Jazz Articles
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Wako: Wako
by Mark Sullivan
Bands will often self-title their debut album, as a kind of calling card to the world at large. But doing so on a fourth album implies a serious coming of age statement: this is really who we are. That is certainly the case here. Its third album, Urolige sinn (Øra Fonogram, 2018), was a blend of composed and improvised music: a collective voice, with a rare concision and focus. This album is entirely self-composed, with the bulk of the tracks ...
read moreA Northern Code: Boundaries
by Mark Sullivan
A Northern Code is a collaboration between Norwegian guitarist Mathias Marstrander, Scottish double bassist Andrew Robb and Norwegian drummer Sigurd Steinkpf. The group balances improvisation with composition; one hallmark is the use of conceptual goals to help shape the improvisations. This is demonstrated right off the bat with opener “Slow Motion," which ably delivers on its premise with a slow-moving mass of sound. “Every Cell Of Your Body" is a bit harder to parse, but it casts a spell through ...
read moreJo David Meyer Lysne & Mats Eilertsen: Meander
by Mark Sullivan
Norwegian guitarist Jo David Meyer Lysne and double bassist Mats Eilertsen make their debut as a duo here. Meyer Lysne is a young player with a very individual approach to the acoustic guitar; Eilertsen is a veteran with over a hundred recordings on his resume, experience that really helps to bring Meyer Lysne's concepts into focus. This is an acoustic project at its core, but both performers also employ electronic effects to expand the possibilities of their instruments. Recording and ...
read moreHanna Paulsberg Concept: Song For Josia
by Ian Patterson
Norwegian saxophonist Hanna Paulsberg founded the HPC in 2011, whislt studying at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Her quartet's debut, Waltz for Lilli (Ora Fonogram, 2012) announced a notable talent, one conversant in the North American swing tradition as well as influences closer to home. The concept, perhaps, was not new, but the reviews were universally positive. Since then, Paulsberg has been busy leading the HPC and touring with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, which collaborated with ...
read moreDan Peter Sundland: Elevenette
by Eyal Hareuveni
Eleventte is the ambitious debut album of Norwegian, 27-year- old bassist Dan Peter Sundland that attempts to merge compositions for chamber ensembles, improvised segments and texts from contemporary American poets. Sundland's group consists of four classically-trained musicians, plus seven musicians with backgrounds in modern jazz and free improvisation, most notably tenor saxophonist Hanna Paulsberg and drummer Hans Hulbækmo, both members of Paulsberg Concept, and trombonist Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø, one of the most promising, busiest Norwegian free improvisers and a member ...
read moreHanna Paulsberg Concept: Waltz for Lilli
by John Kelman
Norway's place on the international jazz map has been assured for decades: first with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, guitarist Terje Rypdal and bassist Arild Andersen; then, a second wave including trumpeters Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær, and pianists Bugge Wesseltoft and Christian Wallumrød; and, more recently, in another wave featuring In the Country and Splashgirl. Still, its scene has often seemed distanced from the American tradition that nevertheless resides at the core of many of these players. Enter saxophonist Hanna ...
read morePOING / Maja S.K. Ratkje: Wach auf!
by Eyal Hareuveni
Wach auf! (Wake up! in German) is only the third release by POING in its 12 years of activity, but what a remarkable achievement from a Norwegian trio whose repertoire encompasses compositions by pioneer minimalist composer Terry Riley, nuevo-tango composer Astor Piazzolla , political alt-rock band Rage Against The Machine, Russian songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky, Prince, Charles Mingus, and many more. This genre-bending trio decided, this time, to pay tribute to some of the iconic, socialist-tinged songs of ...
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