Angles: A Muted Reality

For Swedish saxophonist Martin Kuchen, all music is folk music. Proof of that statement is the Angles' release A Muted Reality. Whether he is referencing Balkan, African, Swedish, American jazz or Spanish dialects, he is drawing on kindred spirits in his music. With the various editions of his Angles projects, from trios to 10-piece small big bands, he releases music of the people, i.e. people music. This version of Küchen's Angles is an octet and the eleventh in a continuous series of outstanding recordings.

The title track opens the disc. It is a melancholic cortège that progresses from its initial darkness to a heightened state of energy. Muted trumpet is accompanied by vibraphone and eventually Küchen's alto saxophone and Alexander Zethson's piano solos which arc into a crescendo of sound. The impression is of an Eastern version of the Gil Evans/Miles Davis Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960) with a muddy take on third stream sound. The same reference to Eastern folk can be heard with "The Hidden Balcony" which settles into a perpetual groove accented by Mats Aleklint's thunderous trombone and a Bohemian dance ending. The brilliance here is Küchen's arrangements for these eight talented musicians. He can combine beautiful ensemble playing and raw soloing, neither seeming inconsistent with the other. The finale, "Fkk Down, Fkk Off" is a swinging boogie-woogie treat, performed at breakneck speed. It might make Gene Krupa and Cab Calloway smile.