Record Reviews

DAG ARNESEN TRIO ~ ICE BREAKING LOSEN 296 (Barcode: 7090025832963) ~ NORWAY ~ Jazz Recorded: 2023 Released: 2024 This is an album by Norwegian Jazz pianist / composer Dag ArnesenFind albums by this artist and his classic Jazz piano trio with bassist Magne ThormodsaeterFind albums by this artist and drummer Oyvind SkarboFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine tracks, all original compositions by the leader. The album offers superb sound and balance, in the best tradition of the Norwegian sound recording tradition. The music is seemingly a melodic mainstream Jazz, but offers unusual rhythmic setting and structural complexity, which requires attentive listening and offers a certain feeling of tension and unexpectedness, which brings the music above the predictable level of fluidity, making things much more interesting than what is expected from a typical entertaining Jazz piano trio album, many of which are flooding the record market. The level of performance is also excellent from start to finish, as expected from a veteran musician like Arnesen, and the rhythm section, which offers perfect support every step of the way. The trio maintains an excellent balance between the instruments and fluid dynamics, which make it sound completely synchronized and harmonized. Overall, this is a very interesting and quite unusual Jazz piano trio album, which is likeable from the very first touch on the keyboard, but requires active involvement from the listener to absorb the aesthetic intricacy of its contents. Wholeheartedly recommended to all acoustic Jazz piano trio lovers out there!

Updated: 10/09/2024Posted: 10/09/2024

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MOLECULES & ERLEND SKOMSVOLL ~ LOUDER THAN YOU ORA FONOGRAM 121 (Barcode: 7090015631217) ~ NORWAY ~ Jazz Recorded: 2017 Released: 2017 This is an album by Norwegian Jazz sextet MoleculesFind albums by this artist, led by vocalist Karoline WallaceFind albums by this artist and also including trumpeter Tancred Heyerdahl HusoFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Jonas Flemsaeter HamreFind albums by this artist, guitarist Mathias MarstranderFind albums by this artist, bassist Petter AsbjornsenFind albums by this artist and drummer Oyvind SkarboFind albums by this artist. They are joined by pianist Erlend SkomsvollFind albums by this artist and together as a septet perform twelve original compositions, all by Wallace (music and lyrics), with some co-arrangement and co-writing by Skomsvoll and two other Molecules members. The music is based on the "song" approach deeply based in the modern Jazz idiom, where the songs are complex vocal performances, which feature both lyrics and vocalese. The multilayered instrumental accompaniment is structured around the vocal parts, creating a rich and powerful overall sound almost of a small Big Band. The sound is dense and rather dark, but allows for the individual solo parts to be heard clearly. The vocal parts are the focus of this music, and Wallace is doing a great job both as composer and performer, to put some light on contemporary vocal Jazz, which is sadly much neglected these years. She uses the ensemble and the pianist to help her express the musical message of her songs, doing so in a wide range of moods and scopes, from intimate vocals-piano duets to large ensemble complex and powerful scores. Overall this is a very impressive album, which requires an intellectual effort to get into, but at the end is definitely very rewarding. There are many wonderful individual statements, superb ensemble playing and mesmerizing, very unusual vocal parts, which should be of great interest to modern vocal Jazz connoisseurs. The album also testifies to the incredibly developed and vital Jazz scene in Norway, which is sadly not always recognized beyond its borders and definitely worth investigation, especially in the case of new generation of players which not only continues the country´s Jazz tradition but takes it further into new territory.

Updated: 10/10/2018Posted: 15/02/2018

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