Jazz Articles
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Henrik Olsson: Hand of Benediction
by Glenn Astarita
This is the trio's debut recording led by cagey and inventive Swedish guitarist Henrik Olsson for a set that resides in an opaque realm, containing dabs of free jazz, punk jazz and avant-garde rock. The agile and limber trio ventures through some enigmatic musical territory via tight unison phrasings, multipart progressions, animated and linear uprisings along with crunching rock riffs and fleeting nods to classic jazz fusion. “Shocking method restores lost hair" sounds like a séance with ...
Continue ReadingOcean Fanfare: First Nature
by Mark Corroto
If you were to play a game of 'name that artist' while listening to the recording First Nature, roughly half of the contestants would identify the band as the Dave Douglas Quartet, not because Tomasz Dąbrowski has a derivative sound, but more as a compliment to his range and imagination. The Polish trumpeter, now a Scandinavian resident, penned half the compositions heard on this recording, and alto saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild the remainder. Dąbrowski's Danish quartet is rounded out by ...
Continue ReadingOcean Fanfare: First Nature
by Troy Dostert
It can be difficult to keep up with trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski. His incessant musical explorations have kept him in the forefront of European jazz since 2012, when he debuted his Tom Trio (ILK Music), the first of several different projects he has formed. Most recently he released Ninjazz (For Tune, 2018), a well-conceived outing featuring three like-minded Japanese musicians, which was both inventive and accessible. Here he returns to a group he started in 2013, Ocean Fanfare, which released Imagine ...
Continue ReadingLiudas Mockūnas / Arnas Mikalkenas / Håkon Berre: Plunged
by John Sharpe
Recorded at the 2014 Vilnius Jazz Festival by a band comprising two Lithuanians and a Norwegian, which was one of the standouts of the 2017 Vilnius Mama Jazz Festival, Plunged proves an unexpected delight. Of the three participants, reedman Liudas Mockūnas is likely best known, having recorded with bassist Barry Guy, drummer William Hooker and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson for the NoBusiness label, although drummer Håkon Berre performs on disc with German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Portuguese trumpeter Susana Santos Silva ...
Continue ReadingJeppe Zeeberg: The Four Seasons
by Roger Farbey
Any album self-described as 'experimental' is inevitably going to invite comparisons. The most obvious one applicable to pianist and composer, Jeppe Zeeberg might be Frank Zappa. But in fairness, Zeeberg's The Four Seasons, the third record under his own name, is mainly representative of his own unique and fertile imagination. Yes, there are occasional interspersions of Suzy Creamcheese-like spoken word and eerie sound effects and as with the erratic staccato opening of “Winter:Segway To Hell," a gradually evolving rhythmic pulse ...
Continue ReadingTomasz Dabrowski: S-O-L-O: 30th Birthday/30 Concerts/30 Cities
by Jakob Baekgaard
Playing solo is a challenge that takes a lot of discipline. Whereas jazz often relies on the exchange of ideas in a group, there is only one person to carry out what pianist Bill Evans called his “conversations with himself." The consequence is that a soliloquy has the risk of going stale, but it can also be a unique opportunity for the artist to communicate directly with his or her surroundings. The reason why Polish trumpeter Tomasz ...
Continue ReadingTomasz Dąbrowski FREE4ARTS: Six Months and Ten Drops
by Eyal Hareuveni
FREE4ARTS may be the most Nordic-sounding group of Polish, Copenhagen-based prolific trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski. The quartet features colleagues from the musicians-run collective and record label Barefoot Records including baritone saxophonist Sven Dam Meinild, who also plays in Dąbrowski international quartet Ocean Fanfare, and drummer Kasper Tom Christiansen, who collaborated before with Dąbrowski in the Polish-Danish trio Hunger Pangs. Pianist Jacob Anderskov, in his first recorded collaboration with Dąbrowski, recorded a fine duet with Christiansen, Chroma (Barefoot Records, 2014). ...
Continue ReadingJeppe Zeeberg: It’s The Most Basic Thing You Can Do On A Boat
by Eyal Hareuveni
The debut album of Danish pianist Jeppe Zeeberg, member of local groups Dødens Garderobe and Bird Alert, expands the concept of piano trio with two double bass players and two drummers, known for their versatility and improvisational skills. Furthermore, Zeeberg's compositions emphasize a common vein through all genres, demonstrated by his and his co-conspirators strong and highly original, personal approach. True to this bold aesthetics, Zeeberg's compositions are inspired from early, swinging jazz, the advanced compositional ...
Continue ReadingMaria Faust: Sacrum Facere
by Eyal Hareuveni
Estonian, Denmark-based composer and reeds player Maria Faust's latest project, Sacrum Facere, is a song cycle inspired by Estonian folklore and the runo singing from the Setu region, close to the Russian border. Faust composed and arranged the music for brass ensemble, three woodwinds, prepared piano, and Estonian folk harp, the kannel, in a manner that weaves impressively her two passions--contemporary classical composition and free improvisation. The movements in the cycle were written specifically for an ...
Continue ReadingAdam Pultz Melbye: Gullet
by Eyal Hareuveni
The title of the first solo album of prolific Danish double bassist Adam Pultz Melbye is inspired by a quote from Samuel Beckett novel Watt (published in 1953). Metaphorically, Melbye follows Beckett's words, determined to liberate himself from a symbolic deep-toned sonic gullet filled with known articulations, a reinvent and explore new dimensions, colors and sounds in the infinite vocabulary of his trusty instruments. Melbye, now resides in Berlin and is one of the busiest musicians ...
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