Jazz Articles
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Marilyn Crispell, Thommy Andersson, Michala Østergaard-Nielsen: The Cave
by Mike Jurkovic
A temporal fragility warmly embraces as the The Cave opens with the title cut. And since a vast portion of the world's troubled population holds a childhood fear of caves and the potential human criteria that bound rowdy from them, things could get tricky. But they do not. Marilyn Crispell, in what could be another defining moment in a lifetime of bold defining moments, holds those anxieties at bay, and does so throughout this stunning testament. “My Spirit ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam: Alt er Luft
by Jakob Baekgaard
There was a time when it was avant-garde to play loud and fast, but in a world that is already moving at full speed without looking back, the new avant-garde is to take it slow and reinstate the value of contemplation. It is hard to stretch time, and many movies have succumbed to fast cutting, but music is an art form that still offers the opportunity to experience time in slow motion. Pianist Simon Toldam is a ...
Continue ReadingKresten Osgood Quintet: Live At H15 Studio
by Mark Corroto
For a reader of contemporary fiction, sometimes you wade through some fine literature with skillful writing by authors who have honed their craft but have failed to give you a plot. Then, some books tell stories that seize your imagination. You can't put them down. There is a parallel occurrence in modern jazz. There are virtuous composers and musicians, but their technical skills produce no storyline you want to return to. This live recording by drummer Kresten Osgood's quintet has ...
Continue ReadingMatt Choboter: Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging
by Doug Collette
More than just the title of this particular album, Unburying, From Liminals, Emerging, might well be a description of the process Matt Choboter has followed on his previous few records. Dating back to Anima Revisited (Songlines, 2021), then Sleep Inertia (ILK, 2022) and Postcards of Nostalgia (ILK, 2023), the Canadian pianist and composer has explored the realms of sleeping and dreaming through unconventional means of composing and playing on his own and with collaborating musicians. The metaphysical and ...
Continue ReadingToldam / Riedel / Berg / Wiklund / Christensen: Tak for dit brev
by Troy Dostert
Danish pianist Simon Toldam has made his mark as an abundantly creative improviser, most recently manifest on his work with Ways--a duo comprised of saxophonist Brodie West and drummer Evan Cartwright. Their Fortunes (Lorna Records, 2020) was an album defined by unusual gestures and subtle refractions, keeping the listener guessing throughout. Toldam's latest release, Tak for dit brev (the title translates as “Thank You For Your Letter") isn't as overtly adventurous, but it still possesses plenty of quiet charm, and ...
Continue ReadingSimon Toldam Trio: Omhu
by Jakob Baekgaard
The bebop and hard bop revolution of the forties and fifties made speed a virtue as razor-sharp unison lines cut through the rhythms. A saxophonist like Johnny Griffin was praised for his fast way of playing that also underlined his technical virtuosity, and the muscular style signaled a music completely in touch with modernity. Nowadays, there is little new land to conquer in terms of speed, but a new millennium has opened a frontier where silence and ...
Continue ReadingKresten Osgood Quintet: Kresten Osgood Quintet Plays Jazz
by Dan McClenaghan
One way of getting a handle on a jazz artist's style is a perusal of their “played with," “recorded with" resume. Danish drummer Kresten Osgood has collaborated in the recording studio with the likes of pianists Paul Bley and Masabumi Kikuchi, bassist Mark Dresser and saxophonist Sam Rivers--free-flying iconoclasts all. The drummer/bandleader lives up to that characterisation here. Kristen Osgood Quintet Plays Jazz, a wide-tanging two CD set, explores some lesser-known tunes from some of music history's freer ...
Continue ReadingKresten Osgood Quintet: Kresten Osgood Quintet Plays Jazz
by Mark Corroto
Danish drummer Kresten Osgood achieves the musical equivalent of pay-it-forward with Kresten Osgood Quintet Plays Jazz. His ensemble of up-and-coming Copenhagen musicians delivers convincing renditions of some archetypal compositions, plus three originals by the leader. The choice of music on these two discs exposes the quintet to many types of possible criticism. Listeners familiar with the music of Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus most certainly have seminal recordings of these artists burned into their ...
Continue ReadingThe Firebirds: Aladdin's Dream
by Ian Patterson
Three years on from The Firebirds (ILK Music, 2015), a riveting trio interpretation of the music of Igor Stravinsky--and to a lesser extent of Aram Khatjaturjan--Stefan Pasborg turns his attention closer to home with the music of Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931). The debut recording was in Pasborg's name but second time out the trio, featuring Anders Banke and Anders Filipsen, has adopted The Firebirds as its working name. It's a catchy, marketable name but it also feels appropriate, for ...
Continue ReadingTomo Jacobson: When the sleeping fish turn red and the skies start to sing in C major I will follow you to the end
by Dan McClenaghan
Copenhagen-based bassist Tomo Jacobson--employing his musical vehicle, Moonbow--creates a musical ruckus with When the sleeping fish turn red and the skies start to sing in C-major I will follow you to the end (how's that for a CD title?). And it sounds like a ruckus in the blacksmith shop--metallic, slashing guitar, raucous, ragged-edged, tin/brass saxophones over a pumping-bellows bass and hammering drums. All this, and the sounds still has a feeling of structure--albeit a loose one--that allows the individual instrumentalists ...
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