to see them come true. As we can, by extension, to enjoy them. For Kase, one of the biggest influences on his understanding of music has been Kenny Wheeler. What privacy had left for the dreamer to enjoy is now, with this recording, a shared pleasure. A Song We Once Knew, Kase’s second Spanish release, is a trumpet player’s record. Trumpet players in an emotional discourse with sounds that blend and at times obscure the meaning of the qualifying terms teacher and student. Emotional in the development of the extended solos; solos that confer the virtue of communication to each trumpeter’s improvisational art. Communication, which in jazz is manifested mainly in improvisation, also finds a beautifully suggestive voice in the compositions of both Kase and Wheeler. Compositions born out of feeling that go far beyond being a mere “excuse to improvise” and are themselves reason enough to listen to this disc. Carlos Pérez Cruz - Tomajazz * * * * * To include Kenny Wheeler in a band in which the leader is also a trumpet player is to establish a level of perfection so high that it could deeply damage his own credibility. Chris Kase has created a encounter for his second Spanish release that is always collaborative, never antagonistic. This is a disc in which the first measures establish an atmosphere -in this case, one of warm melancholy- that moves the listener spellbound toward its conclusion. Excellent. Ángel Gómez Aparicio, MÁS JAZZ A fresh, uninhibited and timeless disc in which the leader finds an ally de-luxe in Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler who, without overshadowing Kase, demonstrates once again one of the roundest tones in jazz currently. A highly recommended disc, even in competition with all the imported jazz that invades our Spanish stores. Miquel Jurado, EL PAIS (Spain’s largest news daily)