Kjetil Mulelid Trio: And Now

Although the all-Norwegian Kjetil Mulelid Trio has been in existence since 2016, And Now is only the group's fourth album to date. The trio's previous three albums, Not Nearly Enough To Buy A House (2017), What You Thought Was Home (2019) and Who Do You Love The Most? (2022), all released on Rune Grammofon label, were all praised on release, comparisons with pianists such as Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau not being uncommon. They all featured the same trio: pianist and composer Mulelid, double bassist Bjørn Marius Hegge, and drummer Andreas Winther.

With And Now the trio has a new member, Rune Nergaard replacing Hegge as double bassist, and the album is released on the Grappa label instead of Rune Grammofon. Kjetil Mulelid had this to say about the change of bassist, "When Bjørn Marius stepped away after many wonderful years, I was uncertain about the future of the trio. That changed when I heard Rune play double bass with his band Fra det Onde at Blå in Oslo, one February evening in 2022. The bass sang and I was captivated..."

One explanation for the longer gaps between the trio's albums is that since the trio's inception in 2016, it has performed extensively across Europe, Canada and Japan. In addition, the three trio members all had commitments outside the trio; Mulelid recorded two well-received solo albums, Piano (Rune Grammofon, 2021) and Agoja (Odin, 2024). Andreas Winther recorded with Johan Lindvall Trio and Megalodon Collective among others; Bjørn Marius Hegge recorded with his own trio as well as MMO-Ensemble and Hegge, among others.

The album's eight tracks, which range in length from 3'50" to 9'10," include two which are being released as singles, "And Then We Turned Away" and "Singing Sands." They are all Mulelid compositions which were recorded on February 8th, 2024 in Athletic Sound, Halden, Norway. From start to finish the album is irresistibly listenable without ever verging on easy listening. Mulelid has said that the trio format feels to him like the ultimate setting for jazz and for improvisation when it comes to the piano. That is as true of the bass and drums as it is for the piano; none of the instruments sounds like a metronomic timekeeper; each of them improvises in support of the others. As a result, the music flows gently and sounds natural throughout. Simply beautiful and beautifully simple.